Wander a couple of blocks south and let your eyes stray eastward...you see the ruins of a building that burned down in January of this year.

Okay, a couple of disclaimers are in order:

• This is one of a multitude of eyesores in Cairo, many others dating back many, many, many years and a whole lot worse. In fact, if you compare the fire pictures with the current view, you can see that some cleaning up did, in fact, take place. (Actually, I think that's what bothers me most. Since somebody went in a cleaned up some, why didn't they at least knock the chimney down?! In the first of the two "ruin pictures" above, you can see that the red foundation of the ruin almost appears to be the foundation of the white house standing behind it...an optical illusion. The chimney...not so much.)

• It's private property and too recently destroyed to be taken over by the county for back taxes. There are probably a multitude of laws that would be violated if the city or county just showed up and intervened. The owner would probably sue and make them build the house back to its pre-fire condition.

Sigh...

The beautification of Cairo is a daunting task indeed. It would require millions of dollars...only to create vacant lots with slim prospects of filling them with houses or businesses.

Double sigh...

It's like when they did the demolition of the west-side of downtown Cairo. It was exciting to this life-long resident of Cairo...until they were done and I looked over at the east-side.

Then the excitement of "Phase II" of the downtown demolition - documented adnauseum by me and my trusty smartphone camera - until they were done and the vast empty spaces made the remaining structures stand out even more....

Such as (1) the old automotive building at the corner of 2nd and Commercial, with the godawful yellow windows ready to act as a guillotine for kids who may see an attractive nuisance or (2) the big brick building on the corner of 5th and commercial (where some folks have evidently gotten permission to scavenge or salvage...creating an eyesore in the process. Begs the question...will they clean up THEIR mess after they're done?)

And there's still the old apartment building that burned down on the main drag (between 6th and 7th and Washington)...the one the "brick people" descended on to take what they wanted, leaving the remainder as a prominent eyesore.

At least the recent demolition people scooped up (most of) the mound of bricks that was the Hong Kong Restaurant (Harpers). It's still a mess, but a more level mess.

Triple sigh.

But...

...I am counting my blessings.

Cairo does look better today than it did a year ago. And, it takes time to eradicate that which has been developing for decades. It's going to take the continuing effort of individuals and organizations.

Cairo Mayor Tyrone Coleman wrote his Letter to the Editor of The Cairo Citizen week before last...calling on the formation of "block clubs". (Hopefully, that call will produce more results than the recent call to "Let's Clean Our City". But, hey, both calls are/were worth a try.)

Me?

I've never been much of a "group thing" person...it doesn't fit my personality. I just do what I can when I can where I can...

...like the four abandoned properties that I adopted the past summer to mow in addition to my own...two in my neighborhood and two in my mother's neighborhood (so that neither of us would be killed at a blind intersection.) Guess that's a selfish motivation, but if a few more people would get "selfish", a lot of people would benefit (e.g. the other people who used those intersections, that live in those neighborhoods.)

FOOTNOTE:

The photo at the top of this post...

I was going to use it in my earlier post of today about the recent tree planting.

I'm not a photographer (and maybe that's how I took that picture in the first place), but I am anal. Little things bother me...

Notice the three chunks of concrete in the street against the curb. (Have to admit that I didn't when I took the picture, only when I went to use it.)

Well...

By the time you read this post, you won't ever see those chunks of concrete again.

With no grass to cut, I'm going to mosey on back to 26th and Washington and pick them up and dispose of them....my good deed of the day. (UPDATE: Actually, the "three" became six. No...no miracle like loaves and fishes. It's just that there were three more chunks lying against the opposite curb.)

Ooh, ooh, ooh...

Also bears repeating (from an earlier posting):

My Christmas wish...that the City of Cairo would give residents a place to dump various sorts of trash. If I put these chunks of concrete out with my regular trash, those folks will leave them. If I put these chucks of concrete out in front of my house for the leaf and limb folks, it's doubtful they will pick them up, especially now that it's the winter season. (BTW: This is NOT a criticism of the city workers...they have always done good by me. I can trim/remove a bush on my property, put it out at the curb, and BAM - they are there to pick it up and haul it off, even raking up the small stuff...much to the consternation of my neighbor who may have had yard trash sitting in front of her house for a month. Bless the city workers...every one!)

But...

...back to my "Christmas Wish"!

What's a city resident to do who wants to do her/his part in cleaning up Cairo...one chunk of concrete at a time?

Until such time that my Christmas wish is granted, I shall borrow a phrase that the military no longer needs: