Political issues

Being a civil servant isn't always cutting ribbons, kissing babies and making important plans for other people. Sometimes, it’s helping people through a tough time that neither of you have much control over.

Councilman Vargas recently organized a community meeting for his district to talk about CalTrans’ widening of Interstate 5 where it goes through his district. He brought two city engineers to discuss the ramifications to the residences in the area.

There will be street closures, major streets that will go from four lanes to two and other through streets that will be converted into cul-de-sac streets. For 18 months, several hundred families will be subjected to construction noise, dirt and traffic nightmares.

There was a crowded house as the mike was passed around the room so people could ask questions and make comments. The councilman is trying to ease his constituents through this difficult but necessary time.

"Downey Counts" volunteers

Last night I wrote about the first meeting at the Moravian Church to prepare volunteers to go out into the streets and document our homeless neighbors.

The intention is that once we have figured out how many homeless there actually are, we can be more effective in helping them and providing the services that are needed. For the next two nights, volunteers such as the ones pictured here will be hitting the streets to help.

Downey Counts

Counting the homeless in Downey:  Pastor Christie Melby-Gibbons of the Moravian Church of Downey has helped to coordinate an effort in our community to provide services for the homeless. Tonight was the beginning of that effort. A group of civic leaders (including Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard pictured above with Christie) and concerned citizens met at the Moravian Church for a training meeting in preparation for the first step—counting the homeless. Volunteers also prepared hygiene kits for the homeless who agree to participate in the survey. The kits include hygiene products, a fast food meal card, and a fleece blanket.

Mayor Mario Guerra attended. Here he is being recorded by Downey's own documentary filmmaker, Julian Park.

It's not too late to get involved. The homeless count and surveys will take several nights. If you are interested in helping, email Pastor Christie at christie@downeymoravian.org.

“Sometimes it's easy to walk by because we know we can't change someone's whole life in a single afternoon. But what we fail to realize is that simple kindness can go a long way toward encouraging someone who is stuck in a desolate place.”
~Mike Yankoski

Gloom of night

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."

That's what it says on an inscription on the James Farley Post Office in New York City. But in reality, the post office shuts down during the gloom of night. The delivery trucks are lined up and ready for the next day's mail, when neither rain nor heat will keep our mail carrier from showing up with the mail.

Backyard art?

On our riverbed walks, we pass the back sides of houses. Mostly just fences, but occasionally, we see an extension of the yard. Sometimes a vegetable garden (which seems like a very cool use of the space), or sometimes a dog run. We've even seen a goat!

Or, in this case, yard art. A wildly eclectic bunch of statues and figurines that makes me very curious about the front of this house.

The writing on the wall...

Continuing with our walk along the Rio San Gabriel river... we went as far as the freeway overpass.

This area (under the Santa Ana freeway, where the 605 splits off) is not the beautiful scenic part of this walk. Although it is certainly interesting. The underpass has generally been tagged quite extensively. While we didn't investigate thoroughly this trip, there was definitely new "writing" that has taken place. I even found my daughter's name scrawled in one place. I'm pretty sure she did not do it...

North or south?

Earlier this week, before the rain returned, we took a walk on the Rio San Gabriel riverbed.

Looking to the south in this picture, one might wonder why. It's not very attractive, although I find the seemingly unending concrete riverbed intriguing, and even picturesque in its own way.

But turn around, and you'll see why. We headed north, where the sides of the riverbed are lined with trees, and the riverbed itself is thriving. Flocks of geese stop here often to rest and feed before continuing their journey south.  And directly in front of us (on a clear day) is an excellent view of the mountains. (Yes, that's Mt. Baldy again.)

Altogether, a very nice walk!

Backyard splash

Don't get me wrong, I love the rain. But on days like this, when it feels I've somehow teleported to Seattle, I miss the summer. I went back in my pictures and found this one of my cousin jumping in the pool trying to perfect his cannon ball. My brother's underwater camera was the hit of the 4th of July party.