Saw this on the way home yesterday and took it as an anti-gentrification gesture. On its little roof, there’s a “For Sale” sign.
I somehow failed to notice until just now that it’s also a birdhouse. Perhaps it’s meant to suggest that even the birds are getting priced out of the neighborhood? vj_pdx, any theories?
beelavender
September 22, 2006 at 9:35 amHa!!
nevikmoore
September 22, 2006 at 11:15 amThe street name Rodney evokes pleasant childhood memories for me. From ages 4 til 6 I lived on a Rodney Street on Buffalo’s east side, when that part of town was a mix of white college students and black working class. Hearing mid-70s Stevie Wonder immediately puts me in a nostalgic mood for that part of my life. It’s where my next door neighbor, a slightly older boy named Kelly showed me how to draw a fist punching the air with star-like impact signs and a big “Pow!” It changed my life forever. Last time I saw Kelly he was an older teenager, no longer a chubby kid with short hair, but long, tall and skinny and sporting the biggest afro I have ever seen. That was easily twenty years ago.
In the 80s, after factories started closing down and the college students followed the University to the northern suburbs, the east side began a slow and steady decline. Nowadays anyone with any resources, white or black, moves away to escape the gangs and the violence. I hope that the election of Buffalo’s first black mayor is a sign of growing political power for that community. But then, look what happened to New Orleans.
anonymous
September 23, 2006 at 11:02 pmSo. I googled you today because I wanted to check and see when the sequel to Empress was coming out(i’m a librarian and a YA junky) and what do i see but this picture which was taken 1/2 block from the house I just moved to last week. I’m came to Portland from Minneapolis for about 4 or so months. Freaky…I was walking down Alberta a couple of days ago and saw one of the little horses on the sidewalk…I love this town.
thisisnotanlj
September 24, 2006 at 2:40 pmWow!
That’s hilarious. It’s a small world, and a small town.
vj_pdx
September 25, 2006 at 7:09 pmYeah, I noticed that the sticker was gone too. Weird. Here’s my version of the pic: flickr.com/photos/vj_pdx/248698162/
vj_pdx
September 26, 2006 at 3:25 pmMaybe it was just weather. Because I went by this AM and the sign/sticker is back. I particularly like the hand holding it up.