'Pot Smoking Sanctuary' Sparks More Patrols in LCF

In some sections of Los Angeles, a green, spray-painted marijuana leaf and brightly colored, bubble-lettered graffiti are as common as abandoned furniture and curbside trash.

Not so in the more affluent La Cañada, where members sat stunned Tuesday night when resident R.C. Drake handed them photos of a graffti-splattered pedestrian bridge at Indiana Avenue and Curran Street. Empty cigarette packs, food wrappings, a discarded recliner and beer cans rounded out his collage.

And while Mayor David Spence called the shabby scene "despicable,'' and city officials said they will mobilize to clean it up, Capt. Dave Silversparre of the promised additional units would patrol the area looking for offenders.

Drake hosted a neighborhood watch meeting Friday, in which another resident detailed what Drake now believes to be a burgeoning problem on Indiana Avenue, south of Foothill Boulevard. Once Drake hopped the fence and hiked down to the site, he saw drug paraphernalia, empty liquor containers, discarded furniture and other rubbish.

It's a "pot smoking sanctuary,'' Drake wrote in an email to Patch.

"You can smell the drugs,'' he told La Cañada Flintridge City Council Tuesday. "I'm the captain of our neighborhood watch and we're doing the best we can as a neighborhood, but this is what we're dealing with.''

Drake told council members that some of the trash-dumping culprits are patrons of at Indiana Avenue and Foothill Boulevard. He said he's watched some taco stand customers drop wrappers and cups and such after finishing their lunch.

Stolen Truck

Further underscoring Drake's concern for increased property crime in his neighborhood is the truck he reported stolen back in October. Authorities found it in Los Angeles, he said, noting it was returned with empty beer cans, travel-size tequilla bottles, junk lawn mowers and leaf blowers.

While Silversparre told city council he's already spoken to Deputy Eric Matejka about beefing up patrols, and that he will look into adding a public service announcement on the city's local Charter Cable channel, he also commended Drake for leading the neighborhood watch meeting.

Silversparre encourages all residents to stay vigilant about people acting suspiciously in their neighborhood (strangers looking in windows, peering over back gates, etc.) and to report vandalism and any witnessed or suspected crimes to the station. The number for CV Sheriff's Station is 818-248-3464.