On The Ground In Joliet

Since The Economic Crisis began to break, I've invested serious time attempting to read and learn about these events and times. Charts, numbers, arcane stats...all important to have learned. It's helped as we navigate the waters as a family.

I'm also interested in what happens on the ground, in the everyday.

This week's Chicago trip was enlightening. The destination was Joliet, the far suburb to the south and west, bounded by the junction of I-80 and I-55.

Notable was the warehouse space going begging. Most notably, one closest to the junction was a million-square-foot facility, standing empty. A Ryder facility in Joliet itself stands empty, no takers for a long time now. The auto dealers are parking the cars sideways in the lots, to give the appearance of large inventories.

A true bright spot was Friday evening's dinner at Barolo. No hint of a recession here, tables filled and staff cheerful. Likewise on the journey up and back, the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store all had full parking lots, traffic in the gift shops, happy diners, happy staff.

Both places share a common trait: Food is actually cooked in the kitchen, good value for the fare offered, attentive staff. Nothing is fussy, actually avoiding the trendy, evoking a sense of comfort and familiarity. Cracker Barrel has mastered the art of merchandising Americana to its clientele, even to the point of branding releases of country and gospel music on CD in its own displays. This month's offering is a collection of George Jones' hits, for example. I studied the display: George Jones is selling, as is Dolly Parton, Bill Gaither, Fats Domino, Waylon Jennings. Only one CD was going untouched, that of The Allman Brothers. Wrong product in the wrong location, as they are seen as part of the Counter-Culture, and Cracker Barrel customers want nothing to do with that.

Joliet, the old steel foundry town, has remade itself a few times, recently with casinos. Parts are truly lovely, and the people encountered are friendly and gracious, in that true Midwestern way. Tree-lined streets, modest houses, well-tended yards, sidewalks, new firehouses and an enviable public library building.

What causes disquiet is the phenomenon of the new housing developments planted on the prairie, mainly zero-lot-line structures, one indistinguishable from the other, treeless, rapidly constructed, offered at lower prices with each passing quarter. These aren't neighborhoods, like Joliet knows neighborhoods. They are more like vast dormitories, where people lay their heads at night between commutes to and from work.

Only they have mortgages on them, just like the warehouses.

What will it be like to spend one's childhood here, in sight of I-55, in a treeless world where all houses look alike, all cars look alike, riding the bus to the county's schools?

What becomes of the children of The Bubble?