Pennsylvania was part of the Rust Belt, a region in the upper half of the US extending from central New York, through the Great Lakes states, and running as far west as the eastern border of Iowa. These states formed the backbone of American industrial might and power for almost a century, but by the beginning of the 1980s, the advent of automation and the shift toward a service and high-tech economy brought about deindustrialization, urban decay, and in some cases, population loss. Bucks County suffered the same fate.
When our industries and manufacturers went out of business, it wasn’t a clean break, like when a homeowner decides to sell their house and move to a different neighborhood. These defunct industries and manufacturers usually left behind abandoned, run-down buildings with a wide assortment of environmental toxins that threatened animal and human life in the municipalities in which they were found. The jobs and taxes they once generated for their host community were now things of the past, and nobody wanted to buy these properties because of the liability and legal issues that stemmed from their environmental problems and the hazardous conditions of the buildings and their surrounding grounds. Welcome to your new life, Bob White. Now go find a way to make a decrepit property that’s worth less than zero into a beautiful new office complex or residential community worth millions.
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