COMMUNITY NEGLECT By Gary Girdhari

Our elected officials in New York City and those in charge of certain essential infrastructures and services most likely do not ride the subway in South Queens, New York, or, if they do, they do not pay adequate attention, or they don’t care about the residents.

When I do take the subway I usually start at 104 Street/Oxford on the A line. The old decrepit stairways, then mezzanine/waiting area, and the second set of stairs to the platform greet me with a stench – an admixture of decay, rot, and plain dirtiness. The cracks and holes, the peelings and rust on the ceiling and walls are a disgrace to basic quality of life. It must take years to deteriorate to this state – reminiscent of conditions in many Third World countries. At the same time, one can find oftentimes all of the lights supplying the (open) platform on, well into the bright hours of the day. Similar conditions are seen at other locations, at least along the A line. Many other subway lines have received good beautification. But here at Oxford, 88 Street, Euclid one can certainly make the case of low maintenance and deliberate neglect.

Another example of neglect is road maintenance. Last year I took pictures of several streets where holes had worsened to the state where a couple of car tires could fit in easily, and this was actually done by someone as a temporary fix. Eventually these were filled in and repaired, but in about a year or less they (the same ones) began to sink in again. It is like papering over cracks. (And if perchance there is a small hole nearby, this would be left for another time!) One may conclude that poor workmanship is the reason. But repeated occurrences suggest otherwise. A more likely explanation is that the contractors are employing shoddy practices to ensure future contracts, in perpetuity – but at the expense of taxpayers’ dollars and as a serious hazard to life and property.

It is amazing to find relative peace and quiet, and cleanliness away from the main thoroughfares such as Liberty Avenue. I speak of Liberty Avenue because I see it every day. I see people of all ages, gender, national background and ethnicity, many nonchalantly strewing the sidewalk and street with diverse garbage, overstuffing street corner bins with household garbage. I see many hacking and spitting on the sidewalk, sometimes in front of my doorstep, in my presence, as though it is the correct and accepted thing to do. I see new and old faces, a few of whom are chronic alcoholics, woefully pitiful to conjecture their dilemma. I listen to the foulest cuss words, loud and resonant, with a discernable accent – in the public, as though such language is the norm.

Why is it that a community is allowed to progressively deteriorate? This community has been taking blows sitting down. There is no combativeness, no active aggressiveness to demand action from the authorities. It is not unusual that those with limited economic and political clout – the poor – are selectively and collectively sidelined.

Some times it is the individual’s choice that counts – to question and make complaints, and to question one’s own behavior, so that on an individual basis he/she can self-regulate his/her own behavior. But in the end it is the orchestra that plays the fine music. The don’t-care-it’s-not-my-business attitude must give way to it’s-my-community-and-yours-too. As concerned citizens we must not only respond to things in our community, we must also deliberately and forcefully make it the way we want it. Sometimes we may find ourselves at a disadvantage because our political capacity is comparatively inadequate; but we are smart enough – we can advocate, we can make tough, legitimate and fair demands in an uncompromising manner. Or we can be selfish and insular, and submissively accept our presumed limitations, and continue to receive the wrong end of the stick.

If the recent G8 meeting is a guide to global economic relationship, we have to think again, hard. According to a BBC report: “And on the poverty agenda, aid agencies feared that - far from any new help for the needy in Africa - the G8 leaders were no longer in a mood to be generous, and might not even commit themselves to stumping up the money owed on previous aid pledges.” While they gave lip service on poverty in the distressed world, they were gorging on eight-course twenty-five dish meal prepared by twenty chefs.

The point is you have to do it for yourselves, to agitate for your just rights – individually and collectively. There is no benevolent dictator!

If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. (Eldridge Cleaver)