San Francisco Chronicle: Rio Vista - hard times in a small town

[marmar]

Rio Vista - hard times in a small town
Carolyn Jones, Chronicle Staff Writer

Monday, January 26, 2009


(01-25) 18:59 PST -- If despair has an address, it's the corner of Park Place and Hearth Lane, Rio Vista.

The ambitiously named intersection is marked by an ornate colonial streetlamp, a freshly paved street and pristine sidewalks.

And nothing else. No homes, no people, no cars. Just a flat, windswept plain on the eastern edge of Solano County with a few utility wires jutting through the dirt. In the distance are cows, some eucalyptus and 13 unfinished, abandoned model homes.

Park Place and Hearth Lane was supposed to be the center of an upscale 855-home development called Hearth and Home at Liberty. But last year, as the housing market imploded, the developer, Shea Homes, abandoned the project, leaving a moonscape and a constant reminder of Rio Vista's - and the state's - economic meltdown. ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/25/MN0P15EJOH.DTL

[XemaSab]

1. Fuck developers

They bulldoze farmland and habitat just to make a buck, and if the buck isn't forthcoming, they walk away leaving a pile of shit behind.

When I'm dictator, all those fuckers are going behind the chemical shed posthaste. :grr:

[NYC_SKP]

2. Ditto that!!! Rio Vista Rocks as a small riverside town.

Fucking developers have ruined half, no, more than half of what were once quaint little towns in the valley and foothills.

They totally overbuilt, invariably blighting town centers, and building on fertile open farmland.

Good for Rio Vista.

And visit Foster's Bighorn restaurant next time you pass through!

http://www.fostersbighorn.com/

:patriot:

[XemaSab]

3. Animal heads on the wall?

I am so there.

[NYC_SKP]

4. LOL!

Seriously, if you're ever in town I'll buy you lunch.

I always give the independent businesses my business.

[XemaSab]

5. I could easily be there

I seem to have spent a lot of time in the Mid-Valley lately. :shrug:

I blew a tire in Stockton 2 years ago.

Violently, on the 5, near whatever-mile road. x(

[NYC_SKP]

6. Eight Mile Road.

Bummer!

But quite on topic, in a round about way, re: developers.

Alex Spanos, Stockton resident and major developer (owns the S.D.Chargers, too, I think) almost had 8 Mile road named after him.

A number of us put up a huge stink and the idea failed.

It's bad enough that he paves over thousands of acres of land turns us into L.A., no way he gets streets and exits named after him.

:hi:

[XemaSab]

7. Eight Mile Road

The blessing of having a blowout there: I had a project off that exit, so I knew the terrain somewhat. Yes, I did Burrowing Owl surveys for the Wal-Mart there.

Being a biologist? Blows.

I have no soul now. x(

[NYC_SKP]

11. There is no Wal-Mart on Eight Mile Road.

There are two (regular and super across the street from one another) at Hammer Lane near 99, that's the next exit South.

I'm hoping that the one for which your study was conducted was sunk. :shrug:

[XemaSab]

13. I think it was sunk

THANK GOD.

I worked on two Wal-Marts, and DUDE... fuck 'em both.

The other one was even worse. They were building a Wal-Mart in Clovis because the one in Fresno wanted to form a UNION. :banghead:

[Ecumenist]

8. Would that be eight mile road, perchance?

[XemaSab]

10. word

See my response above.

I forgot to mention chasing the Black Hawk, the project near the airport, and the sewage ponds.

Stockton....

[Adsos Letter]

9. Don't forget the hotel in Isleton!

Best prime rib around... :9 :beer:

And watch out for the speedtrap coming into Rio Vista from the west...it's one of the famous ones in the state!

[depakid]

12. One of the silver linings of the economic downturn

putting the brakes on mindless sprawl and the corrupt developers and county officials who profit from creating unsustainable suburban wastelands....