Yard Sales

* Once again we find ourselves legislating our way out of much-needed community management. Restricting yard sales may sound practical but here is my take on the subject (“Council Moves to Put Curbs on Yard Sales,” Sept. 25).

I live in a neighborhood of apartment dwellers. Every weekend numerous yard sales appear up and down the street, inviting conversation from neighbors who would normally just walk past one another. I have enjoyed meeting many new friends and neighbors while laughing about the demise of the lava lamp or the good ol’ days of vinyl recordings. Why then are we so intolerant of a few parking inconveniences or Saturday morning hubbub when it often offers opportunity to bind the neighborhood that much closer together?

I helped some friends with a yard sale a few weeks ago to raise funds to stage a theater play, only to have the “raucous” inconvenience sternly broken up by two uptight police officers. If we are willing to legislate our communities away rather than welcome opportunities for communal exchange, then we should not complain as our human indifference increases.

TODD ECKERT

Los Angeles