Housing Bubble and the North Harbor Project

When I first moved to East Chicago ten years ago, it was common for me to say "East Chicago, and indiana for that matter, were about ten years behind most of the rest of the country." Now ten years later, I find myself saying "East Chicago is now about twenty years behind most of the country." There is no doubt in my mind that Mayor Pabey wants to rebuild East Chicago. The North Harbor Plan is a great example of tackling our problems head-on. Yet, with a housing project such as the North Harbor project, timing is everything. The North Harbor project is happening at a time when western sprawl of the Chicago suburbs is now half way across the state. This provides home buyers a good incentive to look at the South Shore and East Chicago (only 20 from Downtown Chicago). Unfortunately, This is all happening when the housing buble seems to have peaked and may be on a steep decline. My concern is that our lack of keeping pace with the rest of the country leaves us without the tools necessary to bring us out of industrial age. There are a series of interesting reports at the Center for Economic and Policy Research website. one in particular is:

"Will a Bursting Bubble Trouble Bernanke? The Evidence for a Housing Bubble" by Dean Baker and David Rosnick

You can find a earlier post at: Housing bubble: Paul Krugman on Alan Greenspan