Good Neighborhood

Last night friends came over with their cute short 28 pound Labradoodle puppy named Pickle. We had a picnic table supper of pepper biscuits cucumbers, red onions, olives, chick pea salad raw carrots and pie. These friends live in Pawtucket and have lived there for decades. We talked about our neighborhood issues and their neighborhood issues. They said when there's one bad apple the whole neighborhood can be taken down terrorized and alienated. We agreed wholeheartedly. We talked about how wonderful things are now that the bad apples have been forced to move away. If the landlords only cared, I said. It was ever thus, my husband says. Our former Mayor Susan Menard used to go after the slumlords because she knew the cycle of destruction and crime starts with slum-lords ignoring their property. Luckily we have Lisa Baldelli-Hunt and her administration is excellent. They've done so much to solve the neighborhood problems. We have high end condos and low end slums all within a few feet of each other. We know things can continue to improve.