By Michael Glenn
Teen-Age Dirtbag
In a perfect world, I wish my column’s header could’ve been the one I sent to The Hutchinson Tribune’s digital file that Joey wizards away at until the early morning hours to put out papers for Hutchinson and Harvey County.
Unfortunately, data centers and condemned buildings are more prevalent issues. One of those set-to-be-condemned properties had a rather wholesome moment that I think we should share.
One of the residential properties that was slated to be condemned was owned by a Hispanic owner who didn’t speak English. So, when she attended the meeting, she explained to the council her situation while Esmeralda Tovar-Mora, another attendee, translated for her to the council.
Rather than continue on with the condemnation process and force repair or demolition within 30 days, the council heard the property owner’s concerns and gave her an opportunity to show progress on the property, rather than continue with legal proceedings that night. The property owner said she plans on working on the property to bring it up to city code, and the council agreed to hold off on condemnation until the next round of residential structures are discussed.
If clear work is being done, I expect the council to leave it alone. Even though they drive me crazy sometimes, talking about the same items over and over again, making me hallucinate that my blinking cursor turned into a worm and started squirming on my screen, that moment gave me something to chew on as I wrote two pieces that night to be sent on the “mojo wire,” to quote a great American journalist, over to Newton for design.
At the end of the day, I believe that if you show the council that you’re trying to work with them, they try to work with you. The council realizes it takes time for buildings to be considered, repaired and rebuilt for success. Sometimes it takes frustratingly long. Most of the properties that have been condemned, which admittedly has rapidly picked up pace, in my opinion, are partly because the owner has had little to no communication with city staff on any business.
These council members are volunteers, sitting in their rolling chairs (that, based on personal experience on the Hutchinson Youth City Council, are very comfortable) and trying to make the city a better place. Sometimes they make mistakes, and we do our best to shine a light on when those happen.
Now I don’t want this to become a kiss-up column, so I’ll stop the complimenting there. While their chairs are luscious, the ones that the plebeians sit on are less padded. I was reminded of this when the clock struck 8:30 in the evening, and my beast of a computer told me that it was going to shut off if it didn’t get some more energy here soon.
“Me too, computer, me too,” I thought.
So, I had to cross over another peanut gallery observer and waddle over to the outlet. Few meetings I’ve ever reported on have made me plug in my computer from when I charged it fully beforehand, but there has to be a first for everything. I later found out my former colleague, Brendan Ulmer, claimed that precious seat next to the electric outlet when he covered council meetings, and I told him it was still warm from the countless hours he spent typing away there.
Luckily, Council Member Steve Garza agreed, pointing out that it was 9 p.m. shortly after he finished his council’s remarks.
By the time I clocked out around 11 p.m. Tuesday night, I was seeing double. That squirming worm finally poofed out of my sight, and I chomped on some spaghetti and bolognese before hitting the hay to do it all over again Wednesday morning.
It’s nights like those that make you question your sanity and the future you hold in this industry. Are these worms a permanent thing I keep seeing after a certain time staring at a Google Doc, or do they go away after a certain point? Can I put some blue light glasses or late-night McDonald’s on my completely legitimate American Express ultra-platinum-gold company credit card, calling it “hazard pay”? Why do these electric bikes and scooters keep zipping by the office front? Serious questions remain unanswered.
Eventually, I’ll have my own e-bike, and maybe you’ll see me enraging drivers by existing on the road as a non-two-ton steel box with two axles and some rubber and stuck paying for fuel, insurance and a government sticker of approval that “yes, you paid your tags this year.”
But for now, I’ll have to sit menacingly behind my desk, envying those who’ve embraced the micromobility movement my generation has embraced.