Our home in The Valley is in a generally safe neighborhood, although I did ask My Sweet Baboo to get an alarm system when I moved in. We’ve only had one incident, where our forgetting to lock the car doors cost us $16 and a pair of sunglasses.
The same can’t really be said for much of our street. It's one of the main routes heading south out of downtown, and we go through a pretty dicey neighborhood on the way to and from work, the grocery store, our favorite home and garden centers, and visiting family and friends. Most of the gangs that used to be in the area have moved on or withered away as their members were jailed, but there are many abandoned or dilapidated houses, under-appreciated and under-cared for. It’s not a street without hope – just one that faces a significant uphill battle, like many others here in Syracuse.
There used to be an abandoned one-story building at one of the intersections, smashed glass and exposed wire mesh in the windows, the door boarded up, the small parking area and sidewalk littered with debris. At some point in an effort to clean it up a little, it had gotten a fresh coat of paint, but after two young men were murdered, someone spray-painted ‘RIP Larry and Fred’ on the side of the building. The words remained, the only graffiti on the building, until it was finally torn down months later.
In our area, if an empty lot is at an intersection with a traffic light, the grass gets mowed regularly and sometimes you’ll see an evergreen or two. On this corner, two flowering trees and a cute little shrub were planted; MSB and I for the longest time have referred to the trees as Larry and Fred.
Last summer, the lot was being mowed but no one was taking care of the trees; suckers had shot up around their trunks, and the grass surrounding them was not being trimmed. I kept saying that we should stop and take care of them, and finally one day we did. MSB pulled off to the side of the road and I went and cut back the suckers and pulled the weeds. They looked much better after that, as if they appreciated the attention. We have agreed we'll do the same this year, and I’m trying to convince My Sweet Baboo that we can spare a tree spike or two and give them a little nourishment as well as an occasional pruning.
Today, on our way home from running errands, we caught a red light at that corner, and as always looked over at the boys. Two fat robins were bouncing from one tree to the other – the first we’ve seen this year. Yes, rest in peace, Larry and Fred; we’ll stop by in a couple of weeks to see how you’re doing.
Sue
Truly, most beautifully expressed story.
ReplyDeleteI feel a kind of sad kinship with you
and with the boys. I'm thinking you should
see if you could put signs on/near the trees.
Perhaps those vandals would say... "Oh! These trees are in memory of our friends." and they, too, would begin to care more for them... and who knows, maybe one small bit of space at a time, the entire area might be renewed.
Many Blessings.