Mendota (Fresno County): a town scraping bottom

[Liberal_in_LA]

unfortunate title for an article if you live in Mendota

Maria Miranda holds her 2-month-old son, Pedro Jr., at their dilapidated home in Mendota. Her husband, Pedro Sr., says despite trying, he's only able to get one or two days of work a week. (Michael Macor / The Chronicle)


Mendota: a town scraping bottom
Kevin Fagan, Chronicle Staff Writer

Sunday, July 26, 2009
(07-26) 04:00 PDT Mendota, Fresno County --

Maria DeLourdes Oregel hasn't found work since her harvesting job petered out last year, her husband's hours at the local chicken farm have been cut by a third, and even though she feeds her children meat only once a week, she runs out of cash before the end of each month.

She's one of the lucky ones. At least she has a roof and her family has some kind of paycheck.

In one dreadful year, this dusty city in the heart of the most productive agricultural region in the nation has become a desperate place where mothers wash disposable diapers for reuse, children are sleeping in cars, and the unemployed trudge door to door to beg for food.

The fact that the unemployment rate in Mendota, 38.5 percent, is the highest in California doesn't even raise an eyebrow here. The anguish, frustration and hunger are visible in every corner and on every face of this town of 7,800 people 35 miles west of Fresno - and nobody sees any relief in sight.

"I try hard not to be depressed, but the little money we do get we can't stretch enough," Oregel, 38, said in Spanish as she sat in a weekly meeting at a community center, where mothers gather to share survival tips. "It's never been this bad in my life. I even have a friend who called his family in Mexico to ask for help, which never happens. We are always the ones sending our money home, not the other way around."

In the worst national economic crisis since the Great Depression, there are few better illustrations of the resultant human suffering than Mendota, where 95 percent of the population is Latino and 42 percent of residents live below poverty level. Even in a good year, seasonal unemployment ranges above 20 percent because of the transient nature of farm work, but the past year or so has brought a convergence of blows that have made suffering a year-round reality.
Chain of disasters

First came the national housing meltdown, which led to hundreds of foreclosures in Mendota and halted construction on thousands of units of housing and commercial developments in the area. More than 2,000 people moved out of town in the past two years, and the loss of both residents and workers able to buy goods sent sales of everything from chain saws to groceries plummeting.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/07/26/MNQ718IAAI.DTL#ixzz0MPprvL9C


On edit: This young family needs to demand the owner drop the rent to $300.

Miranda lives with his wife and baby son in a house so dilapidated it's scarcely fit for habitation. He's stuffed toilet paper into holes in his door and walls to block out the wind, the rust on the metal kitchen cabinets rubs off on his pants if he brushes by them, and the paint is so worn it's hard to tell what color the walls are supposed to be.

Miranda's rent is $550 a month, which takes 13 days of fieldwork to earn. That's about as much work as he gets in a good month now, so he lines up with 300 or more people for the town's once-a-month food bank handouts, knocks on neighbors' doors for help and rarely eats more than rice and beans.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/26/MNQ718IAAI.DTL#ixzz0MPwFrPRG

[Skittles]

1. heartbreaking

:cry:

[lunatica]

2. Mendota: Anatomy of a murder scene

It's among the first of many soon to be ghost towns in California.

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. It's not far from Merced, The town that flippers destroyed cuz they assumed the new UC Merced campus

would increase housing demand.

[lunatica]

4. I work at UC Berkeley

This year was UC Merced's first graduating class. I truly hope it bounces back quickly.

[Liberal_in_LA]

5. some folks at other UC campuses were suggesting closing UC Merced, SC or R. To prevent cutbacks at

the larger campuses.

[lunatica]

6. There's a lot of panic at UC

I have two jobs in two departments at UC Berkeley and just found out everyone from the Director down are getting laid off in one. All the units that have been doing the administrative work for the Research departments are getting laid off. That's probably a couple of thousand at least. The University is consolidating all the work into one unit which most of the work being done online through fill-out-forms.

[Liberal_in_LA]

7. UCLA is planning the furloughs to shut down whole buildings if possible

to save on energy. Hasn't gotten to mass layoffs yet but most suspect they are coming.

[lunatica]

8. I don't see how that's possible

That idea floated around for about 2 seconds in Berkeley until someone asked about the fact that classrooms have to be kept open and students need to have access to all kinds of help from the department administrators. Student Services, Student Affairs Officers and advisers, receptionists, their mailboxes. Faculty have to be there to give their classes and office hours and the Graduate Student Instructors have do the same thing.

There are also hundreds of labs that need to have electricity all the time and which have anything from toxins to live animals. There's the University health centers for the students which need to stay open. There are a million interrelated connections which makes it impossible to do that. Although the period between Christmas and New Years UC Berkeley shuts down, but the students are gone at that time on their Winter Break and don't get back till later in January.

[Liberal_in_LA]

9. 1st step, added 3 furlough days to winter break, same shut down procedures as winter break

extended for the 3 days. Other - shut down during spring break.

[lunatica]

10. That's one idea and they could include Thanksgiving days

They're going to have to figure out something for each department. Even having one day a week where the departments are closed is unfeasible due to the reasons I listed above. It's a nightmare for everyone.