Starting this Tuesday, a new character appeared on the corner of 7 and 49 that does not go unnoticed in the frenetic pace of the La Plata microcenter. In the midst of the little trees that offer dollars at 500 pesos each, taxis waiting for passengers, people in a hurry coming and going from anywhere, and street vendors, the municipal agent Alejandra Gonzalez surprised by his patience and determination to get the job done. Sheathed in her blue Social Watch uniform and mMegaphone in hand does not hesitate to mark the errors it detects in pedestrians, cyclists and motorists.
“They are crossing badly, do they always cross like this?”, tells a group of teenagers that he is about to cross 49th Street. He points the megaphone at them even though they are less than three feet away. Some look at her in surprise, others smile. But she is undeterred and continues to do her driver’s education work.
“It is the first time they have sent me here and surely when I come back and tell about the experience this will happen again”says the agent to 0221.com.ar. “Today I’m here, tomorrow we’ll see,” he says and laughs. Alejandra is nice, lends herself to dialogue and interacts smilingly with passers-by. But she doesn’t stop watching and speaking through the megaphone. Her voice ends up becoming a sound in the background that is mixed with the shouts, the horns and the noise of the engines.
“Madam, you must wait for the traffic light… can you please go up the sidewalk”, is one of the phrases that is heard the most. Her presence was quickly accepted by the taxi drivers who stop on the corner. A driver complains about how badly people cross, without paying attention to anything and vindicates the work of the agent who is not intimidated by bad looks.
“Everyone has to go back to the garden”, he says as an initial evaluation of his first working day. And he talks about the slogan with which he took to the streets. “I’m here to raise awareness, but I can’t cope,” she adds,
People generally treat her well. But in the face of so much movement that the microcenter of the city presents, others also appear. Those who look at her badly. “They have told me everything, from putting the cone in you know where to apologizing for committing an infraction,” she says. Some do not even listen to it because they are wearing headphones.
“I’m here on the corner, I don’t even want to imagine how they cross in the middle of the block, which is even worse and more dangerous,” closes the agent who on Tuesday morning tried to teach the people of La Plata to improve their street behavior.
