The Republican candidate for the 11th Illionois congression district has issued the above advertisement as a scare tactic. The photograph is actually of a small town called Jaywick Sands which is near Clacton in Essex, east of London. In 2010 and 2015 (.pdf) it was the most deprived neighborhood in the UK according to the government official index.
The kicker is that Jaywick Sands no longer looks like that because of local and national government investment in a scheme costing £6.5 million ($8.4 million).
New drainage has been put in, the roads relaid with tarmac, new street lighting installed and the sidewalks paved. The road now looks like this.
You may wish to note that Essex County Council has been in Conservative party control since 1997 and from 1973 with two 4-year periods when no party had overall control. This was also done when nationally there was an austerity environment.
Local politicians are naturally a bit unhappy that their efforts have been ignored.
Paul Honeywood, Tendring District Council Cabinet Member with special responsibility for Jaywick, said it was appalling to use the old image for political gain and said the village was on the up.
He said: "I know that many Jaywick Sands residents will be outraged at being smeared in this way, and rightly so."
The BBC has also contacted the (less than) Stella campaign.
Dr Stella's campaign director of operations Raquel Mitchell said it had never been their intent to smear the town, which they did not name.
She said: "We have learned, and it is great to know, the town pictured has recovered from economic hardship.
"Let it serve as an an example of how government responding to the needs of the people can overcome hardship. May those days remain well behind us.
"I'm sure Jaywick Sands is charming. Perhaps a future visit would be a great way to exchange ideas between the two areas."
Yeah and let it serve as an example that governments continually ignoring infrastructure are also ignoring the significant economic and social benefits of making life decent for people. Just the sort of thing that cannot be done under “small governments” that the Republicans so dislike that they smear Pelosi with lies. Their real message has turned to
If you want real improvements to your life,
Vote for Bill Foster in the 11th Illinois Congressional District!
Thursday, Nov 1, 2018 · 1:37:54 PM +00:00
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Lib Dem FoP
The Wikipedia page explains the historical background to this village.
The land was originally a combination of fields and salt marshes, and was generally unsuitable for agricultural use. It was purchased by the entrepreneur Frank Stedman in 1928 to provide low cost, affordable holiday homes for working-class families, and became a popular holiday destination throughout the 1930s. After the Second World War, a shortage of housing meant the properties gradually became permanently inhabited, despite not being designed for regular use. The local community resisted demolition of the worst estates, and the government tightly controlled building regulations in the village while attempting to rehouse residents elsewhere.
Many of the holiday homes were never designed for long-term residence and are now in a state of disrepair
The very low cost of the housing has attracted the retired, who may well have lived there all their lives, and the low paid/unemployed. These sort of “plotland” developments were common used elsewhere in the country after WWII to solve the acute housing problems. Jaywick is the last example and the pressure to preserve it comes because of its now unique architectural and historical interest. New homes have been built following attempts to limit development and erase the plotland housing. The council still seesa future for the village by reviving its tourism industry.
Tendring District Council hope that by 2026, the area will change sufficiently to be attractive for development, and to provide a self-sufficient service based economy for tourism
This may be limited by the threat of flooding of the seaside town that will increase with global warming. There is already a protective sea wall.