41° and Clear
Image
Last Spring (2020) was bad.
A year ago, the "guys" were pulling up bushes and cutting down trees, under the direct site supervision of the Executive Director Angie Madieros and the Director of Maintenance, Gary Kupfil. I said something, as did others, and Gary had a couple of the "guys" write out complaints against me, in retaliation for me speaking out. That's what the Housing Authority does. They know how to do complaints, grievances, and other threatening legalistic procedures - all adding up to administrative violence. That's all they know. They generate trouble and then try, but fail to address the problems they, themselves, create.
The NHA workers need help, and NHA should take the opportunity to help them get good at what they are supposed to be doing. The "guys" do not realize it now, but they are having all the fun. People stop, and watch others ride around in equipment and do construction. As for me, I love work. I could sit and watch it for hours.
Gary, on the other hand, does not like work. He is never around it. He never does it. What he likes to do is to get his staff to write out their "documented complaints." He can do that in a day, over night even, but it takes nine Months to get a pile of construction debris picked up. I go crazy trying to figure these things out.
Last year Gary said, "For years, you people talked about us not doing landscaping. Now that we are doing something, I get nothing but complaints!"
First of all, nobody ever complained about the "guys" NOT doing anything. That's the only time they get anything right. Whenever they do any pruning, mowing, cutting, almost any work, they often make matters worse. The fact is, there has been ten years of constant degradation of the plantings and the grounds, through the NHA's lack of interest in professional standards, and the lack of oversight by management and the Commissioners.
I cannot say much about the actual workers, the "guys." I, myself, have worked at construction sites and in building upkeep, and the situation, here, is one of oppressive indignities ("battling managers" and "active negativity"), but, maybe, mostly about the inertia of dysfunction. The laborers are just trying to survive the burden of working in chaos. And they survive by just following orders, doing as little as possible, and making sure that they are not held accountable for anything that goes wrong, which is almost everything, all the time.
Hey, guys, its too bad we don't have a wheelbarrow. We could use one, instead of a farm tractor, except, of course, tractors are just more fun.
Wait. Didn't you know? There is a wheelbarrow stored in the Community Building, in the Living Room. Good place for it, huh? This kind of thing appears to be more like a deliberate poke in the eye. As if, the residents need to be reminded, once in a while, who is in charge here.
...to be continued, with more incredible but true stories, from the residents of Linden Street. One quote: "Do I look like a farmer?"
