Racing In The Street

Another first in the annals of urban desperation. Thieves in Baltimore are cutting down and stealing aluminum light poles to sell for scrap.

The poles are 30 feet high and weigh 250 pounds. 130 poles have gone missing in the past several weeks. The city estimates that the poles will cost $156,000 to replace. A scap metal dealer from Baltimore quoted in the article says the thieves are probably cutting them into pieces and selling them out of town. She also mentions that aluminum scap is selling for 35 cents a pound. That means each pole is only fetching the thieves $87.50.

The money quote:
"If the cops can't catch guys who're cutting down 30-foot poles, how are they going to crack a major drug gang?" said Chip Franklin, a talk-show host on WBAL Radio, a local news and talk station. "What's next? Someone taking a downtown building?"

At the direction of U.S. Senate majority leader Bill Frist, a resolution honoring Bruce Springsteen on the 30th anniversary of the release of Born To Run was buried and denied a vote.

A positive development in my mind. Rather like being on the Nixon Enemies List, a distinct badge of honor. The right-wing lunatics are so petty that they'll bury a meaningless resolution based on the politics of a rock 'n' roll singer?


Some free Bruce advice to the wingnut Republicans:

"It's midnight in Manhattan, this is no time to get cute / It's a mad dog's promenade / So walk tall or baby don't walk at all."

--New York City Serenade

Things might seem troubling at work--money issues, stress etc. But every

year one of our leaders makes the staff a batch of her individual

cheesecakes--this year with a brownie base and a chocolate bar topping.



Sometimes things are good!

Rich, Steve, Sonia, Susan, Tania, Pat, Katherine, Karl, Lavonda, Roberto, Rhonda, Sherise, Greg, Angelica, Kacie, Rosemary, Zac, Kelly, Mercedes, Zoe.

In the nearly 12 years I have worked for a non-profit neighborhood organization, I have had twenty co-workers. Eighteen of the twenty listed above either quit or were fired.

The list above is roughly chronological. In my time here, we have had a maximum of 5 employees at any one time. We are currently at four. The final name on the list is quitting to go to grad school at the end of the year. We will not replace this person, putting our staff force at three, the lowest number since I started.

This is the second straight time we have decided not to replace a person who quit. The hiring of a new staffperson usually brings a vague sense of excitement and anticipation, at least during an amicable split by the departing staffperson. Instead we are experiencing the roiling gut-check of spreading work responsibilities around and wondering about the long-term viability of our organization.

We no longer have the luxury of a staffperson working exclusively on issues of bank redlining and predatory lending, we make do with inexperienced and untrained staff. We can't cover all the issues that are having an impact on our neighborhood. We can't send out as many mailings or spend money for refreshments at meetings. We have to spend time researching and writing grants (or running fundraisers) instead of knocking on doors in our neighborhood.

Such is life when you lose 38% of your budget in a little over one year.

My favorite news story of late, the security guard fired for seeing ghosts on the job.

The administrative law judge struck the perfect note. Yes, a security guard can be fired for seeing ghosts on the job. However, this act doesn't rise to the level of misconduct, hence the guard is eligible for unemployment benefits.

My wife helped get a front page story published in the Post-Standard today highlighting the work her organization is doing on pedestrian safety for folks using wheelchairs.

In the city, the advances given to folks by motorized wheelchairs is taken away from them by the poor condition of sidewalks, curb cuts and roads. Also, the horrible record of unshoveled sidewalks in the winter forces everyone out into the road--where wild-ass car drivers threaten death and serious injury.

In the suburbs, it's even worse than the city--they don't want ANYONE to walk or roll their wheelchairs down the street. Theyt want you in a car, preferably a gas-guzzling SUV like all the rest of the red-blooded suburbanites. Hardly any provisions are made for folks without cars to use the streets. No sidewalks, no crosswalks, no crossing lights--it's like the Daytona Speedway.

Some thirty years ago I slit open the cellophane on my first copy of Born To Run, my life hasn't been the same since.

This is my newest copy--the 30th anniversary box set.

"Someday girl, I don't know when/ we're going to get to that place/ where we really want to to go/ and we'll walk in the sun/ but 'til then tramps like us/ Baby, we were BORN TO RUN!"

The liner notes for the CD I put together for Elizabeth's memorial service. The music is from my collection and reflect my impressions of my sister and her life. I recently received her laptop computer with her music collection. I'm going to put together an equivalent CD from her perspective. It's been a difficult few weeks, what with the final disposition of my father's house and his possessions and Elizabeth's possessions being shipped here.

1) "I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For"--U2
No collection for Elizabeth would be complete without her favorite band--U2. This song (the live version with the gospel choir) highlights both Elizabeth’s search for religious meaning and the fact that her life was tragically short.

2) "Roam"--B-52’s
I don’t know if Elizabeth was a fan or not, but she certainly took this song to heart. “Roam if you want to / roam around the world.”

3) "Climbing Higher Mountains"--Aretha Franklin
Again, Elizabeth was certainly the most religious member of our family, and who better to get that across than Aretha?

4) "All You Need Is Love"--The Beatles
My sister had the biggest heart of anyone I have ever known. She loved her family and friends.

5) "Late"--Ben Folds
Written for a friend who died young, this song captures my sorrow at everything I never got to say to Elizabeth, the unknown future that now will never be. It’s a cliche, but hold your family close--before it’s too late.

6) "California Stars"--Wilco with Billy Bragg
From the project creating modern music for unpublished Woody Guthrie lyrics. My sister loved the Golden State--sun, sand and surf. “I’d like to dream my troubles all away / on a bed of California stars.”

7) "You’re Missing"--Bruce Springsteen
No collection that I make would be complete without Bruce. While this song was written in the wake of the 9/11 tragedy, I read an interview with Bruce talking about how the smallest day-to-day memories of lossed loved ones can be the most painful.

8) "Goodnight Elisabeth"--Counting Crows
“I hope that you're ok / I hope you're resting quietly / I just wanted to say / Goodnight Elisabeth .”

9) "Little Wing"--Stevie Ray Vaughan
Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray--all have done this beautiful song about the girl “with a thousand smiles, she gives to me free.”

10) "Angel"--Fleetwood Mac
Elizabeth always loved Fleetwood Mac, she even wore out my vinyl copy of “Rumours.”
The song is basically nonsense, but the bass groove on this song just makes me smile and helps me believe that things will turn out O.K.

11) "My Sweet Lord"--George Harrison
One last tune about my sister’s religious faith, skip the Hare Krishna junk and dig the commitment.

12) "Shower the People"--James Taylor
My sister never had to be reminded of the truth behind these lyrics, it was her gift to us: “Better to shower the people you love with love / Show them the way that you feel / Things are gonna be just fine if you only will.”

13) "You Are The Light"--Lone Justice
No, not another song about my sister’s religious life (although it certainly looks that way after looking at the lyrics.) It’s here because the singer wrote the song for her brother who was struggling with a serious illness.

14) "2 Kool 2 Be 4-gotten"--Lucinda Williams
The title says it all.

15) "Keep Me In Your Heart"--Warren Zevon
I can’t listen to this song without crying:

“Shadows are falling and I'm running out of breath / Keep me in your heart for awhile / If I leave you it doesn't mean I love you any less / Keep me in your heart for awhile

“When you get up in the morning and you see that crazy sun / Keep me in your heart for while / There's a train leaving nightly called when all is said and done/ Keep me in your heart for while

Sometimes when you're doing simple things around the house / Maybe you'll think of me and smile / You know I'm tied to you like the buttons on your blouse
Keep me in your heart for while

“Hold me in your thoughts, take me to your dreams / Touch me as I fall into view
When the winter comes keep the fires lit / And I will be right next to you

Engine driver's headed north to Pleasant Stream
Keep me in your heart for while / These wheels keep turning but they're running out of steam / Keep me in your heart for while

Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-li-li-lo / Keep me in your heart for while

In the just concluded Syracuse mayoral campaign, it was obvious that the Post-Standard gave much more coverage (and much more positive coverage) to Howie Hawkins of the Syracuse Green Party, as a way to strike out at incumbent Mayor Matt Driscoll.

Despite all the nice comments about the Greens being a positive force and bringing new ideas to the campaign, the voters saw through the charade.

In 2001, Dr. Jennifer Daniels received more actual votes and a higher percentage of the overall vote than Howie Hawkins did yesterday. Daniels (1,945 votes/7.6%) Hawkins (1,476 votes/4.6%)
This does not include the 500 votes Dr. Daniels gained on the Libertarian line. The overall turnout was also much lower in 2001--Dr. Daniels got a bigger slice of a smaller pie.

I respect the ideals of the Green Party and they most closely mirror my own values. I would be a Green Party member if the local chapter made even the slightest effort at organizing real people, working on real issues and gaining some real power. Instead, they glom onto other people's issues (Living Wage, Midland Sewage Plant) and focus solely on running kamikaze political campaigns.

Don't believe the hype.

All voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with right and wrong, with moral questions; and betting naturally accompanies it. The character of the voters is not staked. I cast my vote, perchance, as I think right; but I am not vitally concerned that right should prevail. I am willing to leave it to the majority. Its obligation, therefore, never exceeds that of expediency. Even voting for the right is doing nothing for it. It is only expressing to men feebly your desire that it should prevail.

Henry David Thoreau
On Civil Disobedience

View of the Catalina Mountains outside Tucson, Arizona.

This is a city park near the home my father has in Tucson, Arizona.

"where the skies are not cloudy all day" INDEED!