Citizens, Taxpayers, Book-lovers, Children, Sanity, 1; Mike Bonin, 0 - Mar Vista Library Update

A few weeks ago I submitted a story about the desperate situation in front of the Mar Vista Library at Venice Blvd. and Inglewood, complete with images of the depravity that no civilized society should tolerate.

Last week I returned to the area. I am happy to report that things have changed dramatically. The filthy encampments and their entitled flipping-you-the-bird "residents" are gone, replaced by a clean, normal sidewalk and large galvanized metal planters weighing hundreds of pounds, which should ensure that the public property trespassers don't return any time soon.

I went inside the library (bizarrely, masks still strictly required, since it's L.A. CITY, not county), and spoke briefly with the Melanie I had talked to on the phone some months ago, after I was nearly attacked in front of the entrance. She was the individual who suggested that I contact the police to report the incident. Melanie provided the name of the now infamous, now-vanished flip-the-bird guy in the photos: Dante. She said he has presented a problem for a long time. She sounded relieved that, a few days before my visit, public workers suddenly descended on the rat's nest and dismantled it. It was not clear to me exactly who was behind the galvanized zinc, heavy, soil-filled tubs, but it seems she said someone had purchased them with a significant amount of their own money.

Although we can certainly hope that the newly civilized state of the library is lasting, there is continuing evidence that the Mike Bonin-supported state of affairs still laps at the edges of the property. Already, a new tent encampment had sprouted up in the alley way on the south side, and, while I was there, just as I was whipping out my camera to take photos, a bedraggled, zombie-like, probably drugged, tall younger man in a black t-shirt with white lettering whipped out his unit, shamelessly urinating on the property with no attempt to hide his activity. It was pure coincidence that that occurred just as I was fumbling with my camera controls, but I did manage to get a few pictures of him in action.

A little bit of Mike Bonin's "legacy" has now been peeled away by the forces of sanity and decency. Bonin himself will be peeled away in about two months as his term ends and he tends to his serious, ongoing mental health issues.