Even Venice Beach Is Filthy With #Beachtrash...

Dateline: Saturday, March 25, 2017.  On this date, I walked from the north end of Venice at Navy St. to the Venice Breakwater, a distance of approximately one mile.  Even in just a one mile stretch of beach it was obvious that the Los Angeles County Dept. of Beaches & Harbors (aka, LACDBH) has not been collecting and/or disposing of #beachtrash and other debris near the water's edge.  There was especially a large amount of storm debris, including but not limited to, tree branches, driftwood, sharp shafts of bamboo, etc.  Such storm debris should be hand raked and removed from the beach. Instead this storm debris remains untouched and will likely either, in some cases, find its way back out to sea or it will be dragged through the dry sand and broken up into smaller bits and otherwise negatively impact the quality of the sand and may even increase the public health and safety risk to beach patrons who will step on this foreign matter.

Here are the photos and videos that I shot which illustrate just how filthy the beach is along this portion of Venice Beach from Navy St. to the Venice Breakwater.

Below, this young lady was out there volunteering her time to hand pick up #beachtrash by the Navy St. lifeguard tower when I walked by.  She was doing more about collecting and disposing of #beachtrash yesterday near the water's edge on this section of Venice Beach than LACDBH...

As you can see, there is a great deal of storm debris that continues to be ignored by LACDBH. This should be hand raked and removed from the beach as quickly as possible.  Not to do so represents a continuing public health and safety risk.

#Beachtrash totem, below, that I quickly constructed with storm debris adjacent to Navy St...

It is really a shame that LACDBH does not recognize how unsightly and unsafe all of this storm debris is on the beach.  The City of Newport Beach, on the other hand, quickly removes this type of storm debris and other #beachtrash because they are much more appreciative of their coastline, in my opinion.

x-ref:  City of Newport Beach" Facebook posting of Dec. 30, 2016, screen shot below showing before and after photos of storm debris collected and removed from the beach by the City of Newport Beach.  Certainly LACDBH has the resources to do the same along Venice Beach.

https://www.facebook.com/CityofNewportBeach

This opinion is based on media coverage and my own photo audits of Venice Beach in the recent past.  It has gotten worse of late along the shoreline in Venice Beach and there is no compelling effort undertaken by LACDBH to remove #beachtrash and storm debris.

*** Video Alert ! ***

Venice Beach Storm Debris & Beach Trash: The Video

     https://youtu.be/iUVYsseptnI
      

How filthy is this beach?!... It's so filthy you could stick a fork in it!...

Below, a large empty and discarded glass beer bottle is left uncollected by LACDBH. Why?!.... Because LACDBH has not bothered to inspect the beach near the water's edge so that this public health and safety risk could be eliminated.  It's a Saturday after all and the beach ought to be fit for the many beach patrons that flock to the beach, many of whom pay exorbitant beach parking fees and in return for that payment of hard earned dollars they get a filthy beach.

California State Parks which has an operating agreement with LACDBH to maintain this State Beach needs to step up and make sure that this beach gets cleaned daily near the water's edge. If not, then the State of California should clean it themselves.

When exactly is ANY of this going to be cleaned up?!...

Below, some teenagers volunteering their time are observed on a Saturday cleaning up #beachtrash by a storm drain outlet on Venice Beach... doing something that LACDBH apparently is unable to do on a Saturday morning in preparation for the weekend crowds...

This is not brain surgery. All it would take are a couple of LACDBH employees to walk near the water's edge and hand pick up the #beachtrash.  A crew of two persons in one of the LACDBH pick up trucks could carry hand rakes so that the storm debris could be collected and removed from the beach.

This is not the LACDBH that I have recognized and appreciated for many years for their exceptional efforts to keep the beach clean along Venice Beach.  The past several months, however, has revealed an apparently lackadaisical approach to the removal of #beachtrash and storm debris near the water's edge.  

This is truly unfortunate and represents an ongoing public health and safety risk, which I am sure that the L.A. County Board of Supervisors would find to be unacceptable. 

Respectfully submitted,

William Maguire

(All photos and video by & Copyright William Maguire 2017.)

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