Rats in Pacific Palisades
Insanely creepy story from the
LA Weekly:
Palisades Rathouse: Unchallenged by Health Officials, Elderly Twins Fed Local Vermin Population
Old ladies lovingly nurtured rats, turning a home in one of the nation's priciest enclaves into Willard
Last October 25 was the kind of community-council meeting that made news in Pacific Palisades. A smooth-talking, overperfumed lobbyist for a global gas company was there explaining that a proposed gas terminal some 28 miles off the coast would pose no harm to the denizens. A local woman disagreed, leaving in tears. An LAPD vice cop � a Sergeant Crump � showed up in an undercover �drug-dealer hippie� getup, and, to an audience with mouths agape, reported that teenagers in the squeaky-clean Palisades had been buying booze and drugs by a local Mobile station.
Somewhere in the presentations, the local code-enforcement fetishists had their say. Susan Oakley made an impassioned plea: �There�s flagrant violations!� The owner of Subway was using signs to promote sandwiches. The new CVS drugstore had neon lights � not allowed.
On a rare day like this, when the audience is almost as big as the 22-member council, the minutiae can go forever. But it�s a tidy, rule-obeying bunch. When the clock strikes 9 p.m., the librarian turns the lights off and everyone must leave promptly.
First-timer Scott Denham fidgeted as his chance to speak approached, then barely got to be heard. He sprang from his seat at about one minute before 9, speaking rapidly to beat the librarian�s stopwatchlike closing procedure.
At 34, Denham stood out as being at least 30 years younger than almost everyone else in the room. He began, �Hi, my name is Scott Denham. I just moved in to the Palisades with my wife and two young children. ... [Twenty seconds left.] I�m here because we have a major, major rodent problem. There�s an infestation on my neighbor�s property. It�s spilling over, and it�s posing a serious health risk to my family. ... [Ten seconds left.] I need your help. We�re not getting any help from the city or the county. ...�
What follows is a six-page Kafka-esque story of governmental mismanagement, mental health 'issues' and denial.
Just downright bizare...
Posted by DaveH at August 3, 2008 2:02 PM