Mosquitoes move in
Disease-prone pests thrive in the stagnant pool water of empty homes in Fresno-Clovis area.
By Farin Montañez / The Fresno Bee
Rotten leaves and insect corpses float on pea-soup colored water in a Mickey Mouse-shaped pool at an abandoned house in west-central Fresno.
It's a breeding ground for mosquitoes.
Ever since a neighbor complained several months ago, mosquito abatement district workers have been doing what they can to get rid of the bugs.
They've sprayed insecticide three times. They've dumped in about a dozen guppylike fish to eat the mosquitoes -- but the fish just can't keep up.
It's just one of 827 swimming pools in Fresno and Clovis that district workers have treated this year -- far more than in any recent year, officials say. District officials are monitoring 1,000 more pools, and they say there are hundreds more they don't even know about.
"This isn't even the worst one," Roy Benavides, an area supervisor with the Fresno Mosquito and Vector Control District, said of the Lafayette Avenue pool -- just a quarter-mile from Slater Elementary School.
"It's a nice neighborhood. You would never guess a pool like this would be here."
A proliferation of unsold houses in a tight real-estate market is giving mosquitoes a bonanza of breeding opportunities -- even during an exceptionally dry year, officials say. That has elevated concerns about the West Nile virus, a mosquito-borne disease that can be fatal.
Foreclosures appear to be a huge factor in the proliferation of neglected pools, said Mulligan, whose district covers Clovis and north and east Fresno.
"People who can't afford to pay for their homes will neglect their pools -- they're the first thing to go," Mulligan said. "Then they move out, and there's really no one to maintain them."
Home foreclosures have been on the rise in the Fresno and Clovis area. The number of foreclosure notices sent to homeowners in Fresno County has more than doubled between the first quarter of 2006 and this year's first quarter -- from 540 to 1,116 -- according to DataQuick Information Systems, a private company that tracks home sales.
9 comments:
The Southwest Voice reports in this weeks newspaper "southwest" housing stats. The "southwest" includes 93309, 93311 & 93313. According to their data average (they don't apparently use median) Q2:2007 "southwest" home prices have fallen a WHOPPING 18% falling below 2005 prices.
Total residential houses = 31,924
Average Q2:2007 price = $306,175
Average Q2:2006 price = $361,462
Average Q2:2005 price = $309,127
Sales Inventory = 1,413
Average SF Q2:2007 = 1,825
Average SF Q2:2006 = 1,865
Average SF Q2:2005 = 1,847
Did you mean 18% below 2006 prices? Was the $361K price for Q2:2005?
Impressive drop any way you cut it.
This doesn't bode well for CA:
U.S. Foreclosure Filings Jump to Record in First Half
http://tinyurl.com/36wql2
Six of the top 10 U.S. foreclosure rates for metropolitan areas were in California. Stockton, Merced, Modesto and Riverside- San Bernardino occupied the top four spots. Vallejo-Fairfield was seventh and Sacramento eighth.
Yes 18% below 260 prices. The data above is correct (or at least as the Southwest Voice reported it).
According to this data prices peaked in 2006 (not 2005) and interestingly have fallen in Q2:2007 back to pre-Q2:2005 levels.
50% drop is what we need
All in favor say I
No RE Slasher, I won't say I
I think C&C are despicable denizens of the deporable deep don't get me wrong
But I don't wish prices to drop precipticously (like your 50%) as this will hurt many of us just trying to make a living
Let C&C serve time at Club Fed (Lompoc USP has a Sweat Lodge even) where they can learn a craft with their hands........ a true craft......
I was impressed with their rehab while I was there...............
A nominal 50% drop from peak is what Bakersfield will get and there is nothing stopping it.
Housing/Mortgage Doom 2007.
Were right on track for a 50% decline by 2009.
Realestateslasher,
I say, "AYE".
A warning for homeowners
http://tinyurl.com/35yujx
"We're seeing people paying over 50 percent of their income on their loans," she said.
He said many homeowners are falling behind on monthly payments that can start as high as 50 percent of their pre-tax income. When the interest rate increases after two years, he said, borrowers are paying as high as 90 percent of their take-home income.
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I've said it before and I'll keep saying it 'til I'm blue in the face: the average American CANNOT afford a $500K mortgage.
Analaisguy
Show us with
same stats
SF Q2:2004
SF Q2:2003
Thanks
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