WRHQ to Venice Breakwater and back...

Dateline: Saturday, March 25, 2017..... Today's mission was to photograph our walk from Will Rogers Lifeguard Headquarters (WRHQ) to the Venice Breakwater and back..... The goal, however, was to make it to Zelda's Deli at Speedway and Westminster just off the famed Venice boardwalk for their spectacular cinnamon mini-donuts and a cup of coffee... Mission, er, Goal Accomplished!...

Here are the photos plus a video of this multiple hour effort.....

WRHQ, OLS Ryan Berry on duty....

SMN Area OLS (for the day), Brendon Beer, below...

Below, SMN/WR Area Captain Eugene Atanasio with veteran OL, Brandon Snell, who was busy setting up the cones, etc. at SMN 1550 even though he was on duty at SMN15...

A crew of taggers have been hitting up SMS Tower #16 a lot lately.  On March 15th, we also photographed the same tower with grafitti.

Below, OL Eric Weizenegger, on a workout and still watching the water in plank position at Bay St., aka, SMS Tower #20...

Below, a (respectful) long distance shot of an unnamed veteran OL, watching the water like a hawk, while on a foot patrol out of Navy St. Tower at the north end of Venice North.

Below, OLS Mike Murphy along with OLS Rebecca Gilman (off camera) standing by at the Venice Breakwater in LR 200... while the area Captain and the area OLS were on scene at a first aid.....

Below, we observe Capt. Tito Bourget and OLS Andrew Czer!...  Andrew and Tito were on scene at the Venice Skate Park treating an injured skater.

No way!... He's back in Central Section!  OLS Andrew Czer (pronounced, Caesar, like the salad)...
he's working 3 days a week at the Venice Breakwater now.

Below, OLS Czer gaining traction off road... as he exits the now concluded first aid staging area adjacent to the Venice Skate Park...

*** Video Alert ! ***

Venice Skate Park First Aid Postscript: The Video

     https://youtu.be/wFikTInrAAA

Zelda's Deli!...  Mission, er, Goal Accomplished!...

Below, Santa Monica Local Photographer, Fabian Lewkowicz, on a bike...

USCG fly by over Santa Monica Pier...

Back to the shoreline at SMN Tower 12 we bumped into Veteran LACo OL, Chuck Locko!...

OL Locko watching the water!...

Further on, at SMN 10, we said hi to Veteran LACo OL, Rob Keely...

and then I finally made it back to WRHQ around 3 pm.....

Turned out there was no rain after all in spite of the forecast so good on all of our Ocean Lifeguards that made themselves available and got work today!

10-4

Until next time.....

Will Maguire,
County Recurrent News

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

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Will Rogers State Beach Is Filthy!... #Plastic #Glass #Deadbird

Dateline: Saturday morning, March 25, 2017.  I started my audit of #beachtrash at Will Rogers Lifeguard Headquarters (WRHQ) and walked toward Santa Monica. It is perhaps a one mile stretch of beach and shoreline from WRHQ to the border with Santa Monica.  During my walk along the water's edge I came across glass bottles, plastic bottles, assorted trash and a great deal of storm debris, e.g., wood sticks, bamboo, logs, etc.  It is obvious that the L.A. County Dept. of Beaches and Harbors (LACoBH) has NOT bothered to have it's staff hand rake up this unsafe debris, esp. the bamboo shards and sticks that have many sharp edges.  I also came across a dead bird near the high tide line. This would be a simple task to remove IF LACoBH designed someone to walk near the water's edge and hand pick up the #beachtrash.

Here are the photos that I took along this short stretch of beach.  It is hoped that LACoBH will send out a crew to hand pick up this #beachtrash and debris instead of sending a tractor towing a rake which will just grind up this trash and debris into the sand as LACoBH has done near Lifeguard Tower #15 adjacent to WRHQ and which makes it very unpleasant to walk in and enjoy the beach in sand that is full of debris such as wood and bamboo, etc.

Below, it's a stunning stretch of beach nevertheless and it's too bad that cleaning up the #beachtrash near the water's edge is not a priority for LACoBH.  On a Saturday morning, there should not be this amount of #beachtrash and debris.

How difficult would it be for LACoBH to clean up this #beachtrash and debris?... Answer: not difficult at all.  And yet there it is!... uncollected and not disposed of as it ought to be.

You can stick a fork in it this beach is just filthy!...

And below, three angles on the dead bird adjacent to Lifeguard Tower #18 at Santa Monica Canyon.  This bird is right along the near the high tide line and right along where beach patrons walk along the shoreline.  This is what you get in return for those exorbitant beach parking rates, folks...

LACoBH can do better and usually does. Recently, however, I have observed that LACoBH is not daily or regularly cleaning up the #beachtrash and debris near the water's edge at Will Rogers State Beach. This is becoming an epidemic along the local coastline, unfortunately, in terms of #beachtrash and debris not being collected and disposed of by the government agencies charged with this responsibility.  Meanwhile, there is no let up in the collection of beach parking fees.  In other words, there is an ongoing failure of consideration. Beach parking fees and taxes are paid by beach patrons and citizens but this State Beach is not being cleaned daily or regularly near the water's edge.

It's time for LACoBH to do what it is supposed to do.

Respectfully submitted,

William Maguire,
Editor, "County Recurrent News" and
California resident and State Beach patron

(All photos by & Copyright William Maguire 2017.)

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