And they're shutting all the factories down

Well, that went rather quickly. Post number 200. Not that I am the most prolific or voluminous writer but the fact that I have come this far has amazed me at least.

Today's local news is rather bleak I am sad to say. My hometown used to bear the moniker "home to nationally known industries" and was host for many years to the likes of Dupont, Hercules and National Lead. All industrial behemoths of an age passed that at one time employed collectively around ten thousand people. When I was a kid your father almost certainly worked in one of these three plants. Over the years these giants have closed or downsized and our little hamlet has, due to its close proximity to NYC, turned in to a suburban bedroom community with a reasonable commute to those cherished Manhattan jobs. Not as nice as sections of Monmouth and Bergen counties that command a higher premium but its still a really nice place to work and live. It got a bit less nice yesterday.

One of our only remaining industries, a small steel mill that employs around 200 is going to be mothballed until the economy turns around. While the parent company insists this is only a temporary measure until the demand for steel returns I am sure that is small consolation to the folks who are now looking at less than desirable employment alternatives. While most of the folks that work there are not local residents the loss to our town from losing our the biggest customer of our local water utility is in the amount of almost one million dollars. The money is going to have to come from somewhere.

Are we at bottom yet?