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I'm currently stocking this week's delivery of wine. It's pouring rain outside, and not what I would call warm. Traffic on this street is always heavy, and frequently speeding. We're also at the border between two precincts, so unless there's a call, we rarely see patrol cars.
There's also a homeless shelter a few blocks from here. One of the larger in the city, and it's grown since some of the "main" shelters have been closed. We frequently get panhandlers and solicitors here, often enough that I've pegged the type and simply refuse to let them in (the door is on a buzzer system).
As I'm checking off my list behind the desk, making sure I have everything, I hear a bullhorn "Ma'am, please get out of the street. Ma'am. Move from the street. MA'AM. YOU NEED TO MOVE."
Being the curious type I am, I come around the desk and glance out the door, under the pretext of checking bottles. I see a bunch of cars sitting at the red light, and a small, slight woman going from car-to-car, presumably panhandling. She doesn't seem to be completely with it, and she is smack in the middle of the street. Heading up the line of cars, sitting right AT the crosswalk, is a patrol car from the precinct that covers my side of the street. The officers don't get out of the car and remove the woman, nor do they continue with their announcements for her to move.
The light changes.
The cop car (and all the other cars) start to move.
The woman doesn't move.
A car honks.
The cop car continues down the street, past the store, ambling along looking for easy tickets.
She wanders out of the direct path of traffic, and further up the block.
I'm just waiting to hear the ambulance sirens. Luckily there's a firehouse a block away, and an ED just a half mile away.
Sometimes I hate this neighbourhood.
There's also a homeless shelter a few blocks from here. One of the larger in the city, and it's grown since some of the "main" shelters have been closed. We frequently get panhandlers and solicitors here, often enough that I've pegged the type and simply refuse to let them in (the door is on a buzzer system).
As I'm checking off my list behind the desk, making sure I have everything, I hear a bullhorn "Ma'am, please get out of the street. Ma'am. Move from the street. MA'AM. YOU NEED TO MOVE."
Being the curious type I am, I come around the desk and glance out the door, under the pretext of checking bottles. I see a bunch of cars sitting at the red light, and a small, slight woman going from car-to-car, presumably panhandling. She doesn't seem to be completely with it, and she is smack in the middle of the street. Heading up the line of cars, sitting right AT the crosswalk, is a patrol car from the precinct that covers my side of the street. The officers don't get out of the car and remove the woman, nor do they continue with their announcements for her to move.
The light changes.
The cop car (and all the other cars) start to move.
The woman doesn't move.
A car honks.
The cop car continues down the street, past the store, ambling along looking for easy tickets.
She wanders out of the direct path of traffic, and further up the block.
I'm just waiting to hear the ambulance sirens. Luckily there's a firehouse a block away, and an ED just a half mile away.
Sometimes I hate this neighbourhood.
Yipe.
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