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Reporting from the Jungle
(Dedicated to FREEDOM, real freedom to enjoy my community FREE FROM FEAR OF CRIME and UNNECESSARY HARASSMENT.)
In these letters we will see "what makes the world a jungle here and now"... Turn off the TV and forget about Iraq for a moment... What's making your life difficult right here in the concrete jungle, particularly abandoned now that Big Bucks* are being spent in Iraq? Crime, poverty, pollution, homelessness, littering, prostitution, drug trafficking, police brutality, stupid regulations...or all of the above? Well, I say: "It's a JUNGLE out there!"...and I will be reporting from there, perhaps from the best vantage point: WHERE THE JUNGLE MEETS THE LIONS' DEN...
*see 'The Cost of War' (http://costofwar.com/)
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The Parking Authority preys on the Poor
Like a predator they prey on the unsuspecting little animals. It happened to me...
I was parked in front of my own apartment building, which--for no good rea$on--forbids parking from 9am to 5pm, and which--for the same rea$on--is a tow-away zone. (The zone is marked "loading zone," even though there's no loading or even a building there.) The buildings next door--where the lions live--got a great garage, but we poor don't even have the street... Anyway, I overslept that morning--having come from out of town the night before--until the shouts of my landlord woke me up to the fact that my car was being ticketed and about to be lifted by the tow truck--lion and fox working together. I tried to stop them--screamed, threw things out the window to get noticed--but they ignored me and lifted my car anyway. I argued that it was excessive punishment on the poor and the lady officer offered to dismiss the ticket--which I never touched--if I paid the tow truck. $40 on the spot. Oh, will I trust the fox again! A few weeks later I got a notification in the mail telling me to pay the ticket--with the appropriate late penalty...
"A mistake," I thought. So I went to the Parking Authority with my complaint, sure it would be solved on the spot, but they said I had to go to court, and I had no choice. In the meantime I bumped into the officer twice and she assured me that she remembered everything, and would declare so in court. Oh, the fox--how cunning animal...
Court day came and there we were, facing each other. "Piece of cake," I thought. I explained what happened, and she only said: "I never offered anything"... I almost exploded, of course, and wanted to surrender my driver's license on the spot and refused to sign at first because I don't like being prey. I was better advised by witnesses though who told me that would land me in jail... Appealing was an option, but an option that would cost me over $100. The lion always wins.
So here I am, f***ed--thrice: the ticket, the towing truck, and a penalty for a ticket I never had a chance to pay on time. But hey, that's the harsh reality of life in the JUNGLE: "Kill before they kill you!" Huh?
PS: The ticket was later dismissed by the directors of the Parking Authority.
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Hunt your lion before he eats you!
Oh something spoiling the otherwise beautiful morning, two cars from my building got broken windows. What's new? And my beat-up car was recently stolen without trace in an equally wild place. Where is the law? I guess I woke up on the wrong side of capitalism. The luxury high-rises next door sure got ample parking and private security, but we are left without protection. Funny, this is the same area where the hungry lion preys on the cars parked there, ticketing and towing them away... Not even the police bothers too much to stop suspicious people in the middle of the night, since it's "natural" to have these homeless roaming around, and there's no political will to do anything. Hundreds or perhaps thousands of homeless crowd every public place around but the problem is ignored. Regrettably, those trying to do something are intimidated. There was one homeless that set up camp in the green area across the street from my building leaving cardboards behind. Well, I was nearly beat up by some policewoman for asking that he be removed! Another one used to get into my car (it was always open), grabbing whatever coins he found, and braking things. I like to think of what happens when the kitchen is a mess. Those rodents have a picnic, right? Like I say, the rats also benefit from the jungle--they get the scraps from the lions and then prey on the little animals. Neither they would be welcome nor do they dare to visit where the big predators live. And the little animals are caught between two hungry predators...
Or perhaps we should blame too the indifferent people. I've tried to stir my neighbors into action...and THEY DO NOTHING--until they become victims. Then they scream and move elsewhere. Always on the run, leaving the ghetto behind. It's like when the little animals see with complacency when the lion is full--until tomorrow... Like Jorge Ramos, the Mexican journalist, says: "Hunt your lion before he eats you!"...
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Where's the law?
Things get more difficult all the time...
Beautiful day for kayaking. Perfect where I live, since I live here, in a human jungle, mostly because I can walk to the bay, barely one block away. So I just walked my kayak there until I heard someone--the park guard--screaming. "No kayaks here!" "Why!?" I said. "Well, regulations," he barked back. "But is there any law?" I insisted. He informed me that the Parks Department doesn't want any legal suit from people hurting themselves on the rocks... According to that logic, the medical profession would be banned because you can bring suits against doctors... And then I asked him if he didn't do anything about a homeless couple near us, a common sight at the park. He challenged me, "do they bother you?" And I say they don't bother me in quickly passing through the park, but they sure scare the average family. In effect, most of our parks remain no man's land.
Anyway I didn't take "no" for an answer, and I had him call the police. But, of course, lion helps lion, and I was almost swallowed. And they say they serve the community... I asked them why they don't take care of the homeless in the park, and they anwered back that that was a different issue. Thinking to myself, "shouldn't the issue be a clean, safe park?" And then I asked, "where's the law that prevents me from launching a kayak at this park?" They clued me in there's no law, only the law of the guard, and roared at me to get lost at once or else... And I say, I know that law, THE LAW OF THE JUNGLE...
NOTE: I called the Parks Department later and they confirmed the prohibition. So a member of the community trying to have fun out there is restricted by the "law"; the homeless though got the law on their side. Where's the law?
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(This case takes place in a different scenario, a small community so called by the locals "Paradise." And it truly is, in so many other ways...)
Jose Marti: Park for homeless or locals?
Picture this: A cozy little park, shaded and green, with a few tables, a shelter...
Does that seem inviting for picnicking? Sure, so my wife and I thought, but there was something wrong in this picture — three homeless people were sleeping over as many tables, one remaining free.
Lucky us. Since the precedent of having put the homeless in one shelter to sleep, I suggest that there should be a park for the homeless as well. Jose Marti Park seems fine to me, since it's already occupied.
By the way, Marti once said: "While there's a man sleeping in the mud, how can there be another one sleeping in golden bed?" But, of course, those were glorious times.
So, anyway, that's my proposal, though I realize that the little park I'm talking about is out of the tourists' route and it may only be of use to the locals. So, here's another solution in case that one is not feasible: a park for the locals.
NOTE: This letter was published by the local paper.
HOMEPAGE
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