Dear Editor: 

I am writing in regards of the event Ride & Stride. 

From what I was able to observe, the inconvenience to the majority of the residents and businesses outweighed the event's benefits. I am not sure who thought of this, put it together and organized it. However, what a mess and complete disaster this has been. 

Example No. 1: I woke up at 5:30 a.m. to be at church at 6:30. I could not park my car in front of my apartment to load all my musical instruments. I am a percussionist. 

After playing both services I left and arrived home about 1:30 p.m. to find out the closest I could park to my apartment was two blocks away. I had to carry each instrument, one at a time. 

Example No. 2: What if a pregnant mother-to-be had an emergency? 

Example No. 3: What if someone had a heart attack? 

Example No. 4: What if there was a major fire? 

In situations like this, the city's first aid booth would have been of no use. You would require triage emergency stations. 

Example No. 5: I went to have lunch at Veracruz on Imperial Highway and it was empty because of the event. I also had to park a block away. 

Lastly, God forbid if there would be one crazed individual that would get in a car and start mowing down defenseless people. Where would the people go? There were no cars where people could hide behind. 

Those who were in charge in all aspects of this event must not have thought and studied this through, factoring in all the logistical impact it required. 

Just to have people walk or ride their bikes in the middle of the street. Newsflash: people do that already. What a novelty. 

I do not believe this event helped or improved the community. 

Angel Cortes
Downey