[Serial_Worrier]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2 ... pumps.html

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '&')quot;They're ready to go to work and they go to fill their cars up. And they can't do that," said Det. Mark McLaughlin of the Stockton Police Officers Assn.

"The PD and fire dept. are both out of gas and the gas companies will not service us because we r in BK" one person texted Fox 40 News. "... the gas vendor is owed money and will no longer service to us."

[Ferretlover]

Just one of many examples regarding the future: all things will not be equal. In fact, whoever is alive in that future time frame will know, from a young age, that you can not depend on anyone.
IOW, no, the government will NOT save us. Unless it is to round people up for labor or the military..

[Lore]

Maybe the TEAS can shrink local government a little more and we can bring back neighborhood malitia? Think of how much money that would save.

[dsula]

What about volunteering? Volunteer fire dept, volunteer neighbour hood watch (aka police), volunteer rescue. It's good. Connects people back with the community.

[Lore]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dsula', 'W')hat about volunteering? Volunteer fire dept, volunteer neighbour hood watch (aka police), volunteer rescue. It's good. Connects people back with the community.

[Pops]

I grew up just down the road, amateurs wouldn't make it in Stockton.

Stockton was the focal point of the Drive til you qualify, Bay Area leapfrog commuting boom of the '90-05 period of 95¢ unleaded. The trend started in the East Bay and before it was over had reached down the central valley 120 miles. A client of my agency was a developer who subdivided and built many homes sold to repeat buyers who bought and held for 2 years, sold for a big profit and moved 40 miles farther from the Bay and bought a little bigger house, held for 2 years... Some did that 3 or 4 times until they were 100 miles from work, then the bottom fell out and every bit of that "equity" went poof along with demand for homes 100 miles from work that would pay the mortgage.

The economy went from kind of a big small town to boomtown all along hwy 99 with an incredible percentage of the economy concentrated on construction, remodeling, real estate clip joints and their co-conspirators, furniture, cars... it was really crazy. Another client owned a unfinished furniture store, if you can believe it, he wound up a rich man with a house on pebble beach.

When I started taking PO seriously it didn't take long to figure out what was going to happen to the real estate and then to the economy in general and of course eventually the government based on property taxes once the price of unleaaded started up.

Just another boomtown.

[dinopello]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dsula', 'W')hat about volunteering? Volunteer fire dept, volunteer neighbour hood watch (aka police), volunteer rescue. It's good. Connects people back with the community.

[Lore]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dinopello', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dsula', 'W')hat about volunteering? Volunteer fire dept, volunteer neighbour hood watch (aka police), volunteer rescue. It's good. Connects people back with the community.

[dsula]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Lore', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dsula', 'W')hat about volunteering? Volunteer fire dept, volunteer neighbour hood watch (aka police), volunteer rescue. It's good. Connects people back with the community.

[Lore]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dsula', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Lore', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dsula', 'W')hat about volunteering? Volunteer fire dept, volunteer neighbour hood watch (aka police), volunteer rescue. It's good. Connects people back with the community.

[Fishman]

Well peak oil might be involved. With the quick bankruptcy of three California cities, it looks more like Blue state disease. High entitlements, too high taxes driving business out, city goes broke. Attack away. Sentiment doesn't pay the bills.

[glaucus]

Fishman wrote:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '.')..it looks more like Blue state disease.

[ritter]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', 'I') grew up just down the road, amateurs wouldn't make it in Stockton.

[Newfie]

I was in Stockton a couple of years ago doing a short site survey at the train station. Looked kinda seamy to me. Not a lot of charm. But there were some big new suburbs out in old rice fields.

Not an attractive place.

Red state blue ..... Looked kinda purple to me.

[Pops]

Exactly Newfie. Back in the day the port of Stockton was a big deal and there were some great old turn of the century neighborhoods which of course now are getto - have been since I was a kid in fact. When the city got that all money from developer they spent a butt-load (sorry for the economic terms) on building a convention center and touristy stuff at the old port, sunk a bundle in the typical Chamber of Commerce boondogle trying to attract business. Of course it did exactly what the "chamber" wanted and transferred a lot of that money to the boosters themselves - no wonder "boosting" is slang for stealing. I'm sure there are pension problems too like everywhere but I don't know about that.

[autonomous]

Stockton CA is ranked as the most miserable city in the US in a survey by Forbes:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'L')ocated in the state's Central Valley, Stockton has been ravaged by the housing bust. Median home prices in the city tripled between 1998 and 2005, when they peaked at $431,000. Now they are back to where they started, as the median price is forecast to be $142,000 this year, according to research firm Economy.com, a decline of 67% from 2005. Foreclosure filings affected 6.9% of homes last year in the Stockton area, the seventh-highest rate in the nation, according to online foreclosure marketplace RealtyTrac.

Stockton's violent crime and unemployment rates also rank among the 10 worst in the country.

[Outcast_Searcher]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Lore', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dsula', 'W')hat about volunteering? Volunteer fire dept, volunteer neighbour hood watch (aka police), volunteer rescue. It's good. Connects people back with the community.

[Outcast_Searcher]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('glaucus', 'F')ishman wrote:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '.')..it looks more like Blue state disease.

[Serial_Worrier]

I am so enjoying the ongoing demise of blue cities. Obviously Detroit is the king of Democrat wastelands!