Thursday, May 8, 2008

The Desperate Time-iest Thing I Saw Today

There are a lot of foreclosed and abandoned houses in my neighborhood and around the country- unfortunately.

And people have been scrounging around for metals of value too, sometimes going so far as to break into construction sites and empty homes to cut out the copper pipes.

Sometimes the results are explosive.

The abandoned house that sits where I pick up the bus had this sign in the window:


I am not sure who hung it- the thieves who took the pipes or the bank that probably has ownership of the property. Maybe the people who lost the house took the pipes when they left?

Sigh.

5 comments:

Citizen said...

Sad, Missy. Truly, a sign of the times.

Mnmom said...

All over NYC you see signs in car windows saying "radio broken", "radio removed".
Think I'll put a sign on my front door that says "Everything we own is CRAP".

starshrines said...

When I lived in Minneapolis, the vacant house two doors down the street was broken into and the pipes were stolen. I was thankful that the police/city/gas co. responded to our report of a gas smell. It turned out gas was leaking, and they quickly cordoned off our block with yellow tape.

I find damage to homes to be very heartbreaking. I'm probably over-attached to material things, but houses just seem like a symbol for the core of our lives.

B said...

copper theft is so crazy. when we were building out house, our copper got stolen out of it about three times. once they even tore through the drywall in our garage to get to it.

the whole foreclosure deal is so sad too. a lot of people strip the house before they get kicked out. a house in one of my friend's neighborhood even had the light switch covers taken out. i mean, really. how much could those possibly be worth?

Mimi said...

Oh, sad.

Never heard of this before.

Yes, I live a sheltered life!