(Over a month back, an in character conversation, and request, gave the redneck an idea to help with a memorial for someone a dear one had recently lost. During the intervening time, the original idea morphed, evolved really, into something more.
(At the town meeting for April Thorn brought up the proposal of memorial parks, as a tangible way for people to remember their lost ones. And as a way to help the less affluent neighborhoods where there were no safe places for children, and adults, to play.
(This thread is the long delayed beginning of that project. Back dated, retroactive a bit to keep the flow going. This thread is also open, anyone who expressed interest in helping clear the land at the beginning of this project is welcome to post here.
(Another thread will be created later for the planting and designing of the park itself. That thread will also be open.)
Work had begun just a few weeks back. Wide eyed, wary children and adults watched as an area equal to six square blocks were cleared of structures, foundations, debris, trash, and other far less pleasant things.
The work site had been fenced off for the safety of the public, and the safety of the crews it turned out when one of the younger men wound up needing stitches from an attempted mugging. Nevertheless, behind the thin barrier that no one expected anyone to actually pay mind to, the clean up progressed at an intimidating pace.
That pace kicked up several notches when another crew came in to augment the first couple. Round the clock now, with lights burning into the night, the work progressed.
Some of the people who came to watch, some of the street-tough younglings who hadn't lost their sense of wonder yet were enlisted to help keep the site clean and clear of hazards. Some of the older ones, the teens with hard eyes and sneering mouths, kept the thieves and worse away.
As with the Brambles, tables were set up out front round the clock, always with plenty of food and coffee or soft drinks to go around, to be shared out. An addition though, with this project there was another table, with pictures and plans and suggestion boxes so that the neighborhood would be know exactly what the plan was as it went along, and have a hand in the outcome. For those who couldn't read, a borrowed grandmother was on hand to explain and listen to their concerns and ideas as well.
(At the town meeting for April Thorn brought up the proposal of memorial parks, as a tangible way for people to remember their lost ones. And as a way to help the less affluent neighborhoods where there were no safe places for children, and adults, to play.
(This thread is the long delayed beginning of that project. Back dated, retroactive a bit to keep the flow going. This thread is also open, anyone who expressed interest in helping clear the land at the beginning of this project is welcome to post here.
(Another thread will be created later for the planting and designing of the park itself. That thread will also be open.)
Work had begun just a few weeks back. Wide eyed, wary children and adults watched as an area equal to six square blocks were cleared of structures, foundations, debris, trash, and other far less pleasant things.
The work site had been fenced off for the safety of the public, and the safety of the crews it turned out when one of the younger men wound up needing stitches from an attempted mugging. Nevertheless, behind the thin barrier that no one expected anyone to actually pay mind to, the clean up progressed at an intimidating pace.
That pace kicked up several notches when another crew came in to augment the first couple. Round the clock now, with lights burning into the night, the work progressed.
Some of the people who came to watch, some of the street-tough younglings who hadn't lost their sense of wonder yet were enlisted to help keep the site clean and clear of hazards. Some of the older ones, the teens with hard eyes and sneering mouths, kept the thieves and worse away.
As with the Brambles, tables were set up out front round the clock, always with plenty of food and coffee or soft drinks to go around, to be shared out. An addition though, with this project there was another table, with pictures and plans and suggestion boxes so that the neighborhood would be know exactly what the plan was as it went along, and have a hand in the outcome. For those who couldn't read, a borrowed grandmother was on hand to explain and listen to their concerns and ideas as well.