"Today, Victorville’s unemployment and poverty rates stand at 14 and 21 percent, respectively, both 6 points higher than the national figures. Housing demand there has shrunk as new buyers have disappeared – prices have plummeted from an average of about $300,000 in 2007 to $109,000 today.And new home permits went from almost 8000 from 2004−2006 to about 750 in 2008−2010, according to a 2010 report by Karlenzig.
Similar stories are playing out in fringe suburbs elsewhere. In Georgia’s Barrow County, 50 miles northwest of Atlanta, tax revenues declined more than 18 percent between 2008 and 2011, and county officials expect a 16 percent drop in the coming year alone. That’s led school officials there to propose cutting the school year by 20 days next year."
-- This is a great article covering the current collapse of suburbia, but there is no homage paid to Barry Silverthorn's The End of Suburbia, which covered this in depth eight years ago. This may come as a surprise to some but Barry saw this horror years ago, and his wonderful film is the blueprint of this article. -- JB, Managing Editor
