It's the Wild West at work, more than ever lately.
The little park on the corner next to us (it's a plaza, only the footprint of a building) has
become a sort of encampment, as the City pushes homeless people hither and yon.
Outside our door, the street business that's always simmering is heating up.
All the ills of poverty (including addiction and the things people do to feed it) parade past... and come inside too.
The City is doing nothing, not even picking up park trash.
On Wednesday the trash had spilled into our alley, which people drive down to drop off donations.
A coworker and I swept up the wet, gag-making garbage with push brooms and shoveled it into our trash cans. (Problem: our dumpster is already overflowing, mostly full of crap donations.)
The park has NO trash cans.
I took some plastic tubs over to the park for people to put garbage in. I talked to some of the people who are sort of living (?) there--they have set up chairs under the shade of some trees.
They said thank you for the bins, and told me the City never comes to talk to them...
Big surprise.
I called the City to request a trash can for the park.
After an hour of being misdirected--it's not the Park Board's purview, nor Sanitation's––I talked to the right person, who filed a work order with CPED--Committee for Planning and Economic Development.
Right, so obvious.
We shall see if anything happens.
I have my doubts.
I will keep trying.
Trash pick-up is the least of it, but it's a place to start. It's doable.
Meanwhile, half my coworkers were giving me a hard time. It's pointless, they said. The people in the park don't care.
Not true.
Not true.
Ass't Man, who has been improving a lot, backslid:
"Those people need to take personal responsibility," he said.
Luckily Mr Furniture was standing nearby as I was talking about trash pick up. Mr Furniture has lived this whole story, and Ass't Man grants him credibility.
"Responsibility?" Mr Furniture said. "Those people are destroyed."
___________________
So. Not sure what comes next.
I don't know what happens tomorrow.
I can't know. I don't need to know.
Today, it's today.
