Op-Ed: How I learned to love homeless housing in my neighborhood

THE LOS ANGELES TIMES - 8 NOVEMBER 2018

I live on Sunset Avenue in Venice, right across the street from three of the most contested empty acres in the city. You might have read about it: A couple of weeks ago at a town hall meeting, dozens of angry Venetians shouted down Mayor Eric Garcetti and Councilman Mike Bonin. Some in my neighborhood really don’t want the city to build transitional housing for the homeless on those 3 acres. I get their reasons, but I can’t join them. My daughter won’t let me.

Five years ago, I couldn’t believe our luck when my wife said she’d found us a tiny but adorable house in Venice. Annoyingly, I’d bring up where we lived within seconds of meeting someone. During down time, I’d pull up Google maps, astonished to see our tiny bit of property, so close to the historic boardwalk and Abbot Kinney and Muscle Beach and all the rest.

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Right by the beach, and the bus depot

THE LOS ANGELES TIMES - 6 MARCH 2016

The house my wife found in Venice was close to the beach. It was also alarmingly close to Division Six: a 3.5-acre bus depot ringed by tall fencing and barbed wire. On the sidewalk out front, happy people walked by, carrying surfboards or shopping bags. Just as continuously, in and out of the depot, the variously numbered orange city buses lumbered and wheezed.

I wanted the house, yet I did not want the house. And then it didn't matter, because it was ours.

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Stealing a few shady hours in an offramp's not-park

THE LOS ANGELES TIMES - 27 DECEMBER 2015

The other morning, I needed to get some reading done for work. I could've driven to my office. Or sat on a bench at the beach. Or taken the Big Blue Bus to Powell Library at UCLA, where I teach. What I did instead was set up a folding chair next to the freeway.

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