An old Italian gentleman lived alone in New Jersey . He wanted to plant
his annual tomato garden, but it was very difficult work, as the ground was hard.
His only son, Vincent, who used to help him, was in prison. The old man
wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament:
Dear Vincent,
I am feeling pretty sad because it looks like I won’t be able to plant my
tomato garden this year. I’m just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot.
I know if you were here my troubles would be over. I know you would be happy
to dig the plot for me, like in the old days.
Love,
Papa
A few days later he received a letter from his son.
Dear Papa,
Don’t dig up that garden. That’s where the bodies are buried.
Love,
Vinnie
At 4 a.m. the next morning, FBI agents and local police arrived and dug up
the entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old man
and left.
That same day the old man received another letter from his son.
Dear Papa,
Go ahead and plant the tomatoes now.
That’s the best I could do under the circumstances.
Love you,
Vinnie
Mayor Mitch Landrieu announced Thursday a $200,000 pilot program that will hire unemployed neighbors in the Lower 9th Ward to clear overgrown lots. Residents say the vacant parcels have become thriving habitats for rats as big as house cats, coyotes, armadillos, possums, raccoons, hawks, owls, fast-moving black snakes, insects of all kinds and even, in one lot fed by a leaky fire hydrant, a four-foot alligator.
Lanina Banks, 25, is reluctant to let her children play in her family’s yard on Charbonnet Street because snakes slither through it even during the day, she said. And she no longer walks her dog after dusk, because she’s worried that it won’t be able to fight off a larger animal.
The towering weeds also provide a convenient dumping ground for used tires and debris and hiding places for a steady parade of stolen cars, which often are set afire once they’re stripped, neighbors say. Last month, the charred body of Brian Miller, a murder victim, was found inside a white Dodge Charger that was abandoned and torched on Law Street.
The new “Nuisance Lot Maintenance Program” is financed with money from the city’s general fund and federal disaster programs and is a partnership between Goodwill Industries and several arms of the city, including the offices for code enforcement and economic development and Job 1, the city’s office for workforce-development.
To clear the lots, the initiative will hire New Orleans residents, giving preference to Lower 9 residents and to ex-offenders trying to find work.
Directly across the street from Hattie Craft’s house on Lamanche Street, no one has mowed since Hurricane Katrina. “They’re not weeds anymore: they’re trees,” Craft said.
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During a recent meeting convened by the mayor at nearby Dr. Martin Luther King Charter School, the Crafts and their neighbors emphasized that they were tired of putting up with impassable streets and overgrown lots, they said.
Lower 9 residents often feel like second-class citizens, the Crafts said, noting that tour buses still drive through the neighborhood regularly, pointing out how little has been repaired and making them feel like “poster children” for disaster.
Morons at work
Wedding fun goes too far.
