What’s going on behind that construction fence around Echo Park Lake? Perhaps you don’t want to know based on what Thomas DeBoe saw – and smelled – on a morning walk today. As DeBoe circled the fenced-off park, which is closed while the lake is being drained, the Echo Park resident caught glimpses of a mauled duck, dead fish and a gaggle of terrified geese apparently being stalked by a coyote across the muddy lake bottom. There was also a stench to be contended with. Here’s Deboe’s account of his 10 a.m. walk:
The smell from the Park Avenue side of the lake is almost unbearable. I could only stay there for a couple of minutes. When I came back to this point on my return, I had to cover my nose and try to hold my breath until I completed my turn up Echo Park Avenue. After walking a few steps up Echo Park Avenue I saw a wild looking coyote, with its head down, stalking through the mud toward the island. On the opposite side of the island were domestic geese frantically marching to nowhere for an escape. Further down Echo Park Avenue near Bellevue Avenue, in the reminding water and mud, were nearly a hundred dead fish. This was my Sunday morning scenic walk around the lake.
