Pigeon Poop, cockroaches: The downsides of living in a warm large city.

I always thought it was strange that in Santa Monica, they wash not just the streets, but the sidewalks as well. In a city where the desert hits the ocean, I've always thought it's questionable water waste. Of course, it's California, and they've already thought of that! Apparently they wash the streets to prevent pollutants from reaching the ocean? Still, I just can't shake the root feeling that there's something ostentatious, frivolous about the idea of washing sidewalks.


However, as I walked under an overpass today from the Bicycle District (aka Hel-Mel) to my boy , I noticed a 2 inch layer of pigeon poop lying where the concrete walls meet the sidewalk. I realized how many cockroaches I've seen sauntering the streets in LA, and how few in Santa Monica, and suddenly sidewalk power washers make much more sense.

No matter how clean you are, you can't guarantee your neighbor, or even neighborhood out here, and once the heat hits, so do the shiny skittering critters. *SHUDDER* I try to be tough, but nothing turns me into a girly banshee faster than seeing one of them!


I'm not alone in this--my mom cites this as one of the major reasons we left New Orleans when I was 5. I'd never seen one in real life until moving out here. . and someday, it may be a factor for me leaving LA too!


On the plus side, unlike NY, rats are few and far between out here.

NYC health warnings
http://birdcontrolblog.com/?tag=bird-deterrents