Maybe the Message Is That I Shouldn't Get My Knickers in a Twist.

On my neighborhood walk today, I was walking south on 11th Pl.  At about 114th or 115th St, there was a blockage in the southbound lane.  A truck was in that lane, and something like a small forklift was dumping rocks into that truck.  When the forklift-like vehicle was there, 11th Pl was impassable.  When it wasn't there (when it was going to get more rocks), the northbound lane was passable.

Just as I was nearing the truck that was waiting for more rocks, a small passenger car was driving up the northbound lane, and it stopped just where the truck was, and in the middle of the northbound lane.  Now, 11th Pl was completely impassable.  The driver got out of the car, retrieved a box of something, and went to deliver it to a house there.  He had on a (Sc)Amazon shirt.  I waited until he got back to his car, and I asked him if (Sc)Amazon tells all their delivery drivers to park in the middle of the street.  (There was plenty of room for him to have pulled over.)  He had a heavy accent, but he understood the question.

He reassured me that it would "only take 15 seconds" to make his delivery.  I suggested that if it would only take 15 seconds, then it would only take 15 seconds for him to pull over, off the road.  At that point, he got distracted by his mobile phone, his accent got heavier, and he shrugged his shoulders.  The damage, from my perspective, had been done, he was leaving, and there was no reason for him to waste his time talking to some resident of a municipality where he doesn't live.

Later, I had an experience I've never had before on my morning walk.  I wave to all drivers, and if it appears to me they're probably speeding, I push my hands down, as if to ask them to slow down.  It is invariable (has been until today) that the vast majority of drivers wave back, and they slow down, even if I don't ask them to.  I want them to be aware that BP is not just a network of streets.  There are houses and people here, too, and some of those people are out for a walk.

In the past, when I used to be curious about it, I would turn my head to see the car that just passed me, and it was almost invariable that they applied their brakes, even if I didn't suggest it.  So I figured I accomplished my goal, and I have stopped checking.  Today, I waved at someone who, as it happened, seemed to me to be speeding.  So I also pushed my hands down in a "slow down" gesture.  The sound was unmistakable: the driver sped up.

So, the couldn't-give-a-shit squad is increasing.  It's hard not to care, since I live here, as do almost all readers of this blog.  Whether it's our ability to navigate the streets, or our safety, it seems someone should give a shit.  Apparently, Luis Cabrera no longer works here, but whoever replaced him also can't be bothered to assign continual patrolling to our most problematic and dangerous street.  And I guess that means the manager doesn't give a shit, either.  Although I strongly suspect he gives a shit about his salary.  Just not about the residents of and visitors to BP.