177th Week Update – Miles Neighborhood Food Collection Project
by Peter Norback on May. 29, 2012, under LifeHi Folks,
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That’s some pothole in front of Al’s home. It was just fixed by the city a few
days ago.
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Al, whose home is three doors down from me, has lived in the Miles Neighborhood since the ‘40s. So he knows all of the stories and when you have the time he’s always happy to tell you a bunch. If you remember, Al’s the neighbor with the 20 or so cats he and I had fixed a couple of years ago.
As I turned back on Miles during my run Sunday I saw Al getting into his car and stopped to chat a moment. “Be careful,” he warned me, “you and your car could disappear in those potholes.”
Maybe a week ago, but Mark Kerr from Councilman Frimbres’ office responded quickly to my request to repair a score of potholes in the neighborhood. Of course, the word pothole reminded Al of a political brouhaha that happened more than 50 years ago. It seems a Democrat was mayor at the time and potholes were everywhere in town. (Most of Al’s tales of trouble seem to have the word Democrat somewhere in the opening sentences. This tips me off to wake up my clever.)
Since no one was paying any attention to the problem, Al continued, street maintenance became a campaign issue in the next election. The Republicans promised to fix the streets if elected and when they were elected they did mend the potholes.
“Why do you suppose the Republicans were able to fix the streets,” Al asked with a bit of a smirk on his face, “and the Democrats weren’t?
As I gently pressed on the accelerator and began to move forward, I turned to Al and said, “Well, it’s probably because they owned the asphalt plants.”
The one thing Al has taught me is don’t come to a battle of wits unarmed.
Hunger Never Takes A Vacation
This was a holiday weekend and many folks were away, but they didn’t forget those in need. Cans and cereal boxes were on nearly every porch waiting to be picked up. Also, we even added two new participants. All and all, a great weekend.
We collected a total of 162 lbs. of food. The money we donated amounted to $41.62, a $25.00 check and $16.62 in cash.
See you Sunday,
Peter
