He pops up here and there, directing traffic at street corners, helping kids off school buses, sweeping up hair at barbershops. Wherever he is, so too is his bicycle and signature bright orange and yellow safety jacket, complete with silver reflective stripes.
Who is he? A crossing guard? City employee? No, a neighborhood volunteer. If you don’t know him, and you really should, just ask. Pretty much everybody knows him. “That’s Tata,” is the response with a knowing shrug.
Comments
Thank you for this moving portrait of "a little guy," the sort we almost never see in the newspaper. At this season, it makes us ask, if those with little can give so much, how can those who have much reciprocate?
Great story. Loved it and the photos, too.
Is Tata a Nazi? He is wearing a copy of a WWII German stahlhelm helment. Notice how the Globe artist tried to hide the helmet outline in the drawing.