Tuesday, March 02, 2010

New ghost towns: Industrial communities teeter on the edge - USATODAY.com

New ghost towns: Industrial communities teeter on the edge - USATODAY.com: "Whether it's textiles in the Carolinas, paper in New England or steel in the Midwest, most industrial cities and mill towns 'are on pins and needles,' says Donald Schunk, an economist at Coastal Carolina University. 'Day to day, week to week, any manufacturing facility seems vulnerable. People don't know if they'll be there.'

That's true in:

• Georgetown, S.C. (pop. 9,000), where the closing of the local steel mill last year left International Paper as the last major private employer.

• Madawaska, Maine (pop. 4,000), where workers voted last month to take an 8.5% wage cut to keep the financially strapped paper mill going.

• Glenwood, Wash. (pop. 500), where flat lumber prices and rising land prices are crippling the forest products industry."

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If you add up all the seriously troubled states, cities, and CIDs, it starts to look like a whole lot of ordinary people are going to be wondering who to blame.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"CIDs" would likely have been better off if the vendors were not permitted to financially rape them or if homeowners were empowered to monitor the activities of the vendors.

One positive outcome might be that many CIDs will hopefully terminate.

One negative outcome will be that the financial condition of the HOA will simply be an excuse to accelerate the unscrupulous practices that the vendors have engaged in for years: create "debt" through assessments - the greater the magnitude the better for the vendors because this will increase the chance that the homeowner can't immediately pay thus triggering collection fees, attorney fees, etc. for the benefit of the vendors.