That We Might Be Protected From Predators SF Gate 2014

Kristopher Brown, who you might see pedaling around San Francisco from mid-February to the end of October, has worked for Pestec for about four years, since he came to the city. If you want to know about the city’s geography, he’s the guy to ask; he knows all its streets and alleys. Kristopher rides to work every day, and rides at work every day.

And if you want to praise God that you spend Spring and Summer without the heartbreak of itchy welts on your arms and legs, you really ought to first praise Kristopher Brown and the five colleagues with whom he covers every catch basin in the city. Pestec, the name of which is emblazoned on the back of Kristopher’s fluorescent vest, is under contract with the Public Utility Commission’s Waste Water Environments program, to make sure that the city is more or less free from mosquitos.

Mosquitos park anywhere they like, and the same is true for their vanquisher, whose bike gives him mobility and flexibility that wouldn’t be possible with four wheels. His college training was as a graphic designer. Perhaps his art skills are usable in Kristopher’s spray-dabbing of a blue spot to indicate that he’s paid a visit to a specific site. After spraying, he peers through the grill in the roadway to determine whether there’s sitting water. If Kristopher peers down through the grill and sees the faint gleam of a puddle below, he takes out his wand and applies a gentle puff of something-or-other he says is harmless to people and degradable between his visits.

He likes his job a lot.

Original URL: http://blog.sfgate.com/leahgarchik/2014/03/13/that-we-might-be-protected-from-predators/