"Slab City"

Have you heard of "Slab City? It's located outside the city limits of Modesto, Calif.
It is a city with no Mayor, no residential neighborhoods, no street lights, no Chucky Cheese, no schools, no playgrounds and very few rules. You don't want to live there, you don't want anyone you know to call "Slab City" their home. Yet plenty of people (too many) do live in "Slab City", well, sort of.

A huge slab of concrete was laid down on a wretched piece of ground and people live in motor homes, cars, tents, and card board boxes. These are NOT illegal aliens on the run. These are American citizens, families with kids. There is no running water, just a hole in the concrete where run off water goes. That is what passes for a shower. People bring in food, whatever they can. However, recently a "Slab City Cafe" opened. I doubt you would go there for the ambiance; I doubt the menu is extensive. Some old recliners sit on part of the slab and people hold court there daily.


Dave is there, a middle aged man with a pretty wife and 2 small children. Dave worked in a white collar and tie job for years in the Bay Area but the economy finally forced his company to lay him off. Unable to find another job, the family went through their savings until finally the day arrived where Dave and family couldn't even afford to live in a trailer park. Now, his kids play in a junk pile, and when they get to be school age he wonders where will they be? He does odd jobs and augments what little he makes with food stamps. He hopes to get a job in LA soon.

Sandy is living out of her station wagon, a single mom with 2 daughters, one aged 13 and the other one 11. Money ran out for them in their home state of Washington so mom was forced to bring her and the girls to "Slab City". The girls are being "home schooled" but its questionable how much they are learning. The girls understand why they are there, but they also hope their friends back home don't find out.

Dave keeps a loaded 12 gauge shotgun by his side at night. he says the 12 gauge shotgun is the protector of choice for "Slab City" residents. He said, "I'm the nicest guy in the world but if you mess with my family you'll see another side".
There are plenty of drugs and drug dealers in "Slab City".

When I first read about the Joad family in the Steinbeck novel The Grapes of Wrath about the depression era okie family, I thought how can this happen? How can a hard-working law abiding family just be ruined through no fault of their own? They weren't wall street financiers, hedge fund operators, or leaders of Governments or Industry. Nevertheless, it was the Joad family that had to pile all their stuff into a pickup, and leave the dust bowl of Oklahoma for California. Even in high school (back then) I thought this wasn't right. People that gamble away their own fortunes have nobody to blame but themselves. BUT people that gamble away the fortunes of others have to be held accountable or they will do it again.

There it sits, "Slab City" just outside the city limits of Modesto where the 21st century version of the Joads reside. The calloused, irresponsible people have done it again. The legal system should hold those people accountable but it's clear they are not going to.

However, we can. Please try to stay up on who is running for which elective office. Find out what have they done in the past for the people they represented. Know what they stand for. Look past the rhetoric, the teleprompter, the nice suit, the melodramatic ads. We have to have better people in offices on all levels. We need to get rid of the people that created "Slab City".