The Sweeper

One character everyone sees but no one knows is The Sweeper, who has been a fixture on South Beach since I moved here nearly ten years ago. The Sweeper spends all day sweeping the sidewalks of Washington Avenue, reaching into bushes for cups and cans and even getting on her hands and knees to retrieve papers from under a car. The majority of her work is picking up invitations to club parties which litter the sidewalks every day. A little, hunchbacked old lady, she refuses money from passersby, but we know area merchants give her food and cigarettes for the cleaning.

This morning she was in front of Mansion nightclub and the stretch of road to the south (in back of her) shows what awaited her broom. She leaves the sidewalk spotless. "But", you must ask. "Where are The City workers on a cluttered Sunday morning?"

Well, just turn to the north and a little up the same block; you will find them slowly following The Sweeper. They really don't have to move very fast in the warm morning sun when every scrap of paper is already gone. (Click on the photo and try to find something to pick up.) I use "they" loosely as only one worker felt the need to go through the motions; the two others were chatting around the corner. The City workers make about $18 per hour; The Sweeper makes cigarettes and a candy bar. The City workers all live around the airport and have beds to sleep in, undoubtedly cheap pieces from Rooms-To-Go, but a bed; The Sweeper sleeps here or there on a bench, on a sidewalk, in a doorway always clutching her brooms.