"the" Mrs. Astor

Sunday, July 16, 2006

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.

4 Comments:

At 12:31 PM, Blogger Pandora Wilde said...

Perhaps The Sweeper gets to feel like she made the world a better place while the city employees get to feel like little crooks? No, the people actually getting paid to do what The Sweeper actually does probably feel they don't make enough money to watch someone else do the work.

Wonder if a little webcam footage might get The Sweeper a job?

 
At 7:59 PM, Blogger Countess Bedelia said...

So there is a job for me on SoBe after all. But in a designer gown and with my hair done up, of course.

 
At 6:40 AM, Blogger The INFOSEC Consultant said...

The "eccentrics" of SoBe are what the place is all about. The tragedy of this is that she probably refuses help when it is offered... our system is so messed up!

AND, I'm with Jeremy.

 
At 9:37 PM, Blogger Glitzy said...

Ten years have gone by and people with the power to help have not. Sad, sad world.

Great pictures Mrs. A.

 

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