Imagine My Surprise

(Photo by Mickeypretzel and published in The Los Angeles Times.)

No, this is not a picture of a petting zoo. It's a picture of some goats at work in downtown Los Angeles. Well, at the moment, at least one of the goats is taking a break, but the rest of his colleagues are busy munching away the dried brush and overgrowth from a steep hill at 4th and Hill.

On Wednesday, as I emerged from the subway station at this intersection, I (along with about 40 other people) was greeted with the sight of about 20 goats clearing the brush behind the station and the new little urban park that is under construction. For those familiar with this part of downtown L.A. (yes, we actually have a downtown, and it's currently being tidied up quite nicely, thank you), seeing a whole herd of goats working near a busy intersection was quite a shock, a very pleasant one.

Why goats? Well, the hill is quite steep, making it impossible for human workers with power equipment to safely clear the fire hazard/eyesore, so the City hired a goat herd to do the job at considerably less cost.

And the benefits extended far beyond cost-reduction and liability limitation. Hundreds of rather jaded Angelenos off to the State Building for hearings and the like were treated to a little pastoral wisdom.

Made my day, it did.

Outsourcing...you're doing it right.