As many of my projects begin, I was having a
discussion with a friend about his new job while sitting on my back porch. We
talked about the challenges and triumphs he and the youth he works with face
daily with the program and the community. We journeyed through the conversation and somehow
arrived to how the environment and how it influences the scholars. As the tree cutter blatantly pointed out
the week before, my eyes were opened to the jungled mess in my back yard. Years of overgrown bushes and unkept grass made me
think of how I was influencing the environment the scholars in our community
face daily by not taking the time to remove it. I casually said to my
friend, I would have many code violations if my yard was like this just 13
blocks west of my home in Waldo. As a community east of Troost, we long for
the leaders to clean up the unkpet messes we have made or allowed through the years. Though I didn’t
neglect my yard for years, the short time I have been here I will admit I did.
Even before the conversation I had “talked” about what
I wanted to do with my yard, yet I hadn’t done too much about it besides
raking the leaves. As a neighbor, it is not my neighborhood association's, the
City’s or even my landlord’s responsibility to keep my yard clean…it is up to
me. If I want my family to grow up in a
clean neighborhood, then it is up to me to start the process. So I did, with two 15 year olds and a 6 year old. We started in the front yard with the tree that causes my neighbors the most heartache. We then began removing the overgrown weeds, bushes and vines from the fence on the same side. As we pulled and cut and pulled and cut, we (more like I) realized we couldn't even make it through the whole backyard in one evening.
I made an agreement with my neighbor that he would haul the debris to the City's dump, so it wouldn't sit on my sidewalk for months. During our conversation the next morning, he advised me that the yard hadn't been maintained for 15 years. My mouth dropped open at the amazement of how we allow our homes to become overridden with , then we complain that the leaders only put money into the Northland, East Jack and west of Troost. Well of course I went canvassing west of Troost on Saturday. Yes, there are more homes with beautiful grass and fresh new paint. But also YES vacancy, blithe and urban sprawl have occurred East of Troost. Less people have moved out, yet the same people living there are those who can't always afford fixing their homes and maintaining their yards, so it does happen west of Troost.
So I started this project out as "If I Lived in Waldo" and understand it now to be "Since I Live in Walnut Grove..." Who knows, maybe
by next summer Walnut Grove will be a beautiful place to live if we are able to
address the small wins within our own control to get to the biggest win of
all…A clean & safe neighborhood.
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