the old neighborhood

The park that was the topic of much of the activism that the people I worked with acted out is now closed for reconstruction: it's getting a parking garage built underneath it. This was an old plan that looked like it would never happen by the time I left at the end of my fieldwork -- the newspaper that had offered to pay for it looked like it was pulling out for good -- so it's kind of heartening to see it in the works. Although it's not pretty, currently. Not that pretty was ever the neighborhood's forte.