I have decided to forgo my usual Faith In God Ministries article this week and do another Retirement article instead. The reason being, one of my favorite people have left Imperial Plaza, the Activities Director. From what myself and others have seen, she has a good head on her shoulders and she ran a smooth operation. I don’t know of anyone that does not like her but, on the other side of the coin, there is many more than a few that are sad for her leaving. Like I said in last week’s article, there is no replacing her because she is a one of a kind, a super hard worker.

We had a party in her honor last month and another this past Friday. At work or out in the public, she never changed. I just hope and pray that we at Imperial Plaza do not lose anymore of our longtime beloved people, full time or part time. This is our home and our house can not withstand anymore departures and remain the same. Long term experience is more than hard to replace nor our love for them. They do not get the thanks nor appreciation that they should but the majority of us do care and we are watching.

That remind me of another incident that has happened here. A woman said some derogatory things to our female bus driver that was totally uncalled for and she was also assaulted. The punishment was and is unacceptable. There are people that have done less and received more punishment than that. On the street, that could result in jail time. First charge, curse and abuse. Second charge, assault. When I was a cop, I have arrested people on those charges and age, mental state and health condition did not matter.

As the photo show below, double parking needs a little work (smile). No laughing matter because, as I said in a previous article, driving here leaves a lot to be desired. My wife and I look for dents and scratches on our two cars all the time and there are some. Her passenger side got all scratched up a couple of weeks ago and there were scratches on the rear. The side view mirror doesn’t count because that is also a normal thing around here. People park on the line, take two parking spaces, park at an angle and use the center of the roadway. Don’t let your auto insurance expire. I still remember when my wife and I had lived here only a month or two and a woman rounded the corner at the end of the building and kept straight to take out two or three cars. I used to park in that area but I don’t anymore. I acquiesces because there is not a parking lot that is safe. By law, private property is private property and outside traffic laws do not exist. If it did, there are more than a few cars that would either be ticketed or towed. And, I haven’t even gotten into expired tags and/or inspection stickers.

One last thing that I want to mention, which I alluded to in my article last week, are things to do in the area. I just attended the Filipino Fest and there are at least two other events in the area. There is the Watermelon Fest and there is the Jazz Festival. There are probably more smaller festivals and parties going on that I don’t know about but they are listed in the paper every week. Go out, have fun and don’t just sit around and mope. There is plenty to do, at Imperial Plaza and outside, have at it.