Immigrants
The apartments next to my condo were torn down two years ago for the building of luxury townhouses. Rumor says that the company wanted to buy the condominium subdivision as well, but when it discovered that the condos were individually owned, the company did not pursue it.
The apartments were the homes to many lower-class Spanish people. Supposedly, one reason for the purchase of the apartments was to alleviate the people standing on the sidewalks at the intersection, waiting to be picked up and hired for the day.
When the apartments were torn down, the people had no place to go. They rented condos in my neighborhood and lived in them, 10 or more people to a one- or two-bedroom condo. And they continued to wait for work on the sidewalks.
The condo association asked that residents report the address of any location with 10 or more residents, saying that it was a hazard as well as a violation of the renting agreements, which generally stipulated only a small family living in the residence. The condo above me had many Spanish people living in it. Each time the door opened, there was a new face. I don’t know how many people lived there, but they never played loud music or were a bother. I never reported them.
Two years have gone by. The luxury townhouses have not been built. The property was twice sold. The vacant apartments were vandalized, set ablaze, and finally torn down. Only the model luxury townhouses sit on the mound of dirt. But the Spanish men stand on the sidewalks every day, no matter the temperature, the earlier the better, waiting for someone to pick them up and hire them for the day.