In an old plant on Northampton Street, the snowblowers and pickups with plows attached anticipate winter’s last hurrah. The lawnmowers await warmer times.

But it’s not the machines that are the story; it’s the people operating them. The county’s anti-poverty agency is tackling one of Buffalo’s most vexing problems: finding work for those no one else wants to hire.

That’s the idea behind Keep Buffalo Neat, a jobs program with a twist: It’s grounded in realism about both the economy and folks who have trouble getting jobs even in the best of times.

It’s a departure from the myth that everyone can land a middle-class job despite a brush with the law, no high school diploma or other baggage.

“That moment in American history is passing,” said Henry L. Taylor Jr., director of the University at Buffalo’s Center for Urban Studies, which works with the Community Action Organization of Erie County. He said it’s time to get “beyond that kind of Disneyland view of American society.”

For the low-skilled or no-skilled, that means accepting entry-level work and learning to perform it on time and with a smile.

Enter KBN. It sends workers out to plow streets and sidewalks in the winter, cut grass and trim hedges in the summer, and work on CAO facilities in between. Not a make-work program, it’s a subscription service that marries workers with homeowners—many of them elderly—who need these tasks performed.

Homeowners pay $30 a month, and the program already has about 300 subscribers, with new ones signing up each week, said L. Nathan Hare, executive director of the CAO, which runs the program.

Funded with a $1.6 million federal economic-stimulus grant acquired with the help of the Brown administration, the program launched last August, with wages that start at $8.69 an hour and increase to $10.17 after six months.

With uniformed workers whose visible presence can help deter neighborhood crime, it also restores pride as workers spruce up inner-city neighborhoods they grew up in.

“This is our backyard, so it’s kind of like cleaning our own house,” said program coordinator Clement Hutchinson.

It’s also a program of no illusions. It now has 34 workers, after hiring 46, but Hare envisions increasing the number to 300. He has no patience, though, with those allergic to work who would rather take their chances on the streets.

Unlike jobs programs that avoid the hard cases because their funding depends on retention rates, Keep Buffalo Neat offers support services and attitude training while embracing those cases, requiring only “integrity and a work ethic,” Hare said.

“It’s just an excellent opportunity to [move yourself forward] in life,” said Reecie Barnes, 31, who enrolled in November.

What would Errol Weathers say to those who think this kind of work is beneath them?

“They missed out on a nice little job,” said Weathers, 50, who’s getting back on his feet after getting laid off from temporary construction work.

As magic bullets go, this one—focused on renewing the urban core by investing in its people—is more on target than all the talk of spectacular developments funded by massive subsidies.

Changing attitudes about low-wage work, about taking care of one’s community and about personal responsibility can rebuild neighborhoods and, equally important, the lives of the people who live in them.

I can’t think of too many other projects we’ve undertaken around here that can make that claim—and at such low cost.