Around Town: Arguments in favor of Pokemon Go

A confession: I started the Great Pokemon Adventure last week in this space with a bias.

The bias was against the game.

The game was dangerous, there were privacy concerns, the game company would data-mine your location and habits, and users might walk into the traffic.

But after a solid week of playing the game, here in La Cañada, and also in Pasadena, downtown Los Angeles and Palo Alto, I’m singing a different tune.

Take jury duty, for example. If you are called to serve, go to the courthouses in downtown L.A. or Pasadena. Try to avoid Alhambra.

The Law Library at the Pasadena Courthouse is a Pokemon stop, a place where characters gather and coins, raspberries, magic eggs and other goodies pop out. The Pasadena City Hall, next door, is a Pokemon Gym, where good things happen.

Both the Criminal Courthouse (Folz) and Civil Courthouse (Mosk) in DTLA are full of Pokemon hotspots, all upgraded by bored attorneys waiting for their cases to be called.

Ten years ago, the lawyers played Spider Solitaire, then it was phone Scrabble, but this week, it’s Pokemon Go.

After work, there’s more Pokemon-related stuff to do. Rumor has it that Skippy the Flintridge Proper bartender is serving up a new cocktail, “the Pokemon.”

There has been dissent. Last weekend, Pokemon Go issued an app upgrade and blocked most of the third-party map and cheat sites that had been tracking Pokemon. Also, we learned that Pasadena City Hall is a Pokemon “nest,” which means it is a place where Pokemon are released, virtually, and begin to travel around the region at 1 mph.

Pokemon will help make La Cañada a better place. One benefit of Pokemon Go is that the game encourages gamers to walk. If you don’t walk, the eggs don’t hatch. That’s why, all over the civilized (e.g. Pokemon-accessible) world, and even in La Cañada, people are shedding pounds by using the app.

There’s an unintended benefit. Many La Cañada players are teens who are driven from Pokestop to Pokestop by their moms.

The game won’t register if your speed is more than 15 mph. The Pokestops will zip by, then disappear. Sure, you might see a Pokemon or two, but they are harder to catch at 40 mph.

La Cañada is about to witness a sea change. Years ago, the Foothill Boulevard speed limits were enforced by a legendary deputy sheriff known as “Deputy Smith.”

They say that Deputy Smith took no prisoners, worked seven days a week, and even gave the watch commander’s mom a speeding ticket.

In the spirit of “tools, not rules,” (Howard Rheingold, “Smart Mobs,” 2007), Pokemon Go will encourage La Cañada drivers to “act in concert by using mobile media and wireless computer networks to organize collective actions,” including compliance with the Foothill Boulevard speed limits.

Next to Star Trek downloads, this is the Internet’s highest and best use.

Slow down, you might catch a Pikachu.

Speed up, you won’t see a thing.

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ANITA SUSAN BRENNER is a longtime La Cañada Flintridge resident and an attorney with Law Offices of Torres and Brenner in Pasadena. Contact her at anitasusan.brenner@yahoo.com. Follow her on Instagram @realanitabrenner, Facebook and on Twitter @anitabrenner.