I live in sort of a confusing neighborhood.

Technically, I live in Los Angeles. By “technically,” I mean my mayor is Antonio Villaraigoso, my neighborhood high school is Venice High. But my zip code — 90230 – is in Culver City. It’s a bit confusing, but you get used to it.

Recently, I found out I live in Del Rey. I guess they picked the name because we’re just east of Marina Del Rey and Playa Del Rey. And without the Marina or the Playa, we’re just Del Rey.

We have a neighborhood council. Bill Rosendahl is our city council person. I live in “Area F.”

Photo courtesy the Del Rey Council web site

Anywhooo …

One of the best parts of our neighborhood is the running track/bike track that runs down the middle of Culver Boulevard. It’s hard to describe in sentences — you sort of have to be there — but Culver has a center divider with a really nice jogging path and a a bike path. Those of us who jog and walk the path are like a little family. We wave to each other and mumble “good morning” in between breathes. (My favorite people to run into are the little, old Japanese couple who walk together hand-in-hand. He also carries a walking stick, which he handles the way a Samurai handles a sword.)

The jogging path runs as far east as McConnell, across the street from Ronnie’s Diner, where the cops from Pacific Division eat breakfast. It runs east into Culver City proper, stopping just a couple of blocks from Vet Park and Sony Studios.

For about a year, the path has been sort of wrecked because of the widening of the 405 freeway. Construction crews widening the freeway at the Culver overpass used the path to store girders and park trucks. And even though that sort of sucked for the joggers, it was easy to see how convenient it was to use the path while the freeway work was going on. The freeway certainly needed widening and losing use of the path for a while was a small sacrifice for the greater good.

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But, recently, someone decided to go to far. They’ve decided to permanently destroy the path while rearranging the intersection of Sawtelle Boulevard at Culver. It’s not clear what is exactly happening there, but they’ve added some lanes and paved over the entire jogging/bike path where it went under the freeway. You can no longer job all the way from Ronnie’s to Sony — Los Angeles has been cut off from Culver City.

There was never anything wrong with the intersection. At all. It was a little confusing for drivers encountering the “two Culvers” for the first time and in the morning it was a little backed up due to the freeway on ramp, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as a thousand other intersection in the County.

But someone, somewhere decided to improve it. And in doing so, ruined one of the nicest things about the area. The jogging path isn’t exactly a trail through the Oregon mountains, but it was a little oasis to get in a work out in a dense, highly-urbanized neighborhood.

Now, it’s gone.

And, I’m very sad.

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I can’t figure out how this happened. I don’t know who made the decision. I’d like to know — if you know, let me know. I tried talking to the construction guys, but I’ve gotten more info out of street corner dope dealers.

It’s a conspiracy, and I want answers.