Hi F&F,
It is a sad street; buildings boarded up; storefronts shuttered up; warehouses looking world-weary and looking not long for this world. The desolation is creepy at night and, like most people, I navigate my way via another route at nighttime. During the daytime, I’m sometimes drawn to the desolation. It is a desert in many ways, but for me it is also an oasis; a quite refuge. In the middle of an urban soundscape filled with screeching, clanking, and honking; this street is quiet. When I venture there, I have the street to myself and only share the pavement with a few feral cats.
I hadn’t been down that stretch in about two weeks. The unseasonably warm weather has me back to walking and wandering. While strolling that street I stumbled upon something new – signs of optimism and hope; “space for lease” signs in the windows of a row of storefronts. The spaces are being renovated by a hopeful and ambitious real-estate developer.
Soon, there will be entrepreneurs filling those spaces. They have hopes and dreams of growing brand new small businesses or expanding their businesses into something more.
Those signs and storefronts are signs of hope for a community. Those signs hold the promise of jobs and services for folks hoping not to be forgotten and pushed out of their changing neighborhood and a changing America.
I hope and I pray that all the stakeholders get what they want.
Peace,
ATreeGrowsinBklyn
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atreegrowsinbklyn 
Nice to see optimism! I think optimism and hope are similar totally! They have optimism and then we have hope. Guess thats how it goes!
Hi Mezza,
I agree with you. Optimism and hope are really philosophical “identical twins”.
Peace,
ATreeGrowsinBklyn
I’m a total city person…lived my entire life in cities until 2 yrs ago. I absolutely love the hope of good urban renewal (not gentrification..REAL renewal) Thanks for sharing this image!
Hi SHBG,
First-wow!; only 2 years post city life and you have cultivated such a lovely Big Garden? That’s so great! I enjoy your blog and watching your garden grow.
As you know, there are wonderful life lessons to be learned by gardening. REAL urban renewal requires diligent “gardeners” who carefully plan and plant the right seeds to create a harmonious and sustainable community. If the gardener just goes for the pretty, you end up with a garden that fights itself; with some plants struggling to survive in the inhospitable soil and climate; and other plants taking over the plot by “strangling” its neighbor plants.
Peace,
ATreeGrowsinBklyn
Pingback: Weekly Photo Challenge: Hope « Mike Hardisty Photography
ha, i really like your description for the comments. very fun.
and a poignant post.
Thanks for visiting, P&K. The comments prompt refers to my failed blogging experiment, One Word Wednesday.
but it makes for a catch comment invitation.
doesn’t sound like a fail to me 🙂
That’s a very good point. I ended the One Word posts, put perhaps I’ll keep the comments prompt. 🙂
Pingback: Weekly Photo Challenge: Hope For The Birds… | Mirth and Motivation
Sad isn’t it? To think there was a time when that strip of shopping thrived. Now it is silent until new life, we hope, comes in…
Hi eof737,
Sad indeed; because of my occupation and personal interests, I have the opportunity to view a lot of archival photographs and documents that attest to the former vibrancy of that street.
Peace,
ATreeGrowsinBklyn
Pingback: Weekly Photo Challenge – Hope « Running Naked With Scissors
greetings by
Pingback: Not Over Yet: Weekly Photo Challenge (Hope) « aNTibaKTeRiYeL
Hope for a community to develop, thrive and grow! Great entry!
Yes, yes, yes!!! 🙂
That’s an interesting take on Hope – Bad times for some often provide opportunities for others. You can rest assured that whatever happens the bankers will hope to make another killing at everyone else’s expense!
Sad, but true. 😦
Amen, Tree —
Oh yes! 🙂