Caught a New York Times article today about a sandwich shop a bit over a half mile from . It's called Old Station Subs, and we've ordered take-out from them from time to time over the years. Phoenix's huge homeless encampment (1100
and counting) is a block or two from the shop; the article deals with the issues longtime small business owners face with drug dealing, theft, murder and general crime occurring on their doorstep.
The neighborhood abuts the old "Duce", along the rail yard. the name is variously attributed to it's being the old produce district, it's situation between 2nd Street and 2nd Avenue ("duces"), or that the local "ladies of the night" (the prime neighborhood industry) used to charge that.
It was seedy but perhaps not as dangerous or hopeless as today. We had a couple of clients in old warehouses in the district; here's a bit I wrote a dozen or more years about our janitor at one of those clients:
"Getting the job done"
Some other janitorial services have all sorts of excuses for why the client received no service last night, and I hear them when preparing cleaning packages: had a flat tire, someone out sick, got confused about which places are on tonight's schedule, and so on.
Brings to mind an incident of many years past. We were cleaning a string of small industrial facilities in Phoenix's tenderloin area, called the "Duce", from its origin as a produce warehouse district. We had a tough middle aged gal - tougher than me - cleaning the route; she couldn't have been over 5'2", maybe 100 pounds. She was thoroughly used to rolling winos (the then current term) out from in front of client doorways, so she could get in to clean. In the wee hours of one evening, in the middle of her route, she tried to move the expected wino, and found him to be a body instead. Called the police.
She got the building cleaned, and the rest of her route - just barely. Hadn't called us at the time, because it really wasn't a problem she couldn't deal with herself. Next morning, she dropped by our office - needed to vent. Seems the cops had kept her answering questions for several hours - and she had WORK to do.
We've not had any clients in the Duce for over a decade; most firms there have closed. But we still do get the job done.
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