Good/Bad Samaritan index: “Cities with Heart” was...

Good/Bad Samaritan index: “Cities with Heart” was the name of a survey by a Cal State Fresno psychology professor to determine which burgs are most helpful to pedestrians.

Alas, the City of Angels didn’t live up to its name.

Then, again, L.A. is a city where drivers have bumper stickers that say, “So Many Pedestrians--So Little Time.”

L.A. ranked 34th out of a possible 36 in the study, which was published in American Demographics magazine. Only New York City and Paterson, N.J., had meaner streets, according to Robert Levine of Cal State Fresno.

And Levine’s researchers didn’t stand at the end of a freeway ramp in L.A., either. They spent two working days in bustling Downtown areas around Grand Avenue and 7th Street.

Five experiments were conducted to test how much aid passers-by would give to pedestrians who (1) dropped a load of magazines while wearing a leg brace (2) needed change for a quarter (3) dropped a pen (4) stood on a curb while posing as a blind person and (5) dropped a letter that was ready to mail. (A sixth category was average amount of United Way contributions by residents of each city.)

Researcher Todd Martinez, a graduate student, said of L.A.: “People looked at me but just didn’t seem to want to bother. For a few trials, I was acting the hurt-leg episode on a narrow sidewalk with just enough space for a person to squeeze by. After I dropped my magazines, one man walked very close to me, checked out the situation and then sidestepped around without a word.”

Well, at least the guy didn’t try to steal any of the magazines.

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List of the Day: Here is Levine’s Good/Bad Samaritan index (with No. 1 being most helpful and No. 36 being least helpful).

* Injured Leg: Chattanooga, Tenn. (No. 1), L.A. (No. 36)

* Making Change: Louisville, Ky. (No. 1), Paterson, N.J. (No. 36)

* Dropped Pen: Springfield, Mass. (No. 1), Chicago (No. 36)

* Helping Blind: Kansas City, Mo. (No. 1), Salt Lake City (No. 36)

* Lost Letter: San Diego (No. 1), Fresno (No. 36).

* United Way: Rochester, N.Y. (No. 1), Fresno (No. 36)

* Overall: Rochester (No. 1), New York (No. 36)

“Generally speaking,” Cal State Fresno’s Levine said, “we found that the higher the population density, the less likely the inhabitants of a city were to offer help to strangers.”

His survey didn’t enhance Fresno’s image, either. That city ranked a lowly 33rd overall, just a bit less hostile than No. 34 L.A.

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It would have to be right before lunch . . . Dennis Levin of Marina del Rey found a maker of a French mustard that has “the product expiration date down to a science”--down to the minute, to be exact.

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