Chaper 1: From the Not Too Distant Future

Hi, Sarah, it's Rose, from your novel. I just found your blog. I'm sure you remember me. I moved from LA to a small mountain village called Katani Falls where I stumbled into the healing power of nature and having true community in our lives. It was a paradise lost re-found.

But, Sarah, things have changed here dramatically. Our village is facing problems other cities and towns everywhere may be encountering all too soon, circumstances Mark and I never dreamed would befall us.

I can't begin to tell you everything that's happened in just one message, but from what I found on your blog, I think you may have an inking of what we're dealing with. I hope we can discuss the ramifications of these events as we're struggling to get a handle on our future, wondering if being able to influence our future is something we'll alll be losing.

It all started slowly here. When Mark and I moved from LA with our two children this was the best of all worlds. We had the blessings of nature and a simple way of life, all within easy reach of a major metropolitan area with every modern convenience. We had 6-day-a-week mail delivery, high-speed Internet, home delivery of the LA Times, and gasoline was cheap enough people here thought nothing of running into the city whenever they wanted or needed to for food, supplies, entertainment, and top notch specialty medical care. Lots of folks lived in the city during the week and drove up here for weekends in their cabin to relax and recharge.

Well, all that has changed. As you remember, though we're not really far from LA, we're quite remote, deep in a forest accessible only by one windy and treacherous road. So, first we lost our home delivery of the newspaper. Instead we picked up the paper at the Country Store in the village each morning. Then we lost daily delivery to the store too. So we subscribed by mail and read the news the next morning.

But the postal service was next. Whereas we had six day delivery for years, it was cut to five days, then to two hours in the afternoon three days a week, then to the sporadic service we have now. There are weeks when no mail is delivered at all. The private mail services used to come in everyday, too. but now who knows when or if they'll deliver here. Some things we order are sent back as undeliverable.

The company that supplied our high speed Internet and cable has stopped serving this area. Like the post office they're dropping certain service areas. We have dial-up now through a server set up by a local resident in his home. That's why, fortunately, I can still get e-mail and surf the web. The monthly fee is a lot higher though and many people can't afford to subscribe, so the fees keep going up for those who can still pay.

You may remember there was a gas station here. Well, it's closed now. It was running over $200,000 to fill their tanks and not enough people could afford to buy gas at a price that would cover their costs. Now we're having trouble with the electricity too. We're at the end of the grid, so whenever there is a overload in LA due to heavy usage during the scorching heat they've had this summer, the power is cut to outlying areas to avoid a mass blackouts in the city. Mark and I have a propane generator that keeps the lights, the frig, Mark's clinic, and the computers running, but last month it cost us $2000 to fill the propane tank. Many people don't have generators or can't afford to fill them, in which case the propane company has removed their tanks. Now, winter is coming.

The worst part, Sarah, is that a lot of people have left and more are leaving. The big exodus began after gasoline passed $5.00 a gallon awhile back. Some people were able to sell their homes when they decided they needed to be closer to the city, or didn't want the cost of driving to a second home any more. But for a lot of folks the value of their homes fell below their mortgage, so there have been a lot of short sales and foreclosures. Some people are just walking away from their homes. The banks can't sell or rent these houses either, because there just aren't many people who want to live so far from everything. A lot of houses are vacant and deteriorating.

The embattled hotel property you may remember so well is vacant now too. The town council tried to buy it for community activities or rental units, but with so many fewer people living here there weren't the funds to acquire it, even at a rock-bottom price. Rumors are flying that the mortgage company will be tearing it down to sell for scrap. I just can't believe that! After all the battles we had to reach agreement about developing it!

Those of us who are still here, well, we are back to two waring camps again now. Generally those who own the homes and have a lot of money still think everything that's happening is just temporary and that "the market" will recover. They are doing everything they can to keep the water allocations to residents low so they can preserve the golf course and keep the clubhouse open to "protect property values." Everyone else is petrified that they'll be next to lose their homes and they're just trying to figure out what to do. "We're trapped in paradise," one of my neighbors told me the other day. Her husband just lost his job in town and they're trying to live off the proceeds from what she's selling on e-bay. In fact she's selling on commission for other folks here who are cashing in on whatever they have of value that they don't need.

Of course those who are feeling desperate don't have the time or emotional energy to get involved in the local government, so the council is run by those who think things will get better soon, mostly real estate agents who bought up as much distressed property as they could afford and are just sitting on it. The council has imposed a steep "water tax" to cover community services, but lately they're having a hard time collecting. If they foreclose on those who can't pay, then thing will be even worse, so they're just ignoring delinquencies now.

I hate to be the barer of such disturbing news, but I feel compelled to tell you about it and I hope you'll post it on your blog. From everything I've been reading there I have a much better understand what's going on in our country. Mark and I downloaded End of Suburbia and What a Way to Go from the web (it took all night) and I can see there's nothing temporary about what's happening. It will only get worse for us here, but I hope others in their larger, less-remote communities will heed the early warning signs we overlooked and have time to make better preparations than we have. I think their challenges will different but equally difficult.

Not everything is bad here, though. There are hopeful things to share too. I will post again soon and catch you up on the effect all this is having on our lives and our friends, many of whom you will remember.

So glad to have found you. As you say ...
Blessings of Nature. It remains a daily salvation.
Rose

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(c) Sarah Anne Edwards, 2008