Friendly People

Re “Keeping Sidewalks Pure for Free Enterprise,” Dec. 24: When I walk my dog around the neighborhood, it’s inevitable that certain neighbors and people I meet on the street avert their eyes. Nobody smiles anymore or seems to acknowledge the presence of others. It is my experience that the people who always talk to me and seem to share the wonderment of an animal are the homeless.

I can’t wait to win the lottery so I can buy shopping carts for Flower Man, Lloyd and the rest of the street people, and then I’d buy a town for them to live in where they can shop and eat to their hearts’ content in my grocery stores. I would also give them jobs. We could all have animals, greet each other in the street and invite each other over to talk.

A smile goes a long way in my book. I say to the homeless: Keep on smiling.

RENEE L. LEVIEN

West Los Angeles