The hours could be better.
No doubt, a lot of people would have trouble coming up with a less desirable occupation than cleaning the oozing, trash-strewn streets of skid row before dawn every weekday morning, a job that requires tiptoeing around syringes and rats. But for the broom brigade that gathers long before the sun rises, it’s work they’re happy to have, because job prospects were somewhat limited.
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Urban Alchemy practitioner Barney Hines Jr., 56, cleans the gutters in L.A. s skid row. He says he lives in a tent on 6th Street and is happy to have this job.