Took this year’s first ride down the southwest end of the loop today. It’s gotten even more disturbing. The west side of the river, along the gated condo communities, looks like it’s been vacuumed clean, grated, and raked like a Zen garden. There was not a single piece of stray paper or trash of any kind the whole way from Irvington to Valencia and back. –LE – 1/14/25

Southwest End Of The Loop

southwest side of the Santa Cruz
between the riverbed and the
gated condo communities
the bike path is manicured

where winter-dried brush
clogs the lane on the east side
the shoulders are scraped down
to bedrock for ten yards

either side on the condo-side
with artsy colored gravel here and there
‘artistic placement’ of copses of trees
rocks, large and small, and shaded benches

condo owners getting their tax-share
more than most on the rest of the path
for all the planning and expense
few seem to use it

while the northern end is always crowded

even by the homeless camps
looking like the carnival just ended

–LE – 11/26/24