The Distressed But Still Functional Eagle Rock Library

I rode my bike to the Eagle Rock branch library (that's my bike on the right with the green panniers) to pick up "Fighter," a book about the Battle of Britain by Len Deighton. So far it's pretty good in that it dispenses with the loyal band of brothers tripe in favor of a clear-eyed assessment.

This is a view of the library to the left of the entrance. The head librarian ordered yellow tape put around the bushes to keep the local homeless population from living in there (and sleeping upright in the library chairs during the day). I once stopped off at the library on my way home from Trader Joe's with a bag of food in my basket. I was only in the library for perhaps 2 1/2 minutes but when I came out my $15 bag of food was gone (crackers and cooked frozen chicken wings among other things). I was indignant at the thief and furious at myself at being so trusting. I jumped on my bike and rode up and down all the local streets trying to find the thief. It was only a week later that I realized that all the local transients I saw hanging out by the library were living in the bushes at night. I went back there and searched and found a matted Trader Joe's bag ground into the mud.

The homeless lived there for the better part of the year until the library finally kicked them out. I still see them around though (there is a service center for transients just half a block away) but I don't think they live any longer in the bushes.

If this had happened in Glendale, the homeless would never have been allowed to set up shop in the bushes right next to a building used by hundreds of kids every day. Glendale has so many cops, if someone gets pulled over for having a broken tail light or expired tag, in five minutes they have 5 squad cars at the scene.