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Exodus on Main Street

The ebbs and flows of people in Delaware, move folks to the beach during the summer season, and out of the City of Newark.

In the last week or so, the population of town has dwindled to a fraction of what it is when the University of Delaware is in session.

A chair being loaded into the back of a rented moving truck.
People loading moving trucks is a common sight these days

I like all of the things that the University brings to town, including the people. But, it’s nice to have a change of pace, and 15 or so weeks where life is a little quieter

A dumpster filled with unwanted furniture.
What ever isn’t moved by students leaving for the summer is often discarded. 

It’s somewhat amazing seeing what gets left behind. The City provides a number of large dumpsters, located in strategic places around town, for students to fill.

An overloaded dumpster, with one side open.
Sometimes the contents of those dumpsters spill out, and end up disappearing in the middle of the night.

I wonder how many houses in Newark have at least one piece of funiture, or TV, or computer monitor that was originally cast off by a student leaving for the summer. 

Discarded furniture piled up near a dumpster.
There’s often enough school year furnishings being discarded that they do literally overflow on to sidewalks and parking lots. 

It’s surprising the number of people who become dumpster divers for one week during the year. Then again, it’s surprising some of the stuff that gets thrown away at the end of the school year.

A truck with a claw crane arrives to take away some of the overflowing trash.
The City does try to manage some of the chaos. 

In a couple of months, new moving trucks will start arriving with furniture, and school will be back in session. The town wouldn’t have many of the cultural and commercial attractions that it does, without the student body population being here a number of months out of the year.  Summertime in Newark is nice, though. 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 31st, 2006 at 6:29 pm and is filed under university. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “Exodus on Main Street”

  1. Loren Baker Says:
    June 6th, 2006 at 9:40 am

    So Bill, you score any nice chairs, hall trees or dart boards?

  2. Bill Says:
    June 6th, 2006 at 10:29 am

    Hi Loren,

    I’m pretty much set for all those things. I imagine that a lot of stuff that was thrown out did make its way into flea markets and garage sales all around me, as well as eBay.

  3. Loren Baker Says:
    June 7th, 2006 at 10:23 am

    Just saw the Google Ad “College Hunks Hauling Junk”; quite relevant to the story.

    Yes, I’m sure there are some micro-economies in Newark based around the reselling of college furnishings and throwaways.

    Perhaps you should look into creating a Newark freecycling group.

  4. Bill Says:
    June 7th, 2006 at 12:48 pm

    Good idea, Loren. :)

    I’ve been looking at a lot of the nonprofits based in Newark, and it may be a good idea of one or more of those to get involved somehow, in the furnishings that students leave behind.

    The City tried something new this year, by having a couple of locations in town where students could try to sell some of their castaways before they moved. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend, so I didn’t see how successful that effort was.

    But, trying to get people thinking about sustainable living around these parts might not be a bad idea.

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