To the family who was wandering the lot on the corner of Madison and 9th on Sunday:

You: A lovely, aesthetically crunchy, hipstery, and presumably hetero family with two young children, taking lovely photos in the overgrown grass on the empty lot that was once an apartment building until it burnt down twice. Your baby appeared to have no shoes on, and the mother had only birks. You also appeared to be grabbing some things out of the grass (?)

Me: someone who lives above the lot, far too mortified to yell down to you to get the hell out of what I refer to as the RAT HOLE because there are several dozen rats of various sizes who I watch scamper around from my balcony. We’re talking like, 30RPH (rats per hour) spotted on a slow day. On top of all of that, there is remnants (dust, debris) from the fires and the efforts to put them out, garbage and broken objects thrown in from the local unhoused camps that pass through, broken glass and needles, rusted metal scrap, feces, discarded substance paraphernalia, crumbling brick and stone, the list goes on.
It is NOT somewhere you want to wander through or walk around. In fact, the unhoused groups won’t even build camps on the lot because of the rats and dangerous materials. I love rats but I definitely would not be scampering around with them in this location. I would like to encourage you (and the general public) to reframe from exploring the lot with (or even without) small children, especially without proper footwear, PPE, and extreme precaution. I hope one day the lot can become a nice place where the neighborhood can rest and perhaps even somewhere where those struggling can sleep at night, it would be a great location for a small park. As for now there are far too many hazards for anyone to casually walk through.

Also, if you are reading this and happen to be a part of the company (from Tampa, Florida btw) who previously owned the apartments that you allowed to burn down once, then failed to clean up the aftermath until a second alarm three fire broke out in the remains of the original fire: Fuck You! I place 90% of the blame for how disgusting this lot is on you. The other 10% goes towards the city for not holding them accountable and for doing nothing to keep the lot clean.