We’ve all seen the signs held by those down and out in Denver.
But this one’s different.
“Will Work For Money,” reads a board held by a clean-shaven preppy guy in clogs and a toggle coat. “Architecture Design-Build. Wife & toddler at home. Five children.”
Meet Franklin Salazar, a designer of high-end homes who’s jonesing for work at a time when most new development — high-end or low — is on hold statewide.
Salazar is dead broke, living off handouts from fellow churchgoers and struggling to support his family as his wife is expecting their sixth child this summer.
“I don’t have a dime. I owe Public Service $2,000 and have bills coming down my throat. I haven’t paid tuition at my kids’ school in three months, and they’re letting me slide on that. I pretty much had to do something,” says the 52-year-old lifelong Denverite.
Out of necessity — desperation, really — Salazar has hit the streets with his 3-by-4- foot white plywood sign plugging in impeccable architect’s script his ability to pop tops, remodel or finish basements. He has planted himself without drama or pride on the curbs of Cherry Creek North, Bonnie Brae and other neighborhoods where in headier days he designed contemporary play palaces — the kind with home theaters, minibars and saunas in the basements.
Even in lean times, he’s hoping that someone with cash to toss around might stop and hire him.
As job hunting techniques go, it’s not the most effective.
Though he has had many smiles, thumbs-up and honks from empathetic drivers, he has snagged only one solid lead in two weeks.
“The contracts aren’t exactly rolling in,” he admits. “Some people would be humiliated standing out here like this. Customers want a winner, and obviously I’m having difficulties. But I’ve got no money. I have a family to take care of. And, damn right, I’m desperate.
“People who don’t respect that, I figure they’re not gonna hire me anyway.”
Let’s face it, in Salazar’s shoes many might sit home and wallow in silence.
Some of us might self-medicate or turn to Bugles corn snacks, nacho flavor.
You have to give Salazar credit as he sets out without so much as a shiver each morning to hustle for honest work.
His is a sign of our times, an unabashed expression of the insecurity most of us — even those lucky enough to have jobs for the time being — feel as the economy tanks, our pensions dry up and the world feels generally shaky.
“He’s got a creative approach to a problem that many creative people are having — a feeling of total insecurity,” says Verity Freebern, also a struggling small-business owner who was struck by the spectacle of Salazar at the corner of East Mississippi Avenue and Bonnie Brae Boulevard. “He’s putting it all out there, saying ‘Here I am, an educated, white-collar person who’s having a tough time.’ ”
I can’t vouch for Salazar’s skills with a T square. Nor can I guarantee that he knows his way around a drafting board.
But the guy’s got moxie.
So if you must pop your top, here’s his phone number: 303-870-5943.
Call anytime.
And, please, someone, get this guy off our streets.
Susan Greene writes Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Reach her at 303-954-1989 or greene@denverpost.com.
