Ode to the guy living in the broken down car next to my house (or how his car was towed and we were all happy about it)

Roughly around late November last year this white caddy type car was pushed into the corner parking spot next to our house (known to us as one of the few "diggedy-dank spots"), with new mexico plates. it was pushed into the spot by a cop car, because the car wasn't moving and it just seems right to encourage non-functional cars to sit parked on the road in urban areas, right? philly cops are out to fucking lunch. that's why this can seem like a bit of a lawless place sometimes, at least when it comes to traffic and parking rules. double parking on busy roads, making one lane roads into two lanes, liberal red light running, horrible pot holes, one of the highest insurance rates in the nation... all bodes badly for regular, rule abiding expectations for driving conduct. back to the narrative:
the guy in the car starts to live out of it, putting cardboard in the windows to shield out the light, emerging from it each morning to pee in the gutter, emptying his trash out onto the sidewalk without a second thought. he was arrested once, given a shake down which I watched, overhearing the cop say to him "you're a thief, you've assaulted people, do you really think that the people of this neighborhood deserve to have someone like you on their streets?" riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. at this point logic really started to break down for me. I mean, this guy is doing something illegal (living out of his car in an urban neighborhood) and this cop says this to him refering to his past, cuffs him and takes him away, only to return him to his car a few hours later? what's the deal? the guy even started talking to gavin, saying hi to us while we walked the dog. the second big incident occured when some construction-y guys came and broke one of his windows, accusing him of stealing some of their building supplies. they had seen him lurking around their job site. at this point the two tires on the car that were next to the curb were totally flat, and the car looked even worse than it did before. the cops were called while the construction guys were pounding on teh roof and doors of the car to coax the guy out. the cops searched the car, found nothing. the guy just put some plastic in the broken window and turned in for the night.
a few weeks ago the guy told gavin that he was leaving town for a few months, and could gavin "watch his car for him." this is the total different reality that this dude is living in. a few days later a big bright orange towing notice was slapped onto his car, and a few weeks after that, the car was gone when I came home from work. now that this guy and his car are gone, and the squatter in the basement seems to have shipped out, our immediate surroundings are finally free of vagrants, freeloaders, etc. at least that's how it appears.
this is just one aspect of philly life that you kind of have to accept to still be able to live here. one reason that it's so cheap to live in philly is the element of lawlessness and neglect that is still so alive here. another reason why philly people are a little more laidback than other major cities is evident in this. you have to be a tad more accepting and a little less high-faluting to live here.
I like it regardless. it's fun to live in philly. it can be ghetto and reviving. and it's only a matter of time till some homeless person pitches a make shift tent in the vacant lot across from my house. we can only hope.
selah,
H