This is not acceptable-- Dumping in the street!

[JPBeck]

RV dweller to face charges over sewage dumping in Venice - latimes.com

Venice residents have asserted for years that people living in recreational vehicles were emptying raw sewage into storm drains and street gutters or using yards and gardens as bathrooms. Affected neighborhoods have long lobbied for overnight parking restrictions to keep people from sleeping curbside in their or campers.

Last week, Boston Dawna, a 38-year resident known for her nighttime citizen's arrests of suspected criminals, said she finally caught somebody red-handed. (She said she does not use her real name because she fears retaliation from those she has helped arrest.)

On the night of Aug. 18, Boston Dawna said she looked out of her apartment window near Pacific Avenue and Fleet Street and saw the driver of a large camper walk around the vehicle and then look up and down the street. He got back into the camper, and a female passenger jumped out.

"I hear a pop and I hear fluids," Boston Dawna said, adding that she soon detected a stench. The camper then pulled away, spilling sewage and toilet paper from the vehicle's holding tank.

The Neighborhood Watch captain then alerted a friend nearby, who was able to note the license plate as the RV drove by. She then alerted police, who drove her in their patrol car as they searched for the camper.

Officers caught up with the vehicle at 3rd and Sunset avenues. Because the officers had not personally witnessed the dumping — a misdemeanor — they relied on Boston Dawna to make a citizen's arrest, said Los Angeles Police Sgt. Jeff Merlo. The officers then took the suspect, Lindsey Kathrine Estilette, 28, into custody.

"She starts crying," Boston Dawna recalled. "I said, 'There's no crying in baseball.'"

[Clevelandjim]

That's where Cousin Eddie learned about it.

[JPBeck]

My brother in the LAPD looked up the charges and said they DA could charge this as a Felony. I sure hope so! They released her after 2 days in jail-- why I can't imagine. Nor can understand why the driver of the vehicle was not hooked up too.

WTF OVER?

[JEBar]

I'm curious .... just how large is the population of folks who are supposed to be living in their campers on the streets of LA .... sure gives a whole new meaning to boon-docking

Jim

[JPBeck]

The streets are full--

Sewage incident escalates Venice RV parking war - The Daily Breeze

Sewage incident escalates Venice RV parking war

From wire service reports
Posted: 08/26/2010 06:41:42 AM PDT
Updated: 08/26/2010 06:41:57 AM PDT


Authorities removed at least a dozen recreational vehicles from a Venice neighborhood in response to human waste being dumped on streets, activists said Wednesday.
A woman suspected of uncapping a holding tank on an RV on Pacific Avenue near Fleet Street as her partner drove the double-length rig north was arrested late last week, thanks to a longtime local crime fighter known as Boston Dawna, who witnessed and reported it.
Lindsey Estilette, 28, was booked on suspicion of illegally dumping sewage and was jailed in lieu of $10,000 bail, Los Angeles police Office Karen Rayner said.
Venice activists complained to city officials over the past few days, and a contractor showed up Tuesday to cleaned up the mess.
Then, starting last night, police and other authorities made about a dozen RV owners move their rigs from the area around Rose and Third avenues, so the streets could be cleaned.
Dawna and fellow activists were outraged by the stench, which she said took six days to get cleaned up. It was not until the news media got involved that city officials paid attention, Dawna said.
"We want answers why this city has been allowed to be turned into a cesspool," she said.
Venice-area Councilman Bill Rosendahl said this afternoon that he notified the Bureau of Sanitation after getting numerous complaints.
"In the past few days, alert and vigilant Venice residents noticed and reported three incidents of human waste
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being dumped or spilled on city streets," he said. "These are sickening and offensive crimes that threaten public health and diminish the quality of life." The Bureau of Sanitation only learned about the dumping Tuesday afternoon.
"We didn't get anything on our radar to respond to (before Tuesday afternoon)," bureau spokeswoman Michelle Vargas said. "When we do get complaints, it takes us 30 minutes to respond to every complaint."
Vargas said Rosendahl's office called the bureau at 4:15 on Tuesday and asked them to dispatch cleanup crews to three intersections: Pacific and Fleet; Third and Rose; and Third and Sunset.
The cleanup crews arrived at Pacific and Fleet by 5 p.m., then moved on to the other intersections by 7:30 p.m., Vargas said.
Vargas urged residents to call 311 to report dumping.
"We have inspectors that respond to calls from the community," Vargas said. "Dumping that kind of material onto our storm drain system and our streets is illegal. It's very abnormal. In fact, we only receive approximately about 12 calls of that nature in a year."
Rosendahl urged anyone who sees sewage dumping to call the county's hazardous materials unit at (800) 974-9794 and press 2 when prompted.
Around Sunset and Third avenues last night, the RV owners were allowed to drive away, and apparently no one was cited, Dawna said. But by 10 this morning "they were right back in the same spot," she said.
Los Angeles police Sgt. Jeff Merlo of the Pacific Station, who has been dealing with the problem along with Venice's senior lead officer, Teresa Skinner, said officers cited two RV dwellers today.
One was cited for living in a vehicle, a violation of the city's code, and another for blocking a sidewalk.
Venice homeowner Mark Ryavec, president of the Venice Stakeholders Association, said residents have complained about the problem for years.
"I think the important issue right now is that the council office is sitting on the petitions we need to circulate to get `no oversized vehicle parking' signs put up," he said.
Ryavec's group has sued over the California Coastal Commission's refusal to involve itself in the issue, calling it a social problem beyond its purview.
Rosendahl's office has been working to set up an overnight program for RV dwellers, and has set aside about $750,000 for the effort.
But Ryavec said he suspected Rosendahl was stalling on the petitions, "until the parking lots and social service provider are secured" for the overnight RV program. He estimated that people were living in about 250 RVs in and around Venice.
The nearest pump-out station for RV holding tanks is at Dockweiler State Beach, a few miles to the south.

[JPBeck]

I heard on a Radio interview that the ppl there have been doing it for years-- the reason... They are afraid another freeloader will come and take their spot.

KFI AM 640 More Stimulating Talk Radio

Link to more news-- TV report very enlightening
Yo! Venice!


Can you tell I'm Piiiissssed Off--
Those drains lead directly into the ocean-- the ocean my kid swims in-- the same area where we spear fish.

[JEBar]

really interesting .... they have to be getting water from somewhere

Jim

[staggerlee]

I'm curious .... just how large is the population of folks who are supposed to be living in their campers on the streets of LA .... sure gives a whole new meaning to boon-docking

Jim

It just has to be the stimulus Package.
They used to live under cardboard there.

[muddy princess sara]

I'm kinda confused.... what kind of neighborhood are these rv's parking at? Are we talking city streets? or subdivisions? If they are on city streets are their parking meters?

I'm not sure how things work out there in cali but we have street cleaners that come thru every week and if cars are in the way they get an automatic boot or towed if they have a truck available.

Why didn't anyone call the health department or the EPA?

Im slightly joking when I say this, they would of had better results if they had called PETA then the local city.

[Qwerty]

It's strange that they could park on the streets for that long, as most municipalities have strict time limits concerning RV on-street parking.

Q.

[staggerlee]

Venice , Ca

That place has always been known for the odd, and unusual.

[amerfinn]

Dumping

The whole state is known for being odd and unusual, just one more example.

[Juggernaut]

RV Parking

We toured Venice last spring. Every single side street had one or more run down Rv's parked. Many had For Sale signs in the windows trying to fool the powers that be that no one was living inside. There is a heck of a problem trying to find a solution to this issue.

[staggerlee]

Venice

In that area dumping in the streets might not even be coming from an RV.

[JPBeck]

That's beach front property-- one bedroom apartment= $1800.00