5/14/2014

Rio Vista, California

Rio Vista, California

This partially built housing development, just outside Rio Vista has been abandoned since 2008. 13 model homes were built by Shea Homes in 2007 in a development that was supposed to have included 855 houses. The model homes were never occupied and are boarded up and empty as of 2014. Streets for the neighborhood were paved for several blocks around the traffic circle in the center of the development. Sidewalks, streetlights, signs and fire hydrants were all installed before work stopped. Today the streets are open to traffic but empty. There is a successful, occupied development that was built around a golf course adjacent to this abandoned one. The most remarkable thing about this development off of Liberty Island Road are the symbols of surveillance. The center piece of the development is a watchtower built in the middle of the main traffic circle. Across from the watch tower is a surveillance trailer with cameras and lights aimed at the empty houses. Thousands of birds have colonized the homes in this weird abandoned panopticon.

A news article about the development and the pigeons.

 

Rio Vista, California

Rio Vista, California

 

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