City Life

Went to the local Comm. Ass. meeting last night. The usual stuff: trash, people not cleaning up after their dogs, parking problems.

The unusual stuff: A Catholic priest with a quartz crystal on a leather thong around his neck who talks like Martin Scorsese proposed expanding the community center his diocese currently can't afford to maintain. The Wire blocked off Mad. Ave for filming without notifying residents, then shut down Whitelock Ave, causing headaches. Somebody illegally dumped huge tractor tires in the alley behind our house. These tires were found by local kids who had a grand time demolishing a neighbor's back yard fence and gate with them. A rowhome with a storefront is proposing an Indian restaurant as tenant; said rowhome flushes raw sewage out of a drain pipe regularly throughout the day, and has garbage and uncollared pitbulls in its backyard. The trolley rails last used during World War 1 are poking through the asphalt of Mad. Ave at several points, causing tire and alignment damage. The MTA buses are damaging historic architecture with exhaust and vibrations, including the Park entrance arch dedicated in 1860. The Zoo's attempt to rescue a dying local butterfly will fail unless traffic is banned in the Park. A local dude who plays in a band with the quartz-sporting priest is running for City Council.

Sunday we're doing some 'greening' work in the community; planting trees and flowers, mulching, etc. We were supposed to be digging new tree wells and expanding existing wells, but conflicts between the City, the utility companies, and contractors have severely scaled back this plan.

An aside: I'd hoped to discuss The Last King of Scotland here today but couldn't get the DVD to play. It was a brand new disc from Netflix, so I suspect our 8-year-old DVD player can't keep up with the newer encodings. This happens rather regularly now, alas.