Early morning sprinklers

Dear Editor:As I rode my bike along Downey Avenue on Monday morning, between Alameda and Stewart and Gray, I saw an elderly couple on the sidewalk in front of a stretch of apartments. The woman slowly led the way as he walked behind her as best as he could, with the aid of a walker. They seemed to have been doing fine until the sprinklers turned on and began to wet them. Before they could get past the sprinklers, they were already drenched. This stretch of sidewalk is frequented each weekday morning by many high school students, so I thought that perhaps the sprinklers were the building management's tactical way of getting these teenagers to stay off the grass and move along quickly. The sprinklers would have certainly gotten me to move along quickly, had I been walking by. I felt helpless as I witnessed the unintended consequences of management's decision to turn the sprinklers on in the morning. The city should consider enforcing an ordinance that limits the use of sprinkler systems along sidewalks from midnight to 4 a.m. Dan Chantre Downey

********** Published: March 14, 2013 - Volume 11 - Issue 48