Empty Lots are Stupid

My desire to feed people was strengthened this morning by helping to feed 180 of Miami's homeless community downtown. There is nothing like seeing what having nothing looks like to make you thankful for the little stuff, a clean shirt for instance. While the number of people who show up every Sunday morning for a sandwich, fruit and a chance to use a bathroom, hasn't really changed too much, the faces have. Or at least some. This, to me, is bitter sweet, for the ones I see only once, I like to think they got out of the situation somehow (some are better off than others). For those regulars, while they may be in the same place they were in a month ago, two months ago, a year ago, at least I'm comforted by the fact that they made it though another week (the regulars are usually the most appreciative also).
After the setting was clean (thirty or forty minutes and the community has been fed, caffeinated, and given a word) I hoped on the bike to cruise around downtown for a bit. I made my way through the center of the city, past the barred store fronts, unwilling to break from the slumberous state at such an early hour on a Sunday. South along Biscayne Blvd. where I then turned to face the western shore of Biscayne Bay and then north I went. Eventually I came to American Airlines Arena, where the Heat play I pedaled up to the entrance which turned out to be a good vantage point. What I didn't see was the glamor of Miami (those that live here are probably saying, "you were downtown, that's why"). What I saw was the migration of those that were just with me being fed, filing back to the places in the city, back to their overpasses, their overhangs, and makeshift tents. Back to their empty lots.
There were a good number of empty lots, designated for use only when parking is needed for an event in the arena. What disgust me is the thought of a city being ruined by emptiness. I love the ideas of cities, but we hardly get it right. We seem to like the idea of sprawl. I'm not sure why? Sprawl disconnects, frustrates, and ruins the idea of urban. And like sprawl, empty lots de-value the city. There is potential in an empty lot. We just have to stop and see it. An urban garden owned by a local restaurant? A pitch for urban recreationalists? A small patch of native vegetation to mitigate city's negative traits (noise pollution, real pollution, feral cats). But what intrigues me the most is somehow connecting the homeless of these lots with the betterment of our cities. I'm not suggesting using homeless to our benefit, but a real symbiotic relationship. Good for the sake of Good. I have no clue how to do this. But, it should be done. So, next time you see a lot, think about it.


~Woot




Note: would someone in Troy please do something with that gaping hole on Three Notch Street. The Building burned down like 10 years ago.It's hurting what is a recovering town Square.