A vacant lot experience

[Fred Habacht]

In my neighborhood in centro Jocotepec there are now very few building lots that aren't sprouting new construction...but there is one across from my house. Two years ago it was trash strewn and even featured broken furniture. I didn't want to complain to anyone and I didn't want to say anything to the passing cars throwing beer cans and bottles into the mass. I began by putting hooks on my wooden utility pole., which graces our corner..and then putting my trash bag on them....always adding several Costco trash bags with the trash I began picking up. At first, a few people began adding their bags and then I began clearing the lot and removing rocks and large trash....then people began speaking to me as I toiled at my personal "windmill" as they passed going to work. The bottles and cans stopped being thrown and now people clean up after their assorted pets. and all trash is now neatly left for the municipal p/u truck...I purchased an electric mower and keep the wild grasses cut close. This week some neighbors borrowed the mower and cut down the weeds on the rest of our privada....Even the cow pies are shoveled away by some neighbors and torn garbage bags are replaced by new ones that the dog packs can't reach and other residents carry a shovel to keep the lot pristine..........and I get something to do other than being a couch potatoe.

Edited July 23, 2022 by Fred Habacht
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[chapalence]

💙💜💚💛🧡

[timjwilson]

What's that saying? Be the change....

[chapalence]

48 minutes ago, timjwilson said:

What's that saying? Be the change....

We can all learn from Fred's example. 

[Kiko]

Good job Fred.  If we are not part of the solution, then we are part of the problem.  It has been my experience that when one sets an example, then others will follow.  Some of us just need a leader to set the example.  You did that.

[Mainecoons]

Great job of leading by example, Fred.  I had much the same experience in dealing with local graffiti.  Once it was gone, folks have been pitching in to keep it that way.  Went out graffiti walking recently and didn't find very much of it.

Given the other stuff you've been dealing with lately, your hard work and success is particularly laudable.  👍

[ea93105]

I'm surprised someone hasn't put a fence up and "claimed it" , sounds like the owner is MIA

[Jim Bowie]

1 hour ago, ea93105 said:

I'm surprised someone hasn't put a fence up and "claimed it" , sounds like the owner is MIA

They probably think Fred is the owner.

 

 

 

[Fred Habacht]

The owner of this lot owns a large building supply outlet in Jocotepec. Four years ago he put up a fence made of large timbers  with wires that were drilled thru the wood  which were removed by the local folks, one to two at a time until only a single one which had too much dry rot, remained....and then that was gone and then the trash heap grew again, larger and more noticeable. I am sure this little bit of now clean, level somewhat green space will be gone soon or whenever someone pays the high purchase price.....but then again I will probably be gone as well.

As to making a difference that will LAST....I am reminded of the description of "your life and it's legacy".....take a pail and fill it with water....now make a fist and plunge it into the water and then withdraw your fist.....the hole that you left in the water is representative of our legacy after we are gone.

 

[Jreboll]

Remember that we all stand on the shoulders of those that came before us.  We all have to do our part.

[Mainecoons]

3 hours ago, Fred Habacht said:

The owner of this lot owns a large building supply outlet in Jocotepec. Four years ago he put up a fence made of large timbers  with wires that were drilled thru the wood  which were removed by the local folks, one to two at a time until only a single one which had too much dry rot, remained....and then that was gone and then the trash heap grew again, larger and more noticeable. I am sure this little bit of now clean, level somewhat green space will be gone soon or whenever someone pays the high purchase price.....but then again I will probably be gone as well.

As to making a difference that will LAST....I am reminded of the description of "your life and it's legacy".....take a pail and fill it with water....now make a fist and plunge it into the water and then withdraw your fist.....the hole that you left in the water is representative of our legacy after we are gone.

 

Ozymandias

Percy Bysshe Shelley - 1792-1822

 

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away."