Crack Motels: desperation, hope, and survival...hope not doing too good these days

The Mosley Motel

I had a pick up in south Tampa at a nice townhouse/condo. A girl came out of the condo, but did not look the part. She looked road weary and beat. You know, hard living, even though I just picked her up on easy street. I knew this was not  her place. I have seen her type before. Years of bad decisions, poor emotional support, lack of friends, no job, no man, and everyone else in the world is too blame. Sad. What is really sad is I'm rarely wrong on this. Two decades of driving a hack has jaded me, I guess. It's not bias if you've seen it a million times.

I was surprised when she said she needed to go to St. Petersburg on 34th street. That's an out of town trip and that is when I get nervous about getting paid. I hope the John was nice enough to give her money for the fair. They usually do. I ask a few qualifying questions and I'm now satisfied she has money because she knows exactly what the fare will run because she has done this before. We settle down for a nice ride.

A typical swinging night at the Mosley

We end up at the Mosley Motel (read the reviews! LMFAO). The place looks almost passable during the day. At night, the cockroaches, crackheads, drug dealers, prostitutes, dickheads, and bums come out in full force. Its an arm pit. People who end up here are out of jobs; out of couches; out of touch; and out of luck. This is the last way station before you are officially homeless. $200 plus a week keeps you from the streets. It does little to protect you from the marginal elements of socitiey. You fucked. There is no other way to put it.

Ain't got nothing to do

My experience has shown, from the front of my taxi cab, that these people are in between work, and in between here and there. Transient workers, mentally ill waiting for their checks, sex offenders, and the stung out. Unfortunately, since the recession, Families have turned to these places. That was not supposed to happen with this administration. Politicians have only  paid lip service to a very real, but solvable, problem.

Obama has made their life so much better.

She paid the fare and got out. I could notice people just hanging out on the stoops. Nobody looked like they had a job. Nobody looked like they had any fire burning behind their eyes. Life takes...I guess. I wonder how many just chose to live this way. While I was parked there, you could see a black, older guy, come up the ally on a bicycle. He was looking around for someone but no one.

He must be a 'hook.' In normal person terms, that is a middle man. He never touches the dope or the money. He waits for people who want to score dope and he takes them to the place. He gets a fee for his services. I saw a hook get the shit beat out of him when he demanded money. It was in the backseat of my taxi. They had called for a taxi to go to the hood. I never ask people what they are doing, but you know. You know what I mean. The buyer was upset because he knew the dope boy and said the could get the rock on his own.

"Fuck you nigger!" he says

The hooked continued to demand his money. Then the buyer dives over the seat and beats the shit out of him. I stop and get out of the cab. Realize folks I was in deep hood. I mean DEEP HOOD. My white ass was standing there while a crowd was gathering. I hop back in as the buyer got out and I hit the gas. The origin of that fare was a crack motel in Tampa. The point I am making is these places are not safe.

Do these people ever go inside. They did pay for the room, right?

Most people can drive home at night to their nice crib. They can close the gate, and never have any contact with this problem society has. The only way it will get better is have housing for families and put the rest of fuck-ups  in prison. The later one is being done in Florida by this Governor and it already having a positive affect.