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Most 3rd world place you've been to while still in the USA?

26,489 Views | 190 Replies | Last: 2 yr ago by taquache02
rilloaggie
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While I was in school I spent summers doing insurance adjusting and visited just about every neighborhood in the greater Houston area. I thought the 3rd or 5th ward were the sketchiest places where it felt like I was in a different country. Today I met a potential client in a subdivision south of Cleveland. They are looking to build rent-to-own homes in the area. Normally I would say that doing something like that will bring in trashy people but their homes will be miles better than anything else in the subdivision so far.

http://www.chron.com/neighborhood/dayton/news/article/Plum-Grove-residents-and-developers-voice-their-9724357.php

I am not sure how long the development has been out there but it is different than anything else I've seen around town. An example, Sienna Plantation has a section that recently opened that will eventually have 10,000 homes there. The developer opens up a few sections at a time and several builders build until that section is almost done and then the next one is opened. This means the neighborhood gets filled out in an orderly manner and there is some semblance of continuity in the area. These guys in Liberty County have 10,000 lots on the ground now and they are selling them one at a time. There is a mix of trailers, homes in various states of construction, a few tents, and lots of trash. They are cutting more roads in so even though there are thousands of lots in there already they are getting ready to bring in even more. There was a startling number of trailer homes that had portajohns next to them. I don't think they had indoor plumbing based on that and the chemical tanks next to the trailer that I suspect are storing water. I seriously felt like I was in a different country out there. Here are some of the highlights:



Home under construction. I got the feeling that most of the folks living here "borrow" their construction materials from their employers. I don't think Meritage builds in here...


At least 3 different types roof underlayment. Wondering which builder in town is missing a stack of ZipSystem also.


Somebody living in this one already...


...and this one


Thinking this is about 600sqft, and someone already living there as well.


There is good news, the taqueria is open for business if you are hungry.

Decided not to post the photo but there appears to be some dog fighting going on. There was a chewed up dead pitbull in the middle of the main road and a 3 kids under 10 or so were walking casually right past the first time I drove by. There was a pile of about 6 more around the corner. :/




Canyon99
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The first thing that comes to mind is portions of New Orleans a couple of months after Katrina.
Dirty-8-thirty Ag
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That last part will make ya sick.

The Kickapoo tribe in Eagle Pass before they opened up their casino was pretty third world. Now they have more money than the pope.
malenurse
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It's better now, but "Four Corners" just next to Sugar Land was a crap hole.

Cameron, TX

Fresno, TX (when I was working in the MUD business, we would lock out the sewage on houses that were many months late on payments. Residents would just open the clean outs and let raw sewage into the yards.)
Sean Mercer
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Lubbock?
Wooahhhh
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Around a couple of Ford plants and 8 Mile Rd in Detroit
TwoMarksHand
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Hearne
carpe vinum
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4th ward
https://i.imgur.com/uReoXE6.gif
gillom
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Bolivar post Ike
TommyGun
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gillom said:

Bolivar post Ike

Yep. I'd say Bolivar or Oak Island post Ike.
Scriffer
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Presidio, TX

Didn't stop, and we were actually relieved when BP stopped us for a talk.
Finn Maccumhail
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Back in the 80's my dad did some consulting with growers down in the Valley and for whatever reason we ended up going into one of the colonias down there.

Those places are definitely 3rd world- shanties made of pallets, scraps of canvas & plastic tarps, whatever sorts of corrugated metal they could find. No plumbing and open sewers running through the streets, piles of garbage everywhere.

This crap looks like somebody is purposely developing a colonia.
rilloaggie
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I don't have access to the full article but it sounds like many people feel that way.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-15/texas-towns-push-back-on-instant-slums
Mowdy Ag
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Las colonias del Rio Grande valle.
mneisch
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When I did environmental consulting we would go to some interesting places. New Caney probably takes top prize at least in the Houston area.
DriftwoodAg
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Parts of Eagle Pass and Quemada
rilloaggie
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Well this little slice of paradise is about 15 minutes east of there.
CS78
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Buddies hunting camp inside the MS river levee in Ferriday, LA. Made a trip over for Christmas break and the National Guard had to truck in potable water for the town of Ferriday. Came back the next Christmas and the trailers hadn't moved. Always fun to take Texas foks over there for a chance to see the real south. Culture shock!



Step over the levee and it gets even better.


NoahAg
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I'm guessing parts of various Indian reservations would make the list.
Swarely
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It's cheating, but any of the colonias in the valley.

Also, was in a Haitian ghetto in Providence, RI Sumer after fish year. That was pretty bad. And I stuck out like a glowing sore thumb.
water turkey
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Pluto, MS
Watchful Ag
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Grew up right next to Vidor. There were A LOT of unfortunate living situations down there
CenterHillAg
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It's a tie for me between rural Anderson County, TX or way off the road in the Mississippi Delta. Tar paper shacks with no electricity or plumbing were the common in both areas, that's within the last 10 years too.
Nagler
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The historic 5th ward is nice.
Salt of the water
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I grew up in the green area on this map. Others have already noted the third worldiness of some parts of the RGV. For how poor it is, I think it's alot less dangerous than some of the poverty stricken areas around the major metro areas.

FSGuide
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Canyon99 said:

The first thing that comes to mind is portions of New Orleans a couple of months after Katrina.


I did relief work there in sep & oct 2005. It was a little crazy.
Still looters around. NG patrolling during curfew hours. Our work crews finding bodies in debris piles. No restaurants open. We Slept in a horse stable a lot of the time.
coyote68
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Piedras Negras. Women and children living in cardboard huts. No sewage. One water line. All the men gone to get work in USA. Heartbreaking poverty, but still lots of laughter. Church with empty holes where windows and doors go.
EFE
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Mowdy Ag said:

Las colonias del Rio Grande valle.

Dis, at least County coding has made it so the developers have to have proper utilities installed before they start selling lots.
aTm2004
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Don't know the name of the town, but it was on the way to Fairbanks from Anchorage and the store looked liked a picked over store in a failed socialist experiment.
duddleysdraw88
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A lot of lakes in east Texas have some pretty bad areas!
schmellba99
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SRPMIC Reservation and the Gila River Res outside of PHX. Never imagined people could live like that. Of course, some of the old neighborhoods not too far from where I grew up were neck and neck with them - CR 400 where the old black settlement is was always rough around the edges. Drove by one day and a kid was crapping out the window - pretty sure they didn't have running water or probably even an indoor bathroom.

Sunnyside in Houston is not exactly 1st world either. Most of El Paso was a hellhole, several of the towns along the southern border between EP and Tucson are rough, and Mexicali isn't a place a guero like me thought was a good place to stop either.
Potcake
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coyote68 said:

Piedras Negras.

Cheater.
BCO07
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West side of Chicago looks like a damn war zone
ursusguy
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Sand Branch Community in Dallas with Joppa not far behind....I am in Joppa weekly
Wind River Reservation
Jicarilla Reservation
Non tourist area of the Taos Pueblo (turds literally floating down the creek)

The abandoned areas of New Orleans are interesting from a wildlife standpoint. The abandoned houses, vast areas, make for great rat and raccoon populations. The disease potential is extreme.
Burdizzo
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NoahAg said:

I'm guessing parts of various Indian reservations would make the list.



I worked wheat harvest for three summers including some time on the Pine Ridge in South Dakota. That place gives colonias a run for the money.

KILI radio (The Voice of the Lakota Nation) is interesting listening.
 
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