That's part of it, but it's also a question of who bears the tax burden. Some of these places have lost tons of manufacturing jobs and can't afford to do improv

That's part of it, but it's also a question of who bears the tax burden. Some of these places have lost tons of manufacturing jobs and can't afford to do improvements on a local level, and I imagine there's a more generalized dejection that makes collective infrastructure investments repulsive.