Monday, October 27, 2008

What Side Of The Fence Is The Garbage Man On?

We watched with amazement this week as a man in a green vest sat in the Dunkin Donuts parking (near Broadway and Wilson), slowly but methodically, tossing individual pieces of garbage out of a black bag over the fences and onto the adjoining Kenmore Street parkway and Harris Bank parking lot. He sat next to another gentleman who was munching discarded donuts, tossing his trash around the Dunkin Donuts lot, and defecating along the Beauty Shop wall.
We presumed our green vest man was just another homeless guy until later that day when we saw him sporting a trashcan and broom in that same parking lot. Upon inquiry, we learned that he is the garbage man, hired by the McJunkin Building maintenance crew, to keep the Dunkin Donuts lot clean. When he left to go to his home down the street at the end of his shift, the garbage bag, garbage, feces and toilet paper from his morning break remained.

9 comments:

  1. This is just bizarre.

    Is this guy mentally ill or "funny in the head" as I like to say or is he being paid to mess up the neighborhood?

    Job description:

    Spread garbage around the hood to annoy evil condo owners.

    Tip over garbage cans.

    Say nothing about murders or violence.

    Suck up to the mayor.

    Collect $100,000 salary and benefits.

    HMMMMMMMMMM...........sounds like a description of the aldercreatures path to greatness.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Actually those guys wear vests that say "Clean Slate" on them. I've seen them up and down Broadway from Montrose to Lawrence in front of the Uptown Theatre. Not sure if they are volunteers or if Clean Slate is some City program?

    ReplyDelete
  3. He wasn't dumping garbage. This guy was putting down political flyers.

    ReplyDelete
  4. @Hollywood Beach: Cleanslate is a nonprofit that "assists at-risk individuals to acheive (sic) real, lasting success through training, job placement and critical support services."

    I suppose "at-risk" may come close to IrishPirate's definition of "funny in the head".

    ReplyDelete
  5. Cleanslate is a city program for people who are recently incarcerated. That's what is meant by "at risk." There was a controversy months back about the shady dealings surrounding the SSA contract back room deal. Whala'! Cleanslate gets the Uptown SSA contract!

    Uptown used to be the neighborhood where busses would come from the state prisons to let out the recently released convicts. I suppose this program is a slight improvement.

    The Cleanslate program is a little more sophisticated way of getting recently incarcerated people into the Uptown area. It not only provides a job but also housing in Uptown in an attempt to reduce the rate of reincarceration.

    My question: What do you suppose Cleanslate employees and residents will be asked to do for their employer on November 4th? Does the word "referendum" come to mind for anyone else?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Gee, they sure don't have stuff like this back in Frostburg, MD!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Just to be clear, the guy who works for the strip mall isn't a Cleanslate employee. The Cleanslate people also wear yellow vests, but with the Cleanslate logo on it.

    As I understand it, Cleanslate's a good program and very strict. You call off even once during your time in the program and you're out. They're required to greet something like 100 people every day. Basically, it gives people who are unemployable (in recovery or after release from prison) a first step up in the job market. It has a very high percentage of employees who complete the program and go on to better jobs.

    I'm not affiliated with Cleanslate, but I live in the SSA area that they clean and I've never had a bad experience with them. Friendly people, and they do a hell of a job with the trash on my street. Bless 'em for being willing to start at the very bottom of the employment ladder and succeeding. I don't know that I could go 6 months without ever being late or calling off at my job.

    ReplyDelete
  8. So one has to wonder does the property owner know what his employee is doing, or is the property owner the one who's keeping the neighborhood a mess?

    Regardless it just shows another reason why this neighborhood looks so bad.

    ReplyDelete