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Geographic Area:
Texas
Reporter: S.
> We're in Columbus, Texas, 73 miles west of Houston on I-10. We've always
been
> a thriving little town, a big tourist draw because Columbus is a very
> historic old town -- first Anglo settlement in Texas, Sam Houston
> Slept/Fought Here, magnolia trees on the courthouse lawn, oaks, old
homes,
> etc. Nor is all our money going to Houston -- actually much of Houston's
> money has been coming our way for quite some time. For the past several
> years, Houstonians have been buying and refurbishing many of our old
homes,
> and we've always been a shop locally place -- parking spots downtown
were
> always at a premium, but no longer. We've noticed that after a flurry of
> activity, remodeling has come to a halt at one beautiful old home near
us.
> There is a camper trailer in the back yard, however. We're speculating
the
> folks ran out of money before they could complete the job on their home.
I
> would imagine that may well be true in many other similar situations.
>
> You could always tell how well things were going by the amount of
traffic
> downtown -- it's much thinner now, with the streets actually clear
during
> part of the day, something I've never seen before.
>
> The ********* (which we formerly owned) is not giving raises or
bonuses
> this year and has frozen hiring. I'm not sure about other local
> businesses/industries.
>
> We're affected strongly by agriculture, as well, being on the fringes of
> rice growing country and having many cattle raisers and farmers in the
county
> (Colorado County). The drought has taken it's toll, although it seems to
have
> broken with the floods. However, there's much more to it than that.
There's
> an underlying malaise, or concern, -- even fear -- of the future. Many
people
> in nearby cities (Houston, Austin, San Antonio) are being laid off, and
not
> finding new jobs. Quite a number of them live here. The number of free
or
> reduced lunches at the schools has gone through the roof, which is
indicative
> of the number of families now on public assistance.
>
> Our son in Austin said so many homes are for sale, but no one's buying.
Same
> here, and no one's building, either.
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