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Welcome to Slumburbia

Posted by
Staff Writer
in Opinion
Thursday, February 11. 2010
Comments (9)
It is unfortunate but it is true. A cruise down College Drive or a pass of 341 North as well as some Lamar extension, planned communities sit empty, sewage and power lines sticking up from the ground with the haunting allure of a headstone at Greenwood Cemetery.

As with much of the United States tile-roofed versions of a 21st century ghost town remind us of the gambling losses that took place not on the blackjack tables of Vegas but the board tables of America's financial institutions.

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#1 cats on 02/11/10 at 08:04 AM
I have been around long enough to have seen this happen before, for a different reason, in a different place.
This kind of thing is a sad fact of boom times. It's the bust that follows, and we never seem to learn from it.
I give it 10 years, we will be back in boom times again and this will be a distant memory.
In the meantime, the house next door was abandoned, the lady across the street has disappeared and I keep scanning the foreclosures in the Herald-Gazette to see if she gave up and left, the house next to hers is only occupied part-time, and the house 2 doors down is empty and listed for sale.
Maybe we should throw a huge blow-out party since we have no neighbors to complain?
#2 Anonymous on 02/11/10 at 08:31 AM
What I am wondering about is the area that used to be railroad street. What happened to the urban renewal? The two houses that were built still sit empty with the lights on at night and the water sprinklers going in the rain. If you ask me this was a waste of taxpayer dollars that keeps on going. It just serves as reminder as how the government is wasting money. Also why can't the city of Barnesville road department do something about the standing water at the bottom of the hill on Sims Street? All they really need to do is dig down the side of the road to make it lower than the road and dig a trench to run the water down into the creek.
#3 Anonymous on 02/11/10 at 08:32 AM
The Jones family has gone belly up. No more will we look to our neighbor’s house and think to ourselves, if only I had what they have, I would again be somebody. To keep up with the Jones now days means the daily news buried in knee high grass and the right a way skewered with a foreclosure sign.
From here on out, to buy a home means real sacrifice or being one of the lucky few who one day is bless with a financial windfall. Wages and jobs have for decades failed to keep up with the cost to live. With credit maxed
the American dream has faded away and returned with the rage of a reoccurring nightmare. Things will never again be as they once were.
If only we could win the lotto all our troubles would be over. The amazing thing is that we did win. We were born in a country where more than eighty percent of the world’s population would sell their first born to just have the same opportunities and fortunes we have today. Life is good and we should always try to make the best of it. So, keep you eyes open, learn a marketable skill and develop a strong work ethic. When opportunity presents itself, grab hold and keep on looking for the next. Ninety percent of success is in just showing up.
#4 anon on 02/11/10 at 08:54 AM
People got carried away trying to one-up themselves. Everybody had to "upgrade" to a bigger, newer and better home every 3 to 5 years. We've been in same house since later 80's and are quite content. My mother is still in same house they bought in the 50's.

To recover its going to take people's attitudes and expectations coming back to solid ground from the "pie in the sky" concepts of what is important.
#5 Anonymous on 02/11/10 at 11:09 AM
Downtown looks nice.
#6 Tim Palmer on 02/11/10 at 11:29 AM
Last year there were a couple articles on the local unemployment rate (something near 13%) and local commercial real estate vacancy rate ("nearing 50%" at the time). Any update on these local numbers?
#7 Anonymous on 02/11/10 at 01:56 PM
That's what happens when the bubble bursts. I think in the long run a lot more people will loose their homes or just walk away. The economy of the last few years has taught us many lessons and people tend to find a way to start over if they must. The empty houses will eventually sell at a loss as the economy resets. A lot of people will get great deals on homes as a result. I think at this point things are starting to turn around a little.
#8 Journa-me? on 02/11/10 at 02:01 PM
I can't follow the "Lamar extension" line, but I do like "Slumburbia."

Good stuff. I am good with the super metaphors and dramatic expressions here.


How about a little job creation harvesting the building materials from the junk McMansions and turning the tiny lots back into farmland. Of course, that would imply people want to and are able to farm for profit.

But, that's another day's opinion section waiting to happen.
#9 Anonymous on 02/16/10 at 09:01 AM
Most of the houses that are vacant will remain so and more will become vacant. The sad fact is that Barnesville offers nothing to new comers. The school system is, well its Georgia education, and what is really offered for entertainment. It will take the absolute reeducation of the community to be civic minded and proactive to attract the class of people that are wanted. But before the people come there have to be JOBS. And when only a few people are trying to bring in business what is the rest of the community doing, waiting for what is perceived to be their "fair" share of the profits AKA welfare.
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