A New Look

I have always thought of Provo as a very tidy, clean and safe place to be. However, walking around the Center Street area in Provo opened my eyes to reality. I was shocked at how run-down a lot of areas were and yet I still found it humorous that amongst all of the trash and dirt, there were still things that you could say you could "only find in Provo." 

First, I found a wall with "Graffiti" on it. This graffiti is not the usual kind you would imagine with spray paint, big block letters and declaring a gang's territory. Instead, this Provo graffiti is used with children's sidewalk chalk, in notebook handwriting and used to declare the deepness of a friendship. Although any type of graffiti makes an area look more trashy, the content of the material is very Provo-esque. 

In front of the graffiti were about 10 trash cans filled to the brim. As I mentioned earlier, I have always thought of Provo as a tidy place, but walking these streets really made it look run-down and not well taken care of. 

Continuing on, I found the back of a building where all of the windows were barred up and the bricks very dirty and old. As I looked further, I found a sign on the back door that said, "Pharmacy: Deliverers through garage only." The whole building gave me a sketchy feeling and then the fact that drugs were being delivered to it, made me wonder about the integrity of the area. Do they have barred windows because they have been broken into before and college aged students got high on their drugs? These aren't things I typically think about when I think of Happy Valley. I think of a good little Mormon area, but every area has its problems. 

I passed many homes on side streets that had their front yards filled with trash and storage items heaped into piles. The feeling of disorganization made the homes look more run-down. One home I passed in particular had torn up screens on the windows. It made me wonder about the area once again. I can assume that it is a bad neighborhood and their home had been broken into or it could be that the home is so run down that the screens tore on their own. Either way, it is not the nice and tidy Provo I had a perspective of once before. 

Finally, I found a fire hydrant with a garbage bag duct taped around it, as well as a curious red wire hanging out of the packaging. I'm not particularly sure if this is legal. To my understanding, fire hydrants need to be available at all times for fire trucks - this is why we cannot park in front of them. It may have been done by a construction worker or it could have been a prank. But the duct tape made it look unprofessional and adds to the trashy feeling of the entire area. 

As an overview, I had always thought of Provo as an innocent Mormon area that was well kept. However, walking the Center Street area changed my perspective and made me realize that there may be some sketchy areas of Provo where things are very run-down and not everyone acts with integrity.