Let’s set the way back machine to the Bronx, circa 1982.
A SCAVENGED BUILDING REFLECTS BRONX DECAY
Published: February 22, 1982, The New York Times
“The beginning of the end for the building at 2102-04 Aqueduct Avenue East came when burglars set fire to a top-floor apartment last November, making the apartment house open grounds for building scavengers.The scavengers ripped out anything made of copper or bronze or aluminum or lead and every fixture or appliance they could sell. They worked quickly, guaranteeing the building’s demise.
Among the things they removed were the brass railings – railings to which, as Nettie Kleppel recalled, the landlord 30 years ago would give his own extra burnish with a white handkerchief. “
– Full article here
Now let’s bring it back to the here (the East Bay) and the now (this week’s news).
Recycling Turns Criminal
Published: January 23, 2008, The East Bay Express
“Industry experts and police say such criminal recycling is quickly growing to epidemic proportions. Some might picture scrap metal recyclers as environmentally conscious, politically active, and devoutly organic. But officers from theft units in the Berkeley, Oakland, and Alameda police departments say many are methamphetamine addicts who swipe reachable, removable wires, pipes, or gutters and sell them to junkyards willing to turn a blind eye. Thieves target construction sites, abandoned buildings, basements in older homes, and businesses after dark.”
– Full article here