An Especially Moving Memorial Da

On Monday, Steve and I attended the Memorial Day ceremony at Two Strike Park (Mary O’Keefe attended the ceremony at the corner of Ocean View Boulevard and Honolulu Avenue; a wrap up of these two ceremonies will be in next week’s paper).

During the Two Strike event the names on the Memorial Wall were read along with the servicemen’s date of birth and date of death. What was so sad to me was hearing how young these men were – many in their early 20s. 

A highlight of the event was when the biographies were read of three of the men whose names were on the Memorial Wall. Reading their biographies put a face to them, made them “real.” Learning that one lived “right over there,” near Reta on New York Avenue, that he liked to collect bugs … well, that brought home to me that these are not just names on a wall, but real people who were mourned when they didn’t come home. 

I’m so glad we went.

As you know, I typically don’t add my “two cents” about a lot of things that go on around town (of course, I have voiced my opinion from time to time). I’ve found I can’t keep my mouth shut about the La Crescenta Avenue bike lanes that are going in.

First, what is it with the green color? Or what’s supposed to be green. Whether the black slurry is coming through or the black marks on the bright green roadway are the result of cars driving on it, it’s ugly. Not to mention that bright white is probably a better choice since it reflects the sun, keeping the roadway cooler.

I don’t even want to contemplate what will happen if/when evacuation orders are issued in the case of an emergency. I wonder how many folks will pile their belongs on their bicycles and ride to safety … ?