Volunteers Hit Beaches, Hillsides for Homeless Count in Palisades

By FRANCES SHARPE | Editor-in-Chief

The number of homeless people in Pacific Palisades has remained relatively stable since last year. According to preliminary tallies, 86 homeless people and an additional 84 cars, vans, tents and makeshift shelters were counted in Pacific Palisades as part of the 2016 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count on Thursday, Jan. 28.

That’s just a slight uptick from last year’s numbers—70 people and 74 tents and such, respectively.

“This shows that the provision of service is not encouraging an increased flow of homeless people into the Palisades,” said Maryam Zar, Chair of the Pacific Palisades Task Force on Homelessness (PPTFH), which helped coordinate the Palisades count in conjunction with Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA).

“We deployed earlier in the morning this year, so we saw more people before they had packed up their belongings and moved on. Plus, most of the volunteers had also participated last year so they were more prepared and better counters,” Zar said, offering an explanation for the increase. “So really, it’s probably about the same.”

About 55 volunteers arrived at Mercer Hall at Palisades Charter High School before 5 a.m. bundled up to brave the sub-50 degree weather.

Joining the volunteers this year were Maureen Rivas and Glanda Sherman, the Ocean Park Community Center (OPCC) outreach team that began working with the homeless in the Palisades in January in an effort to transition them into housing.

The PPTFH spent a year raising funds to collaborate with OPCC, and so far the outreach team has already helped four local transients make the transition into services.

As PPTFH board member and count co-chair Kim Clary gave instructions, volunteers noshed on snacks and coffee donated by Vons, Ralphs and Noah’s Bagels.

Teams of four to five people each were then deployed to various neighborhoods throughout the Palisades.

John Piscitello said he was motivated to volunteer for the count because he drives from his home in Pacific View Estates down Pacific Coast Highway and up Sunset Boulevard to take his young children to Westside Waldorf School.

“Just in that short drive, there are so many homeless people,” Piscitello said. “I’ve been emailing Maryam [Zar] about it, and I figured I should just get involved and do something about it.”

Palisadian Kane Phelps, who participated in the count last year, said he wanted to do it again because “the idea of helping the homeless is something I feel deeply about.”

For Palisadian Mark Robeson, who works with homeless people on Skid Row and through New Directions for Veterans, doing the count in his hometown was an eye-opener.

“The results last year showed there were more homeless people than the general population thinks,” he said. “I expect we’ll see more this year.”

This year’s preliminary numbers did come in a notch higher than last year, and there were some key changes.

Last year, teams spotted a glut of tents lining Will Rogers State Beach. This year, most of them were gone.

“We saw no tents or homeless actually sleeping on the sand this year,” said Patrick Hart, who lives in the El Medio Bluffs and was part of a team that combed the beach south of Gladstones.

Sharon Kilbride, whose team covered the beach near Santa Monica Canyon, said the number of tents was “extremely down.” Her team counted only five of them.

Kilbride did note that many of the homeless people her team saw on the beach had bikes.

“I think they ride their bikes down to Santa Monica for the day and then come back to sleep in the Palisades,” she said.

Piscitello and his team, who walked the beach north of Gladstones, didn’t see any tents at all, but they counted about 20 people on the beach. (See “‘Team 2’ Takes You Inside the Homeless Count”on page 7.) 

LAPD Senior Lead Officer (SLO) Michael Moore said his team noticed people on the beach, “but they were packing up early. They probably know that LAPD has been coming through the beach citing people.”

Moore was referring to the fact that LAPD started doing “knocks and notice” sunrise sweeps on the beaches last summer, as reported in the August 20 issue of the Post. 

It appears LAPD’s efforts are paying off in terms of clearing away the tents.

Moore added that his team noticed “a lot fewer homeless on the hillside in Potrero Canyon.”

Moore tackled some of the roughest hillside terrain on PCH north of Chautauqua with team members SLO Matt Kirk, LAPD West Bureau’s Ryan Fox and Sharon Shapiro from Councilmember Mike Bonin’s office.

Assisting them was an LAPD helicopter that used infrared lights to spot encampments in areas too difficult to access on foot.

The helicopter circled over Potrero Canyon, the hillsides below Corona del Mar and the brush in the Highlands behind the Highlands Village by the Beach shopping center.

The official numbers from the Homeless Count are used by policymakers, service providers and U.S. Congress to allocate funds for various services.

Final numbers for the Palisades count are expected to be announced this spring.

At the next PPTFH meeting on Thursday, Feb. 18, Clary and count co-chair David Morena will provide a recap of the count. The meeting will take place at the Palisades Branch Library from 3-5 p.m.