Urban Decay in Florida

Empty, abandoned, deserted or vacant are all similar in so many ways... They are all alone or without any.

Jon Krakauer, author of "Into the Wild" wrote about the detriment of loneliness based on the last days of life for a man named Christopher McCandless who ceased all communication with friends in 1990 after college graduation.

McCandless went on an Alaskan journey where he lived on his own, alone. He lived for 112 days in an abandoned bus before dying.

“Happiness is only real when shared." - Christopher McCandless

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To feel that way or to be in that place is to be without the help of others. It is a humbling experience that some pick while others are forced to receive due to the circumstances of life.
However you arrived at the empty place, you should not make an effort at staying at that location as it will only equal more loneliness.

An article in Psychology Today suggested that being lonely can equal real physical pain. The article stated:

“In one experiment, the use of Tylenol lessened the aches of loneliness. With a dose of acetaminophen, scans of lonely individuals showed reduced activity in pain-processing areas of the brain. In addition, loneliness heightens the fight-or-flight response—a physiological reaction when a person faces harm or danger. This heightened response can make a person irritable, even angry. The sense of threat may feed a detrimental cycle of isolation and disconnection.”

Photo: Abandoned motel on the back roads to Florida.

Florida or Bust

He sat quietly holding a sign and if anyone handed him anything, he would politely thank them. As we talked it was obvious that he was well spoken as he told me about two young ladies who stopped and gave him blankets to use for a warm night’s sleep.

“I want to get to Florida,” he told me with a stutter. “I got off the bus in Murfreesboro, but I need to get to Interstate 75,” he explained.

He then described how he has worked all of his life at day labor companies suggesting, “Because I like to travel.” A social security check is deposited into his account each month, but he does not have an ATM card or checks. “I will set all of that up when I get to Florida,” talking about how he wants to find somewhere to live where he will be warmer.

“Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.” - Matsuo Basho, Japanese Poet (1644-1694)

From the Vietnam War to America

He escaped Vietnam as the war came to a close in 1975 with the help of a CBS News Chief Correspondent named Brian Ellis. 58 year old Liu Khai Trac remembers the exact date he left, even though he was only 17 at the time. Lou, as he is called by friends told me, “I think it was March 27th that I left Vietnam as a refugee.”

During the war, Lou remembers being scared. He said to me on Wednesday, “At one time I recall that the bomb shell was so heavy we had to hide under a bunk bed.” He then talked about seeing a U.S. tank heading down one of the roads in front of his house, “I saw a military tank supplied by the US – they was running on the street – now tanks don’t usually run in the city, but that’s how severe inside the city – and then bomb shell I heard.”

I asked, “Did you like the U.S. Troops?” He smiled and laughed… “As for the American Troops, I thought they were good – They good guy – and especially - they give us a little pack of cigarettes to smoke, a dollar for a soda – they was friendly to us and we was friendly to them.”

Today, Lou is homeless in Murfreesboro, TN.

I can walk, but I have neuropathy

“I can walk, but I have neuropathy and my feet hurt really bad,” she told me. I glanced down at her feet and noticed they were swollen to the point where you could barely see her toenails.

As we talked I watched people pass her by. She looked me in the eye and said, “People ignore me, they try not to make eye contact.” Despite the fact that most refused to even look at her, she made an effort to tell everyone to have a nice day.

When I asked where she was from she laughed and said, “In the past eight years, I have lived in California, North Carolina, (pause) Tennessee and now here… Florida.” As the heat from the Orlando sun beat down on her it was obvious that she left something behind in Tennessee from the way she said “Tennessee” while glancing down. Without me even asking she remarked, “My children are in Tennessee – I gave them up so that they would have a better life than I could provide.”

At age 45 she lives on the streets. Her home is the entryway to an auto repair shop whenever they are closed at night.

“What a weary time those years were -- to have the desire and the need to live but not the ability.” ― Charles Bukowski, poet (1920-1994)

Just Waiting

Waiting on a bus… The two traveled from Puerto Rico to Florida together.

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” - Augustine of Hippo

Augustine of Hippo was known as Saint Augustine. He was a Christian theologian and philosopher whose writings influenced the development of Western Christianity and Western philosophy.

Interesting side note, part of Saint Augustine is actually in St Augustine, Florida. The Cathedral Basilica of St Augustine has a small relic of the 5th century bishop stored in an ornamental clear vase made of glass and precious metals. A relic is a part of a holy person's body, usually part of the bone, kept for the purpose of reverence.

The Disney Monorail

As a kid I was always fascinated with the Walt Disney World monorail.

The Disney monorail opened in 1971 and as of 2013, it was calculated to be the second most heavily used monorail systems in the world. The three Disney routes transport up to 150,000 riders per day. Beating that number would be the Chongqing Rail Transit in Chongqing, China. The China monorail, which comes in at number one, has an average of 500,000 daily riders on Line 3 alone.

Monorail technology started in the 1950’s. As for Disney World in Orlando, FL… all of their current monorail cars (12 full fleets), are 1990 to 1991 models. The system in Disney has been in continuous operation since 1971. The electric system of 13 miles in length is powered by 600 volts of DC propulsion which includes eight DC motors with 112 horsepower each.

"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." - Walt Disney (1901-1966)

Alex at Disney

Alex, who is from New York, has only worked for Walt Disney World for two years. However, he remembers taking his kids to Disney in the 1990’s. 

"You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality." - Walt Disney (1901-1966)

Time to relax

"Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer." - William S. Burroughs (1914-1997)

Orlando, FL with the Sony A7SII

Urban Decay Somewhere in Florida

They quietly sit empty in Florida on a small and shallow lake. Urban decay somewhere in Florida. 

"Without publicity there can be no public support, and without public support every nation must decay." - Benjamin Disraeli

Waiting on medication

He was sitting across the street from the hospital waiting for his medication to be filled in the pharmacy, he told me. “Do you need any help,” I asked? “No, no I don’t,” he replied. “How old are you,” I asked him. He looked down at his hands then across the street… “21.” 

Leave the property, now

They were quietly folding freshly cleaned towels in a vacant lot behind a large for sale sign in downtown Orlando, FL. Damion told me, “The police harass us something awful here – they told me that they would charge me with grand theft larceny because of the shopping carts. They treat us like we are stupid, I got the shopping carts from a dumpster.” I took a look at the rusted carts, it was more than obvious they had not been used by any store in years.

“I have PTSD,” he told me. I asked for more details and he said, “I was stationed in Italy and one of our own guys accidentally ran over me in a military truck – he hit a bump and I was the next bump. [sarcastic].”

“You may want to stick around, I’m sure the cops will be here just as they always are,” he told me with a slight chuckle. “We are nothing to them,” he sadly said.

Within 10-minutes of my conversation, five Orlando Police Officers rode up on their bikes surrounding the two. “We ordered you to move yesterday. You cannot be on this lot. This is private property,” one of the officers said in a deep tone. The property owner then showed up while taking photographs on his phone. The property owner would not make eye contact with the two homeless individuals and told the police he wants them gone, which is his right.

As an onlooker, I did not see the point in mandating the two leave. The property was totally vacant and was simply a concrete slab with two for sale signs that were put up in 2011.

"Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent then the one derived from fear of punishment." - Mahatma Gandhi (1869 – Assassinated in 1948, Civil Rights Leader)

You cannot obstruct the sidewalk

The homeless father and son were quietly minding their own business at the intersection of Orange and Pine Streets in downtown Orlando, FL. The father, sitting on an upside down milk crate and the son talking to several other homeless persons who were told to immediately leave a vacant lot that was for sale, were the next who were told to leave.

“You can’t obstruct a city sidewalk,” barked the officer. The elderly father stood to his feet without saying a word while his son came to his aid to explain they would be leaving Orlando in one week. The police officer continued to tell the duo they had to move on.

I had to inquire further and learned the father was waiting on his social security check to arrive and with that money, he aimed to buy a bus ticket so that they could venture back to their home state of Texas. The son told me, “People are nicer to us in Texas.”

“You can all go to hell; I will go to Texas” ― David Crocket (1786-1836)

196 Years Old and Homeless

I noticed she was sitting quietly under a bridge by herself next to a basket full of bags. I asked, “Where are you from?” I had to listen intently as she spoke very quietly, “I was born in New York, New York at General Hospital, but it’s not called General Hospital anymore.”

I asked where she currently lives in Orlando, Florida where I met her and she said, “I was living with my uncle who lives out there in um, a grave site in Odie land.” Later, she said that all of her “kin people are dead,” but she remembers them in Groveland, Florida which is near Orlando.

I asked if she has children and she replied, “I have a lot of kids, but they’re not what you call – uh, listed as mine.”

My next question was one you should never ask a woman, but I went for it... “How old are you, if you don’t mind me asking?” She responded, “About a hundred and ninety six years old.”

“Old age is no place for sissies.” - Bette Davis (1908-1989)

Slayer on the Chest

The Slayer tattoo on his chest stood out to me, so I asked him about it. “Have you been to a lot of Slayer concerts,” I asked. “No, never been to one – I didn’t even know who they were until some woman told me about the band,” he responded as if he had never even heard their music. When I asked why he got the tattoo, he jumped back to telling me about the woman who told him about the band.

While talking to him he told me about his past apartments when he lived in Massachusetts, “I lost my last apartment in Massachusetts when I got my 4th DUI and went to jail.” He told me after spending some time behind bars, he decided to move to Florida. “I had an apartment here, but lost that one over a drug deal… It was only marijuana,” he said with a slight smile.

While conversation was something that seemed unnatural for him, he was a nice guy who expressed clearly that he is now homeless and has been for quite some time.

Even though he moved to Orlando to start over, he lacked the tools to clearly do so. He is back at the bottom.

Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, FL

What was once an active night scene is now a memorial for 49 victims. There was overwhelming sadness in Orlando outside the Pulse night club in Florida.

Tonight, I saw parents crying, brothers and sisters shaking almost uncontrollably, visitors walking quietly in disbelief and others unsure of how to act or react.

It appeared as if some visitors have been to the scene of the terrifying massacre every night for the past two weeks.

While mourners stopped to pray together, complete strangers would walk up to someone crying and place their arms around them in comfort. This was true of those who may have been gay, straight, white, black, Hispanic or other. Everyone was truly holding each other together.

Officers respectfully stood to the side carefully watching over the area, which is still an active crime scene.

A large chain link fence covered in black canvas surrounds the outside walls of the club that stands silent tonight and likely permanently.

"The tragedy of modern man is not that he knows less and less about the meaning of his own life, but that it bothers him less and less." - Vaclav Havel

He and his family moved from Pensacola

"We moved here from Pensacola, Florida," he told me while suggesting the crime rate was way to high to raise a family in Pensacola. "It is much better in Murfreesboro, Tennessee," he said with a smile. He explained how prostitutes would walk up and down his street in Florida. "One day my four year old daughter went out there and told one of them to keep on walking," he said with a slight laugh.

Pensacola has a violent crime rating of 71. The scale goes from 1 to 100 with 100 being highest. The U.S. average rating is 41.4. Violent crime is composed of: murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault.

The Pensacola population count only rings in at 52,000 residents. That number has steadily, but slowly declined since 1990 when the count hit about 60,000 residents. 17% of the population is below the poverty rate.

It is also interesting to note that as of February of this year (2016), there were 779 registered sex offenders living in Pensacola or one sex offender to every 67 residents.

However, Pensacola is far from having the highest crime rate in the Sunshine State. A small town called Mangonia Park has the highest crime index in Florida. Mangonia is considered to be in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area.

U.S. Marine on route to 300 mile destination

It was a rainy Florida day when I met this U.S. Marine walking down the highway with his bike. He explained he was unable to ride the bike because his chain was bent. “What happened to it,” I asked? “My lock went through the back wheel and then the chain and someone tried to pry it off bending my chain,”  he said.

He told me he was headed about 300 miles into Florida with a destination of St. Petersburg. “I want to see my former Lieutenant before he crokes,” he said with a laugh.  “He’s 86 and kinda’ like Lt. Dan from Forest Gump, but a great guy,” he said with a smile. “I refuse to hold my thumb out or ask for a ride, nor will I fly a sign asking for money – I can make it.”

The bike he was on came from a Destin, FL church. Evidently, the church has a program to help those in need. They recycle bikes from bike rental companies in the Destin area. Each bike is repaired and then outfitted with a sticker that says, “Donated bikes rehabbed by St. Andrews Church, Destin, FL.” Awesome program for folks like this retired U.S. Marine. 

Empty Places: The statue

This is another shot from a ghost apartment complex in Florida. As you can see, when the apartment shut down, residents just left many of their belongings behind for unknown reasons. 

A statue, a grill, a portable stereo and buckets of chlorine are all seen in this picture. 

Empty Places: Defunct motel

Furniture littered the parking lot. Broken beds, desks and nightstands filled the rooms. Beer and liquor bottles were carelessly thrown thrown into windows and mirrors. Remnants of makeshift beds were seen in some motel rooms, although people were no where to be found. 

This shot was taken in a small beach-side town located in Florida. Population stands at just over 36,000 residents.