More Steps Retraced, More Ruins

I don't want to give exact locations. Generally Southeast Lubbock. Around Ave. G. Roughly. There were even more prairie dogs out here than the last time.

First, some of the abandoned homes you see around here. The ones that are occupied are only a little better. I didn't cover everything, just as it took more than one visit to document this area years ago. There have been a few changes, but not many.

 Last time we were out here I had no telephoto capability. Long focus lenses give me more opportunities to capture images.

 This ruin was the objective.

You have to be careful not to step into one of these!

Obviously, nothing has been cleaned up, and now this seems simply to be the neighborhood dumping ground-- yet another of Lubbock's many illegal dumping grounds.

This building has a kind of rudimentary workbench inside. Gosh knows what was done here years ago.

There's a lot of crap on the roadside as well. Next time, we will re-examine what I called the "Black Tower" site. It is what they call a "compress". I noted the extravagant fire protection, but if the buildings house compressed cotton, I guess you'd worry a lot about fire. The tower is visible from many locations in Lubbock. I won't tell exactly where this is, but if you home in on the tower, you can find it. I still think it looks sinister.

Leaving New Deal

Traffic was light. On the way out of town, pausing in my car at the turn-off for I-27 South, I tried to capture the landscape around New Deal, and used telephoto a lot.

There was actually something a bit like topography evident!

 I wanted to take the frontage road back to Lubbock but it terminated in a U and I had to double back and actually get back on I-27.

As I doubled back I found these stacks of preformed concrete piled at the side of the road. There was a lot of it! You can also see from the pics that the highway is not very well maintained. Look at the weeds. Look at the state of the paving and the concrete structures. Piss poor, I think. After doubling back I found a place to pick up the frontage road again as I entered Lubbock.
I was able to pull off to the side of the road and take pics of the old, abandoned, recycling center my wife and I documented years ago. Still there, and still an eyesore, as well as a probable health hazard. NOTHING is done about it. NO effort has been made to clean it up or restrict access.

There's nothing to keep children from wandering into this area, where there are many physical and probably chemical hazards. It's really a disgrace, but the neglect and indifference tells you a lot about Lubbock.

Is it in "legal limbo"? That's no excuse! You could argue that it's an attractive nuisance. I would really want the soil tested, too. Does anyone know what's been dumped out there? PCBs? Pesticides? Benzene? How about the ground water in the vicinity of this place?

When I visited this time, and even the first time about five years ago, there was no fencing, no barriers of any kind, not even "no trespassing notices"!  Wide open! Unrestricted access!

On the other hand, it is great to photograph. It is more picturesque than most other parts of town, and more interesting. That tells you something about Lubbock as well.

Odds are it'll stay like this for many more years.

I'm glad I made this trip because it is another step along the winding road my wife and I traveled, another set of steps retraced. There are many more to go.
And now, for Citizen's Tower...

A lot of money is going into this thing. It had been an eyesore for many years. Maybe this will be money well spent. We'll see.