boomtown bust
Some of these photos ran Sunday on the front page of The New York Times for a story on Lehigh Acres, Fla., a community that basically on woke up on the bad side of both the housing boom and the burst of the bubble. I was there for a day, had never been there before, and basically went visually with my first impression of it. Even though I spent most of my time at a church breadline, with different homeowners of foreclosed homes, and small business owners who were struggling to stay afloat, I thought the emptiness of these homes said it best.
President Obama showed up to this town 2 days after it ran, so in my mind I see a folded up copy of the NYT under his arm with my photos peeking out as he heads into a town full of despair triumphantly with his message of hope.
Of course I have a soft spot in my heart for everything sprawl, so either way I’m good.
And the story…here.
February 15th, 2009 at 8:35 am
Great photos Chip, it is a bad situation in Lehigh Acres, I have friends that own houses down there. I have traveled through the area several times and not taken the time to photograph it.