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Dottie’s Walk

I finally made it to a Dottie’s Walk this evening. Dottie Wilkerson is a woman (forgive me, in her 80s, I believe) who lives in Center City Millville. Each Monday she walks the area beginning at the Culver Center. All are welcomed to join her on the walks.

There was a wonderful article that The Press of Atlantic City wrote a few months about these walks. Unfortunately, archived articles are not available. Another reason newspapers are failing is that they make it impossible to use them as a reference online as their links go bad.

Instead, we’ll use citizen journalism to tell the story. The following are videos Mark Krull has posted on YouTube of past Dottie’s Walks.

I met up with Dottie and Carl Johnson. Within a few minutes several others came as well. The aforementioned Mark Krull and Mrs. and Commssioner Finch, Lauren (I recognized her from the Off Broad Street Players), and Officer Gandy. I felt a bit weird having a police officer escorting me through the city. I walk these streets frequently without a gun in tow.

The topic of discussion seemed to have been the irony of having wooden fire escapes. For the record, www.woodfireescape.com and all derivations thereof are available. While we believe they meet code, it is not the material of choice any of us would employ should we need a fire escape.

Yes, we saw plenty of homes in need of repair. Nothing new there. The system has got to change for this neighborhood to change. Most of the homes are rentals. We spoke with one homeowner who was out tending to her property. That’s the difference between from home owners and renters. Her neighbor had tied a dog to a tree. The leash was barely long enough to allow the dog not to be hanged. The food and water dish was empty. Officer Gandy called Animal Control who showed up within minutes.

We also saw the consequence of condemning homes. One house we saw was all boarded up. Its lawn was used as a trash can. How pathetic! Fines to the property owner should be assessed (and progressively if it continues) to curtail this. Holy smokes!

Folks commented on vehicles that have not moved in weeks. I shared that I know of three vehicles on a public street that have not moved since March.

All in all it was an enjoyable time.

Hey, come out and take a walk next Monday at 6:00. If nothing else, you’ll get a little exercise.

Also blogged on this date . . .

• Blame Bush - 2010
• Blue Star Memorial Highway Marker - 2008
• School ABC's - 2008
• Ha Ha - 2007
• Thursday Paddle - 2006
• Gypsee Needs a Good Paddling - 2006
• PMS, Cranky Or Business As Usual? - 2005
• First Log - 2005
• Allaire Anxiety - 2003
• One arm Bandit - Upside down - 2003
• WHERE ARE THE TURKEYS?? - 2003
• The Bridge Less Traveled - 2003
• tneigel cache, not by tneigel - 2003
• Lookout 2 - 2003
• Ferengi Transmitter Array - 2003
• Shark River 5 of 5 - 2003
• Shark River 2 of 5 - 2003
• Just 4 Fun - 2003
• Other Side #2 - 2003
• South Jersey "easyfind #2" - 2003

Tags: Cumberland, Dottie's Walk, Millville, NJ, Politics