While in the grocery store the other day, the cover of Time Magazine caught my eye, The feature article was about the bankrupt (or heading in that direction) state governments across the country. Just this past week, I read in The Washington Post that after receiving tens (or maybe it was hundreds) of millions for road construction in 2009, and only $238,000 in 2010, Fairfax County, Virginia (population about 1.1 Million) will only receive $1024 for road repairs and construction in 2011 from the state. One county supervisor commented that amount would not even cover lane striping on one section of roadway. To top it off, tonight, I learned on NBC News that California is facing a 1.7 Trillion dollar deficit, A council member in Oakland stated that if every library, several other government agencies, and city hall were closed, they still could not close the budget gap. And finally, the city/suburb of Los Angeles, Maywood, is laying off every single city employee and outsourcing essential services to other juristictions.
What the Hell is going on? Yes, there are alot of foreclosures, but the banks still pay the taxes don't they? Sales tax revenues are down but by that much? Wow! this sounds like a major shift in the way we live as Americans. This is truly scary, the foundation and infrastructure that made this country great is collapsing. What will that do to quality of life and the housing market over time? What scares me is I have seen pictures of cities in some other third world countries that looked fantastic 40 years ago only to see pictures today and see a crumbling infrastructure. One city that comes to mind off the bat, actually two cities, are Havana and Manila.
The D.C. area already has the second worst traffic in the nation after Los Angeles, what more if the road construction on state owned secondary roads is halted or the condition of the road is allowed to deteriorate.
I don't have an answer. If I did I would offer it. What will likely happen is those with money will pay a fortune to live on a metrorail line (that system is in sad shape too) or walking distance from work. The District of Columbia has actually been seeing steady growth and neighborhodds being rebuilt even in this recession.
In closing, if you are or need to move to the D.C. area, one of the main things you need to think about is how you are going to get to work. Based on what I have read,seen, and personally experienced, you will want to minimize your driving as much as possible in order to maintain your quality of life and that may mean paying more, and getting less, for the convenience of being near work.
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