Business owners met Monday night in Venice to talk about increasing security after a string of clashes between shop proprietors and transients living in the area.
While closed to anyone who doesn’t own a business in the area, most spoke positively after the meeting.
"The one thing we can take from this is, that we can make a good thing out of a bad thing happen," said Clabe Harteley, owner of The Cow’s End Cafe.
On Saturday, Harteley's finger was partially bitten off in a fight with a transient, drawing additional attention to the neighborhood.
"Somebody said ‘Clabe you're bleeding! Your finger’s bleeding,'" he said. He looked down and the tip of his finger was gone. Doctors were not able to reattach it.
The man responsible, identified as Johnathan Lemmons, was arrested.
The fingertip incident was not on the agenda at the meeting, but was the minds of many.
"The issue that happened at the Cow’s End is partially security. It is partially safety. It is partially homelessness. Those are all issues on our list," said Brittney Seeliger, an organizer of the meeting.
"If you attract people from all over the country to come live for free on Venice Beach, and if you feed them, within that population are going be some folks that are lethal and are dangerous," said Mark Ryavec of the Venice Stakeholders Association.
But Nicholas Cavins, who has been homeless for seven years and is a fixture on the Venice sidewalks, said not all of the transient population in the area is dangerous.
He did acknowledge that many are mentally ill, but added "We’re not all psychotic, or dangerous."
He said he has to deal with that growing segment of the population, too.
"I deal with it all the time. They try to invade my places, too," he said. "Spots that I sleep at."
After 46 years in Venice Harteley is hopeful this latest violence will prompt policies that improve living conditions for everyone.