To the editor: The sewer state of affairs in Altadena arises from the event of the realm and poor code enforcement by L.A. County (“Altadena’s latest roadblock to rebuilding: Sewage,” Could 15). Beneath Altadena’s rustic enchantment lay a multitude of errors, oversights and omissions.
I lived for 14 years in a west Altadena home in-built 1941. Its sewer connection took an extended course to a aspect road fairly than to the road of my tackle. My next-door neighbor’s Nineteen Twenties residence featured a jerry-rigged drain area that despatched uncooked effluent to his yard, dangerously near a swimming pool, one other unapproved characteristic from many years previous.
Altadena’s development was gradual, and never within the least uniform. A lot of the housing, significantly within the west of the realm, was altered by residents who made additions and alterations undeterred by any guidelines, whereas enforcement remained virtually nil. Many houses offered “as is,” with the brand new occupants merely accepting issues as discovered.
If the sewer state of affairs was dangerous, the floor drainage preparations had been worse. Many streets acted as drainage culverts throughout rainstorms, and residents relied on channels minimize by way of their properties to divert water from the road above to the one beneath. It lacked curbs or formal drainage preparations aside from gravity.
Alas, the sweeter character of Altadena is gone; the individuality of its homes, the character of its neighborhoods. However officers want to make sure that sewers, sidewalks and road drains are updated and code.
Michael McGrorty, Seal Seashore
