Ever since The StarPhoenix’s Dave Hutton wrote an article covering Pat Lorje’s suggestion that the concentration of social services in Riversdale has become a problem, I have been thinking about it, had to conversations with Councilor Lorje, read some material she gave me, and spent a lot of time looking at city demographics, urban planning theory, and even spent a lot of evenings walking around Riversdale, Pleasant Hill, Caswell Hill (it’s on the way home), and King George… sometimes looking around, other times just soaking up the vibe. Oh yeah, I started to write. In what was supposed to be a short reply grew from 500 words to 5000 words and last night moved a little past 10,000 words. As I was about to push post, I realized that at 10,000 word post was insane and I a) needed to hire a good editor or b) needed to break my thoughts into a series.
So hopefully between 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. tonight, the series will be uploaded and linked together and I finally have some measure of closure in my life.
Update: Not so fast. To make a long story short, during the final edits, I wanted to research some more about mental health issues and Riversdale as well as I started to read about what the concentration of services in Skid Row had done to that neighborhood.
I am off to the cabin today until Sunday but I plan to bring my netbook along and post something later tonight if not tomorrow.
I look forward to reading it…and 10,000 words isn’t too much!