Comment 39219

By highwater (registered) | Posted March 28, 2010 at 12:53:36

Sure, but that isn't quite the same thing. The people left those neighbourhoods long before they needed to be torn down. And where did they go? Even further away from the urban centres.

That certainly describes the "white flight" that hollowed out US inner cities in the 60's and 70's, but the people who abandoned the suburban and exurban neighbourhoods during the current ongoing foreclosure crisis haven't moved further out, they've moved, well, who knows where? I don't really have a read on it. The southwest, where water scarcity is becoming an increasing concern, is the hardest hit and this is where we are seeing most of the abandoned malls and big box stores. I'm not claiming Jason's predictions will come true necessarily, only that they are not as outlandish as you suggest.

As an aside, and somewhat off topic, Phoenix has been referred to as a giant Ponzi scheme, an entire economy based on the continued construction of housing and attendant retail. It should stand as a chilling warning to Hamilton, where we are building ever more residential sprawl, not because people are moving here for jobs, but simply for cheap housing, and presto, we have councillors calling for the zoning on employment lands to be changed to include retail, as though the creation of a handful of low-paying retail jobs is going to save us. The sprawl developments in Winona and the South Mountain are being built on economic quicksand. Sooner or later the bubble is going to burst. The developers will have long since cashed in, and the taxpayers will be left holding the bag.

Comment edited by highwater on 2010-03-28 11:55:32

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