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The recession hits a place many thought it wouldn’t

Dante Chinni

Posted: 07.20.2009 / 7:12 AM PDT

The economic recession may be a national phenomenon, measured by data like gross domestic product and unemployment rates, but as Patchwork Nation notes, the experience at the local level is very different. A case in point is Eagle, Colo.

For the last 18 months, we’ve been visiting with and contacting people in Eagle, a “Boom Town” that doubled in size during the past five years. And in that time we have witnessed an astonishing shift.

In the winter of 2008, the concern in Eagle was out-of-control growth. Last summer, there was relief that the growth had slowed and just a little caution about what might lie ahead. When we visited last week, we found a changed place.

Housing values have fallen – in some cases by almost half – and concern about what might come next seems to hang in the air. The community’s economy is built on tourism and construction. Fewer people are in the hotels, and the forecast is for fewer visitors this fall. The building trades are mired in a big slump.

Hard times have come

Eagle Ranch, the development that basically doubled the size of the town, is now full of “for sale” signs. Every street seems to have one sign – some more than that. In the local newspapers, properties are available at reduced rates.

It’s a far cry from our first visit to Eagle. Then, residents thought the fact that the town was relatively well-to-do would insulate it from the hard times ahead.

“People were kidding themselves when they though we wouldn’t be touched,” says Eagle County Sherriff Joe Hoy. The county, Mr. Hoy says, has told everyone to expect cuts of 3 to 5 percent in their budgets. Sales tax revenues are down. Property tax revenues are down.

The nearby Cotton Ranch golf course has been put into foreclosure and is awaiting a buyer, with none on the horizon yet. And the United Methodist Church’s free Monday dinners are seeing around 30 people a week.

Last Monday brought a mixture of ages – older folks and young families – to enjoy pizza and pasta. All had the option of taking home a bag of groceries if they needed one. Many did.

Still a lovely view

To be sure, Eagle doesn’t look like, say, Detroit. It is still a freshly scrubbed picturesque mountain town. But there are newly constructed buildings that have no tenants. Construction scheduled and started before the slowdown goes on.

On Wednesday, we will check how our communities are faring in the latest Economic Hardship Index. But the troubles in Eagle are signs of how intricate the US economy is.

In some of the communities in Patchwork Nation, residents believe the economy has bottomed out and may start rebounding. But the economic health of Eagle seems to still be declining.

Even if the “bottom” for Eagle isn’t a horrible – the median household income for the county is more than $60,000 – most people in town won’t predict when fortunes might turn around.