Small Town Niceties
June 23, 2011Residents like to describe South Pasadena as a small town. Local businesses have tried to capitalize on that identity, designing their storefronts to look like those you’d see in Kansas City circa 1962. But the small town identity isn’t all make-believe. The city really is run like a small town. Here’s my testimony.
Yesterday I arrived home to find my building’s driveway blocked by yellow police tape. My first thought was: someone’s been murdered. A few ladies who live down the street were gathered nearby, wondering about the reason for the tape. Yellow police tape isn’t an everyday sight in South Pas. In my four months of living here, I’ve never observed any police action period. It’s easy to forget that Los Angeles is a few miles away.
I called the local police station to inquire about the tape. The desk cop told me he just got on duty and would have to investigate. He took my phone number and promised to call me back. I thanked him and expected to hear back from him in no less than four hours, if at all. Five minutes later he called back and informed me that a falling tree branch had knocked down a telephone wire.
Oh, okay.
My car, I mentioned to him, was parked on the street. How could I make sure I didn’t get ticketed while waiting for my driveway to re-open? The cop asked for my license plate number and assured me that he would inform Parking Enforcement that I was authorized to park on the street.
Thank you!
And if that measure of kindness wasn’t small-towny enough, the cop called back again an hour later to let me know that the yellow tape had been removed.
Good to know!
Any day now, a milkman will be delivering to my front door.
Hahaha, love it! Had the same small-town experience in M.B. I had a 6 ft ficus plant/tree in a large cement pot outside my garage. This thing was heavy. So when I noticed it was missing, I called the police department–not 911, just the non-emergency number. They said they would be over soon to check it out. 5 minutes later the police roll up to the house. They APOLOGIZE for the wait. They take the statement. Apparently someone has driven down the street and swiped several plants. The MISSING FICUS appears in the local weekly paper crime blotter. A week later I get a call from the police. The police have called because they received a call from a woman who may have my plant. They transfer her call to me. The woman describes the plant. The pot doesn’t sound quite right, but I drive over to her house anyway. The woman has forgotten to mention the little detail that it is an artificial ficus plant. I get stuck listening to her natter on for 30 minutes. I wonder if she does this a lot because she is lonely. Ficus never recovered, but I did run a lock around the other plant. It eventually died because I never watered it. I hope the stolen plant is better taken care of; I guess it has to be!