Squeegee

24" x 36"
mixed media

In the pre-Mayor Giuliani days of New York City, one could find a busy street corner commandeered by men who would clean car windows. Before they were criminalized by the current Mayor, they were the most visible of the street's entrepreneurs. Able to live off the land, the squeegee guys could sustain themselves with a quick bite to eat from the spare change they had made. Competition is fierce in New York's capitalistic free market. For being bottom feeders and publicly competitive, the eradication of the squeegee guys became an easy accomplishment for a new Mayor trying to focus on the City's "major" urban problems. They were promptly cleared from the streets under threat of arrest. The Mayor was lauded for averting what was portrayed as a crisis... after all, weren't they just trying to compete like the big boys?
© Sol Robbins