Yesterday, I took some shots and ran into a family friend who also lived in the area. His house was the second to last on the north side to be bought out, and he moved just a couple weeks ago. He too was back visiting. We had a conversation about the house I was in process of photographing, one which was shredded on the outside. He explained to me that it wasn’t vandals looking for scrap metal (which was my suspicion) but, rather the asbestos removal crew. Apparently, they used to be more discrete in their work… now that nobody cares, they are able to rip in. During our brief conversation, we saw the same airport cop drive by twice. At the second passing, I asked Mike if he has seen them before. “Nah, I guess the guy is just lost. Can’t figure out where the airport is. Maybe I should tell him to follow the planes coming in, but this is more fun to watch.” Mike’s lighthearted comment didn’t detract from my suspicion that this is their area to patrol now.
And today, I got confirmation that it is true- the area is no longer within Bridgeton’s boundaries. Its the airport’s to patrol, out of the hands of the city of Bridgeton.
There wasn’t much to photograph yesterday. Nothing has happened to the area since last weekend, so I just took some interesting artsy shots, had my random conversation with Mike and left. This morning I had a strange idea for an art project. (more…)
J. Desy Schoenewies
56 Houses Left 