What can happen to a town that really doesn’t care about anything but jobs.

Adam Nagourney writes in the NY Times 1 March 2011: Plan Would Erase All-Business Town

VERNON, Calif. — Vernon is a bleak, 5.2-square-mile sprawl of warehouses, factories, toxic chemical plants and meat processors that looks like the backdrop for “Eraserhead,” the David Lynch movie set in an industrial wasteland. It has a population of 95 — and 1,800 businesses, drawn by low taxes, lax regulations and cheap municipal power.

It also has a history of corruption and public malfeasance going back nearly 50 years.

The rest of the story is mostly about how it’s gotten so bad Continue reading →