Dear Mr. Mayor: Thanks for the Street Sweepers

During all the time that Tom Bradley was mayor, the city street sweepers had a quaint custom: They faithfully visited the residential neighborhoods in the Valley once a month from April to September. Then, when the leaves began to fall from the many parkway and frontyard trees in October, the sweepers would disappear, not to be seen again until householders, winter winds and decay had disposed of the mess. We always believed that during the winter, the street sweepers cruised the palm-lined avenues of Venice and other beach communities, after the summer visitors and their litter were safely gone.

But this year, the street sweepers have visited twice since the leaves began to fall, and are actually proving to be of some relevance to residents. It is remarkable that a lapse so far down the bureaucratic chain could be corrected by a change in the mayor’s office, but that is what seems to have happened.

We are so quick to blame when things go wrong, it is only fair to recognize when they go well.

R.J. WAGNER

Van Nuys