Can someone please explain why “upscale” restaurants and bakeries etc. have their (Mexican) employees out spraying the sidewalks in the morning with a hose? I saw one this morning spraying not only their entryway but the curb, the bus shelter, etc. And they are not the only culprits.
Is it a) so important to this business that their underpaid staff be seen looking busy literally every second whether there is a logical purpose or not; b) that they can be seen as so upscale they can afford to waste finite and expensive water resources by literally dumping it on the ground for no rational purpose; c) that their customers are so rarefied and delicate that the presence of a dirty curb ten yards from a business will put them off their brunch (but that these same customers will have no problem with the food or waitstaff and will tip fairly)?
Before I judged an eating establishment for having a dirty sidewalk, I would judge them for blocking pedestrian traffic flow on a busy sidewalk, soaking the ground on one of our rare sunny days, being profligately wasteful, sending their “colored man” out to do demeaning tasks for esoteric rationale just because they can, etc. I don’t care if I sound all Portlandia here.

21 replies on “To the businesses who wash “their” sidewalks”

  4. Because there is no way these Mexican/”colored” people could possibly be the actual owners of said businesses huh I, A?

  7. Since when is water a finite resource anyway?
    Washing the sidewalks. Big Deal.
    And suggesting they are racist is bullshit.

  8. #7 uh, since there hasn’t been any new water created on the Earth since the dawn of time, that’s since when.
    And since water is rationed in large areas of the planet, that’s ALSO since when.

    Regardless of who owns the restaurants(and yes, the people doing the washing could BE the owners that’s true, but it’s also beside the point)what’s the point of washing the sidewalks in front of the restaurants each day? Nobody judges a restaurant by what the sidewalk in front of it looks like…and, unless you’ve got people taking massive dumps on that sidewalk each night, there’s no real reason to wash the sidewalks at all.

    It’s a waste of water and time.

  9. #7-when? Oh, I don’t know…since the time water first appeared on the Earth(the last time, by the way, that any water at all came into existence here).

    And since water has been rationed in large areas of the planet(some of which our country has invaded from time to time).

    That’s since when.

    Oh, and to the poster who said that the people doing the washing could, in fact, be the owners…yeah, fair enough, I suppose they could be. But that doesn’t make washing the damn sidewalks any LESS pointless and wasteful. There’s no way the sidewalk in front of the restaurant(which, btw, the restaurant doesn’t actually own)could get THAT disgusting between closing time at night and opening time the next day-unless, I suppose, there are people taking massive shits on the sidewalk each night, in which case I’d advise the owners to relocate as soon as possible, since no amount of hosing will put a stop to that(lobbying the City Council to open more public restrooms and keep them open 24-7 would be far more effective).

    While this isn’t the single most pressing issue of our times(that, of course, remains the question of what Lady Gaga’s next stage outfit will be)I.A. does have a point:

    Washing the sidewalk each day is a waste of time and water, and a needless inconvenience to those who have to avoid that part of the sidewalk when the restaurant staff and/or management is washing it.

  11. 1. the water doesn’t disappear, it runs down the storm drain and through the treatment plant and back to the river/hydrosphere. It’s called a non-consumptive water use and the physics principle involved is called conservation of mass.

    2. if a few restaurants hosing down their sidewalks freaks you out so much, please don’t go downtown early monday morning at 3 am when association for portland progress crews wash down almost ALL the downtown sidewalks on the bus mall and adjacent streets every week.

    3. yes, cities can be dirty places, but they sure are a lot more pleasant when concerned citizens and businesses take responsibility for cleaning the public spaces in front of their properties and establishments.

  14. Yeah, if you really wanna be pissed off, check out all the city employees with their gas-powered leaf blowers, blowing a bunch of leaves around for no real reason.

  16. Actually there’s water arriving on Earth every year on asteroids, not much but some, AlaskanNow. Water has also been sythesized by scientists out of, let’s see, I’ll take a wild stab at it: hydrogen and oxygen.

    Personally I only use asteroid water to wash down my sidewalks and valium.

  17. Oh, my Fucking GOD! Someone washed the sidewalk! And they were brown & now it’s clean! What is a person to do with all this tragedy & horror?

  18. It is not the city’s job to clean the sidewalks, it is the property owners job to maintain them free from hazard. If they left crap on them and some person slips and falls from it, guess whose fault it is? Not the city’s.

  20. I can’t believe that no one in 20 comments has mentioned that there is human urine (and sometimes dog/human waste) on the DT sidewalks almost every morning. Also, if there is an actual human in the doorway, washing the sidewalk gets them up nice and early, and makes it too wet for them to come back.

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