Neighborhood News

You may have seen it on the local news. I was busy doing things that were more fun than watching tv, and sadly missed it. However; I did not miss it this morning.

My days go like this: Get up, watch the sun rise, wake L, go out in the bitter cold to start the truck, drive son to school, yell at traffic, etc.

Today, as we drove down Michigan Avenue, we saw a disgusting sight. One whole corner of my neighborhood was cluttered up with stuff. I saw things neatly lining the curb, and first thought, "Oh dear, an eviction."
Evictions always bother me because people think the things are there for the taking. I actually once saw a little girl trying to guard her family's stuff, her parents frantically throwing things in a truck, while scavengers darted in and swiped things like the tv and end tables. It's theft, plain and simple, and I think it's made worse when people steal from someone who is now evicted. It sickens me, and I usually cry when I see an eviction.

So today I saw an eviction, but what was out there lining the corner went a full block. I saw a ton of black trash bags, boxes full of old magazines, and crap that looked like it had been salvaged from the dumpster. I saw at least 3 junky tv stands. The trash went down to the alley, and around the corner to the CCBF. That's the Carondolet Community Betterment Federation. It's run by some nuns from the Sisters of St. Joseph. They work their habits off to keep my neighborhood nice.

Ok. So I saw all this garbage and thought, "No. It couldn't be an eviction. Some elderly pack-rat must have died, and the landlord threw all the stuff out... I hope it's a trash day, because the CCBF is gonna have fits over this mess."
See how I turned it into a nice, comfortable story? I felt really bad for the imaginary pack-rat who had perhaps died from the cold in his or her sleep. It was a sad, uncomfortable thought; but slightly better than thinking about eviction. Then I came up with an even better thought. Maybe all the apartments were vacant, and the landlord was fixing the place up. That would certainly account for the impossible amount of trash lining the curb. Yes. That had to be it.

I drove L to school, ran some errands, and came home around 10:30. The junk was still out there. When I went to get L from school, it was still out there. When we came home maybe half an hour later, it was gone. Not one scrap was left. It looked like the sidewalk had been swept, it was so clean. I felt a surge of pride for having the CCBF taking care of my neighborhood.

Mom called at 5:00. The mess was at the top of the news. (shows how exciting St. Louis is, doesn't it?) What happened was one person was $4000 behind on his/her rent, and got evicted. It was a 20 year accumulation of stuff. The scavengers had already been there and gone by the time I drove my son to school. The city showed up with, I'm not kidding you, a front loader and several dump trucks. They loaded up all the junk and took it away. The media had a field day videotaping it. Now they're raising a ruckus about how terrible it was that this person's possessions were unceremoniously carted away to the dump. What were they supposed to do with it? Should the police have guarded the trash bags and boxes until the evictee could move it all? The news people think so.

I didn't catch the news, only the commercials, but they made it sound like a lawsuit was already in the works.

I saw what was out there. It was trash.