Newsweek calls Central Valley "Ground Zero" (Fresno, Sacramento: 2009, to rent)

[pw72]

Major Newsweek special report on the Central Valley...calls the area "Ground Zero" of the economic crisis.

California's San Joaquin Valley in Economic Crisis | Newsweek.com

[BayAreaHillbilly]

I agree.

[DMenscha]

Well the bit about the water would have been timely in 1970, but it's hardly news today. The Westlands water district is really what the story is about, and it's been problematic for farmers since it was created in 1952. Not only that, but the WWD isn't even part of the big cities that they claim are being hurt by the lower deliveries of water.

The rest of it is pretty fluffy. "The valleys major cities Merced, Stockton, Modesto, and Bakersfield..." Huh? Did Fresno just disappear? It's too bad Newsweek can only throw a couple of thousand words into a subject instead of giving us news lite. I think ground zero may be closer to Newsweek's editorial offices than Fresno.

[RobE]

And the most aggravating thing in that story is that the local politicos and developers seem hots on for ignoring the lessons that were just doled out.

And just for added fun, how are we going to grow enough food for a burgeoning U.S. population if we keep paving over farmland?

[FresnoFacts]

From the article:
"Across the valley, the unemployment rate is 15.4 percent."

They conveniently don't mention that the San Joaquin Valley unemployment rate has simply returned to rates seen in the 1990s.

We are in the worse US economic crisis in probably 50 years and with drought impacting the local agricultural industry, Valley unemployment has only risen back to what it was 15 years ago.

Meantime the rest of the country is going into meltdown seeing historically high unemployment.

In fact the gap between the San Joaquin Valley and the rest of California and the US is now narrower.

For example the cities of Fresno and Sacramento both now have 14.1% unemployment.

Unemployment rates:
July 1993: US = 6.9%, California = 10%, Fresno County = 14.5% (4.5 points higher than California)
July 2009: US = 9.4%, California = 11.9%, Fresno County = 15% (3.1 points higher than California, smaller gap than 1993)

I guess it is just another example of the media looking for the "crisis du jour".

[Waterlily]

It looks like I'm going to be at ground zero when I go on vacation this fall for a few days. There are still some alright places to stay, and enjoy oneself. I won't be going to the big cities in the central valley. I'm just going to stay in a small city out there. If I have time I may look around the area some.

I'm just going out there to get some sun, and relax.

[18Montclair]

The East Coast Media never passes up the oppurtunity to as they say in Hawaii, 'talk stink' about California. I remember one story Time Magazine did in the early 90s called "California: The Dying Dream"--it had a picture of heavy traffic on the Bay Bridge with the subtitle "Mass Exodus out of California"--only problem is, it was a picture of westbound traffic. LOL

[amirelez]

Originally Posted by FresnoFacts

From the article:
"Across the valley, the unemployment rate is 15.4 percent."

They conveniently don't mention that the San Joaquin Valley unemployment rate has simply returned to rates seen in the 1990s.

We are in the worse US economic crisis in probably 50 years and with drought impacting the local agricultural industry, Valley unemployment has only risen back to what it was 15 years ago.

Meantime the rest of the country is going into meltdown seeing historically high unemployment.

In fact the gap between the San Joaquin Valley and the rest of California and the US is now narrower.

For example the cities of Fresno and Sacramento both now have 14.1% unemployment.

Unemployment rates:
July 1993: US = 6.9%, California = 10%, Fresno County = 14.5% (4.5 points higher than California)
July 2009: US = 9.4%, California = 11.9%, Fresno County = 15% (3.1 points higher than California, smaller gap than 1993)

I guess it is just another example of the media looking for the "crisis du jour".

What do they know? the Valley has always been in trouble. The high unemployment rate on the westside is not a surprise to me being it is starved for water and a complete ag based economy. Newsweek doesn't know that Mendota was always a less desirable place to live. It's basically a farm labor camp turned city.

I don't think there was a worldwide recession or at least USA wide recession like we have today back in 1993 though. The 1993 unemployment numbers for California looked bad but in 1993 the rest of the USA was doing much better. So to be fair to the rest of the country they are going through a recession as we are so naturally there would be a narrower gap between us.

To sum it all up the central valley region is large and has always lagged behind California and the rest of the country in economic growth and performance so we are easy to pick on.

[Roccaluma]

I was researching towns I might want to move to in the midwest so I was doing yellow book searches for businesses in those towns. I was trying to get a feel for the towns. One town of 7,500 had 23 fast food restaurants and affordable places to eat. I compare that to my local city in California which is Geurneville, it has no fast food places, although one taco truck. Then Geurneville has about 5 or so semi affordable places and a couple of expensive places. Its not that I love fast food but I do eat at them maybe 4 times a month. So I was thinking is so much of our money going to rent and or mortgage and taxes that we all cant really afford to eat out that much?

[angelbug]

Originally Posted by Roccaluma

One town of 7,500 had 23 fast food restaurants and affordable places to eat. I compare that to my local city in California which is Geurneville, it has no fast food places, although one taco truck. Then Geurneville has about 5 or so semi affordable places and a couple of expensive places. Its not that I love fast food but I do eat at them maybe 4 times a month. So I was thinking is so much of our money going to rent and or mortgage and taxes that we all cant really afford to eat out that much?

I consider a lack of fast food restaurants a plus. In fact, the town in WA state that I'm visiting to check out for a possible relocation spot next week has exactly one for a population of 10K, and that's one of the things that appeals to me about it. The rest of the places are little mom and pop cafes.