It Puts the Lotion in the Basket

So Stockton has been named the foreclosure capital of the nation. Surprised?

It's not even a suburb -- it's an exurb, as it is only remotely attached by freeway to the Bay Area urb. It's nothing more than a wasteland of tract homes whose occupants shuttle themselves off to work in other locations, because two incomes in the Bay Area aren't enough to live on. No one who moved there in the last fifteen years actually works in Stockton. Over the Altamont they drive.

We enrolled Tyler into day care in about 2002 and we befriended another Elk Grove couple, (Juan & Sarah) with a daughter in day care. They had moved up from San Jose in 2001, tired of the escalating rents, but he still commuted daily to work there. That's a long fucking way, my friend. Two and a third hours, one-way to work for Compaq. They had intentionally bypassed Stockton as a living option, choosing the Sacramento suburbs instead. He drove a short bed Chevy truck, as 30-ish Mexican men are wont to do. Not the most fuel friendly choice for a daily 5 hour+ drive.

But for all those players who couldn't afford Elk Grove or simply didn't want the extra 45 minute drive to Oakland, there was Stockton. Land was flat, cheap, with no trees and hills; a developer's paradise . That the Stockton city core was a hulking, burned out toxic shithole wasn't an issue -- the new money flowed into the exurbs and these new developments prospered. Everyone had to drive to get anywhere and with gas at a buck twenty five...meh, who cares?

I do find it interesting that the way we've developed Elk Grove is the exact same way they did it in Stockton. Here in my region, there is absolutely no difference between Natomas, Folsom, Elk Grove, Lincoln, Rocklin, or Cordova, except for certain exclusivities, price, and status. Otherwise, they all look the same. The same! And you can google down on the suburbs of Memphis, and for miles in all directions (except across the river), the layout looks just like Elk Grove. Suburbia is a monoculture, just like the same big box stores that service every suburban monoculture in existence. If I moved to Memphis or Stockton, there would likely be a Franklin Blvd. that I'd bike on, with a similar set of Monologues. Physical locations and local cultures are completely meaningless. So long as you have HVAC and two vehicles, it makes no difference what suburbia you live in.

That said, I'm curious why Juan and Sarah made a choice not to live in Stockton, where homes were cheaper and work was closer. Ah, yes, the schools! And the pedophiles! That's it! Seeing how every third neighbor is a serial rapist or a former 'altered boy' these days, you can't let your kids walk to school in urban environments. In fact, you can't even let them walk to school in suburbia. They must be motored about. And so Stockton either has shittier schools or four out of ten of its inhabitants are kiddie porn filmmakers or Francis Dollarhydes...otherwise, why not Stockton?

Why not Stockton?

Home prices are attractive! The delta breezes are soothing! Fewer neighbors these days with all the defaults, but hey, God knows we have too many of them to begin with! It's sunny and pleasant year round! With subdivision names like Wyldwind, Blackhawk, and Rhapsody! The rhapsodic wynds of Stockton are indeed fresh and wyld, upon which black hawks take wyng!