You Know That Your City Has Become A Hellhole When….

[Twisted Titan]

http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/you-know-your-city-has-become-hellhole-when%E2%80%A6






Last year, city government revenues in the United States fell by another 2.3 percent. That was the fifth year in a row that we have seen a decline. Meanwhile, costs associated with health care, pensions and virtually everything else continue to explode. So what are cities doing to make ends meet? Well, one big trend that we are now witnessing is that many U.S. cities have beengetting rid of huge numbers of employees. If you can believe it, 72 percent of all U.S. cities are laying workers off this year. Social services and essential infrastructure programs are also being savagely cut back in many areas of the country. The cold, hard truth is that most of our cities are flat broke and things are going to get even worse in the years ahead. So how do you know if your own city has become a hellhole?

[Gaillo]

When THIS is on the outskirts of town:

http://jim.ellinger.org/HellSign.jpg

And you see THIS at a local store:

http://jim.ellinger.org/HellCooler.jpg

After all, it IS in Michigan! ;D

[Horn]

You know that your city has become a hellhole when most of the street lights get repossessed (http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/10/11/michigan-citys-street-lights-removed-over-unpaid-electric-bills/) because of unpaid electric bills.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when it announces that it will no longer prosecute domestic violence cases (http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/weird/Cash-Strapped-Topeka-Stops-Prosecuting-Domestic-Violence-131468933.html) in order to save money.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when it simply stops sending out pension checks (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/23/business/23prichard.html?_r=1) to retired workers.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when it rips up asphalt roads and replaces them with gravel because gravel is cheaper to maintain (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704913304575370950363737746.html).
http://jakking.typepad.com/daily/images/desperate

You know that your city has become a hellhole when it eliminates the entire public bus system (http://www.11alive.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=150070&catid=40).
You know that your city has become a hellhole when nearly half (http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2011/05/04/report-nearly-half-of-detroiters-cant-read/) of all the people living there can't read.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when one out of every ten homes (http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/america-is-rotting-while-china-is-rising) sells for under $10,000.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when you can literally buy a house for one dollar (http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Economy/story?id=7034770&page=1).
You know that your city has become a hellhole when you have hundreds of people living in the tunnels (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1326187/Las-Vegas-tunnel-people-How-1-000-people-live-shimmering-strip.html) underneath your streets.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when three of your past five mayors (http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/113588/american-cities-going-broke-247wallst?sec=topStories&pos=7&asset=&ccode=) have been sent to prison for corruption.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when nearly half of the public schools in the city (http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/american-hellholes) get shut down because of a lack of money.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when you have dozens of young people rampaging in the streets (http://articles.philly.com/2011-09-27/news/30208589_1_white-teens-attackers-angry-mob) that are thirsty for revenge and that are armed with bats, pipes and guns.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when it is considered to be one of the 10 most dangerous cities (http://www.theroot.com/buzz/worlds-10-most-dangerous-cities) in the world. [Note: Capetown came in first, Detroit came in third, and New Orleans came in ninth. - ed.]
You know that your city has become a hellhole when thieves defecate in the back seat (http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/09/carteret_man_arrested_on_charg.html) after they have broken into your car and taken your things.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when prostitution and drug dealing (http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/american-hellholes) are two of the only viable businesses that remain in the city.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when the police chief announces that the police department will no longer respond (http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Suffer-These-Crimes-in-Oakland-Dont-Call-the-Cops-98266509.html) to calls about burglary and identity theft due to very deep budget cuts.
Many of the examples above may seem humorous at first glance, but the truth is that they reveal just how deeply tragic our economic decline really is.
This is one of the reasons why I write about our trade deficit over and over and over. Every single month, tens of billions of dollars more wealth goes out of the United States than enters it. Every single month, we are getting poorer as a nation. Every single month, we lose more jobs and businesses (http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/what-hope-is-there-if-even-the-corporate-executives-on-obamas-job-creation-panel-are-rapidly-shipping-jobs-out-of-the-united-states).
Any politician that tells you that he or she can solve our economic problems without fundamentally addressing our horrific trade imbalance is lying to you. That means that there are a whole lot of liars in both political parties.
If the number of good jobs continues to decline, the plight of the average American family (http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/17-facts-that-prove-that-the-average-american-family-is-getting-absolutely-pulverized-by-this-economy) is going to continue to get worse. Home sales will continue to hover around record lows (http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/record-low-new-home-sales-in-2011). The American people will continue to become increasingly frustrated (http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/uh-oh-90-percent-of-americans-rate-economic-conditions-in-the-u-s-as-poor) with the economy.
The signs of decline are all around us.
Quit listening to the politicians and just open up your eyes and look.
So do any of you have any additional signs that a city has become a hellhole to add to the list above? Please feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts below....

[keehah]

AFP: US school board sells ad space on report cards (http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5geVRjUcqpPwbgiwPnSOigASvg95Q?docId=CNG.87699 d35984c3444a0e0ba764eddfb45.511)

[Nov.15, 2011] Faced with stinging budget cuts, a county school board in the Rocky Mountain state of Colorado is selling advertising space on report cards to help make ends meet.

Jefferson County Public Schools expects to make $90,000 over three years from Collegeinvest, a college savings plan, for the two-inch (five-centimeter) ads on report cards issued by its 91 elementary schools...

With 86,000 students from kindergarten to senior high school, the Jefferson County School Board -- based in Golden city, the home of the famous Coors brewery -- already sells advertising space on its buses to a local bank.

[School board spokeswoman Melissa Reeves] said it anticipates making another $70 million in spending cuts in the coming years, as the United States as a whole struggles to put economic hard times behind it.

[Bigjon]

http://www.exviking.net/man/hell.htm

http://www.exviking.net/man/small/image/hell.jpg

A bridge to Hell, across the Stjørdal River, close to Trondheim Airport, Værnes. Although appropriate, I assume that the sign on the bridge is meant for the tourists. They seem to appreciate it, because usually the sign has been gone. Now it has been thoroughly fastened; all nuts have been welded to the steel structure.
(2007-09-20)



http://www.exviking.net/man/small/image/hell-2.jpg

Hell, early spring view from the hill behind the train station (which is discernible above the picture center). Hell is a bit larger than this, about 350 inhabitants I've heard, but nobody is able to define the boundary. It's situated in the old administrative unit (then called 'herred') Lånke south of the Stjørdal River. Now Lånke is merged with Stjørdal on the north side of the river and the common name is Stjørdal (now called 'kommune'). But to most tourists it's all Hell.
(2004-04-02)

[Bigjon]

http://www.monagrudt.no/

Hell of a nice looking girl from hell.

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20060522082142/memoryalpha/en/images/thumb/archive/a/a1/20111107040221!Graham_(Ensign).jpg/120px-Graham_(Ensign).jpg


http://www.facetoface.org/images/sp/img_celeb_grudt.jpg