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From bucolic bliss to 'gated ghetto'
Los Angeles Times ^ | 30 March 2010 | Alana Semuels

Posted on 03/31/2010 1:12:13 PM PDT by Lorianne

Hemet - The gated community in Hemet doesn't seem like the best place for Eddie and Maria Lopez to raise their family anymore.

Vandals knocked out the streetlight in front of the Lopezes' five-bedroom home and then took advantage of the darkness to try to steal a van. Cars are parked four deep in the driveway next door, where a handful of men rent rooms. And up and down their block of handsome single-family homes are padlocked doors, orange "no trespassing signs" and broken front windows.

It wasn't what the Lopezes pictured when they agreed to pay $440,000 for their 5,000-square-foot house in 2006.

The 427-home Willowalk tract, built by developer D.R. Horton, featured eight distinct "villages" within its block walls. Along with spacious homes, Willowalk boasted four lakes, a community pool and clubhouse. Fanciful street names such as Pink Savory Way and Bee Balm Road added to the bucolic image.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; US: California
KEYWORDS: hemet; section8; thugculture
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To: SatinDoll
This article tries to blame builders, banks, and house owners

There is a strong component of truth in this article.

DR Horton tried to pull the same stunt in the San Joaquin Valley. Most communities rejected the multifamily concept. Some did not and their new cultural tracts appear to be from the third world.

Of the 4 contributing scoundrels; lenders, planners, developers and buyers, lenders must shoulder most of the blame. Lending money to unqualified anchor babies who quickly moved the bulk of their extended families up from Mexico was a recipe for foreclosure and ruin in an economic downturn.

21 posted on 03/31/2010 2:48:49 PM PDT by Amerigomag
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To: Lorianne

Maybe the Lopez’ shouldn’t have let the LA Times interview them about the “Gated Ghetto” they now live in. If they think losing $270k in their house’s value is bad, watch what happens to that development now.


22 posted on 03/31/2010 3:00:27 PM PDT by mikey_hates_everything
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To: Responsibility2nd

PEOPLE AREN’T ILLEGAL!!! /S


23 posted on 03/31/2010 3:12:59 PM PDT by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously... You'll never live through it.)
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Comment #24 Removed by Moderator

To: Lorianne

Sounds like my second novel is about on schedule for turning into non-fictin.


25 posted on 03/31/2010 5:07:58 PM PDT by Travis McGee (---www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com---)
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To: Amerigomag

It’s called “doing business”.

No one has a crystal ball to predict exactly what will happen in the future, and there is risk in every aspect of doing that business. Not to take risk in business is to live with ‘status quo’ - a very medieval economic model.

Obama and more government control fit tightly with ‘status quo’. So I advise you carefully consider what you want.


26 posted on 03/31/2010 5:33:42 PM PDT by SatinDoll (NO Foreign Nationals as our President!!)
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To: businessprofessor
We should have a Section 8 watch. You could put in a zip code or address to find the density of section 8 housing. Another option would impose crime rates on a section 8 housing map with an option to track crimes and section 8 housing density over time.

It's been done. Some liberal mistakenly overlapped two maps. One with section 8 listings, and one with reported crimes. THere was a 1:1 correlation. Her brain almost exploded.  I saw it on FR about a year ago. It was really interesting. Really wish I'd kept the link.

27 posted on 03/31/2010 5:55:52 PM PDT by zeugma (Waco taught me everything I needed to know about the character of the U.S. Government.)
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To: troy McClure
"It is the same distance from our compound in the hills."

That's funny.

28 posted on 03/31/2010 6:01:39 PM PDT by blam
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To: zeugma

Was she hoping it WOULDN’T correlate?


29 posted on 03/31/2010 6:06:47 PM PDT by RockinRight (Obama Logic: Global Warming causes blizzards, and deficit spending balances budgets.)
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To: zeugma

You can take the trash out of the ghetto but can’t take the ghetto out of the trash.

And trash, when it’s put somewhere, just starts to stink no matter where it is.


30 posted on 03/31/2010 6:08:13 PM PDT by RockinRight (Obama Logic: Global Warming causes blizzards, and deficit spending balances budgets.)
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To: Lorianne

$440k for 5000 square foot is cheap in LA NOW. And if it’s only worth 170k now that must be a HORRIBLE neighborhood - my guess is it was pretty “ghetto” to start with.


31 posted on 03/31/2010 6:14:10 PM PDT by RockinRight (Obama Logic: Global Warming causes blizzards, and deficit spending balances budgets.)
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To: jiggyboy

-To add more tho the Twilight Zone...Hemet is Scientology headquarters where David Miscavage runs the empire from their compound


32 posted on 03/31/2010 6:20:04 PM PDT by dennisw (It all comes 'round again --Fairport)
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To: Lorianne

“Bammyville...coming soon...to a neighborhood near you..!!

they’s not ILLEGAL immigrants...they’s Obama voters...


33 posted on 03/31/2010 6:40:37 PM PDT by mo
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To: RockinRight
Was she hoping it WOULDN’T correlate?

Yup. It was an astounding read. Like I said, I wished I'd kept the link.

34 posted on 03/31/2010 9:12:03 PM PDT by zeugma (Waco taught me everything I needed to know about the character of the U.S. Government.)
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To: Amerigomag
Lending money to those who can't pay it back is not a risk. It's a certainty.

Why would a prudent businessman commit such a basic business sin? He would if there were no risk. And their wasn't.

Bush and Obama bailed him out. His business was too big to fail. They covered his loses. Insulated him from reality through tax payer subsidy of that certainty.

35 posted on 04/01/2010 5:14:14 AM PDT by Amerigomag
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