> The UK also has Stoke-on-Trent giving away houses for £1 in a desperate attempt to unblight the place. I'm kinda curious what you mean by this? I just did a

> The UK also has Stoke-on-Trent giving away houses for £1 in a desperate attempt to unblight the place. I'm kinda curious what you mean by this? I just did a brief (didn't look at all areas) google maps tour of the area, and while I know that isn't in any way the best to assess an area, I was struck by a few things: 1) Things seem pretty quiet - little vehicle traffic, but also few people walking about, even in the "city proper". 2) Buildings seem fairly diverse; some newer, some older. Most in seemingly decent shape; a few in need of repair. 3) Some interesting shops and restaurants (saw one small restaurant called "Planet Bollywood" - heh). 4) Housing neighborhoods and such seemed and looked nice. I guess what I'm trying to get at is that I didn't see anything that looked like "blight"; maybe I didn't look in the right areas, or maybe my concept of blight is different? When I think of blight, I think of empty lots with weeds chest high, trash dumped, broken down and/or burned out buildings, etc - stuff in extreme states of disrepair or needing condemning and removal/cleanup. I didn't see anything like this; but again, I didn't look everywhere. Where I did look, the worst I saw was perhaps some buildings that needed some basic upkeep and maintenance (at least, from the outside).