Today’s Agenda

Mixed among the “lost dog” notices and the kitten giveaways is a sign of the times: “Lost Gun,” it says, and lists a number to call. Altadena resident Frances Collela Zimmerman, in Community Essay, is horrified.

Flat-out losing a gun would seem awfully careless, but is Zimmerman’s horror at the ubiquity of guns justified? Californians are arming themselves in unprecedented numbers, buying legal arms at a rate nearly 35% higher than two years ago. And one faction in the gun-control debate does argue that the more that law-abiding citizens arm themselves, the greater the crime-control benefit. As Chicago law professor Daniel D. Polsby has put it, “What we ought to be doing is trying to restore an equilibrium of arms to the streets, not chasing a delusion that with tighter restrictions we can get bad guys to give up their arms.”

Teacher Zimmerman’s parting thought, however, is that many of her sixth-graders have told her that they know how to get their hands on a loaded gun. And when lost guns are as unremarkable as lost kittens, she says, “God help us.”

Trees, in and of themselves, are good for cities. Their shade cools pavements and buildings, they add oxygen to the air, and they soften the hard outlines of urban architecture. But trees as builders of neighborhood solidarity? That’s the aim of a program called Citizen Forester, operated by the nonprofit group TreePeople, the subject of Making a Difference. Volunteers get equal measures of training in horticulture and organizing, and put the two together in community tree-planting projects. As one of the more dedicated volunteers puts it, “A tree-planting can demonstrate that neighbors can come together safely and work together. . . . (The project) may keep them open to doing more things in their neighborhood, to taking more responsibility.” A tall order for a sapling, but there are reasons for optimism:

“Inside all self-absorbed people is a desire to care about others, but often we don’t do that if we don’t feel other people are making a similar effort,” says L.A. psychiatrist Mark Goulston. “Also, it’s a way of giving back to the world and seeing yourself as a giver, not a taker. And tree-planting is something everyone can agree on,” he adds. “It’s outside the political arena.”

The more crowded an environment, the tougher it is to keep from treading on one another’s toes. That’s one reason why handicapped parking, while not on the same level of urgency as gun violence, is a source of urban friction.

What, asks Roberta Berens of Encino in Getting Answers, can be done to stop the abusers? The director of the state Department of Motor Vehicles has some answers, but Cheryl Porter of Simi Valley also has a retort in Another View. She’s young, she drives a hot-looking Camaro and doesn’t use a wheelchair. So she gets a lot of dirty looks and nasty cracks when she wheels into handicapped parking. But just because her disability is not so visible, she asks, does that mean she should be treated as a pariah?