Stench of the Open Trench  

Have you seen the nearly completed senior housing at the corner of Cleveland Avenue and Montebello Boulevard ?  The building looks nice, but there almost was a fly in the ointment of this project.

On Friday, March 14, as I was bicycling home, I noticed an open trench on Cleveland , running alongside the building.  After dark, a pedestrian might have wrenched an ankle, a car might have been damaged, a wheelchair might have toppled.  There were no warning cones, no warning lights, no warning tape.  There was no security guard on the premises, no emergency telephone number to call, no construction worker around.  For somebody who had learned about lawsuits in law school, I found that the trench was reason to worry.

Since there was no emergency, I thought not to call the police department.  Montebello code enforcement was closed at this hour and there was no emergency number.  Because the housing was a TELACU project, I went to the white pages and found a number of telephone numbers, but none for after-hours emergencies.  (Is that not odd?)  Finally, I left a message at a general number, and the following Monday I noticed some small warning cones alongside part of the trench, perhaps as if somebody thought it silly to place cones.

If you answer the multiple-choice questions below and e-mail to lessonanswers@mymontebello.com with “Lesson answers” in the subject field, you will be credited toward a “certificate of recognition in community affairs” to be awarded in 2007 by a local nonprofit organization. 

1. What was the problem here?

(a) There was the possibility of an accident.

(b) There was no convenient way to alert authorities or the responsible party about the danger.  

2. What creative solution would you use to alleviate the danger without having to take much time?

(a) Find nearby barriers and cones and place those alongside the trench, as long as doing so not create a different danger.

(b) Realizing that this would not amount to an emergency, call the police station and ask that cones be brought and placed alongside the trench.

May 1, 2008