Changes In My Community

When I first moved to Peoria in September of 1998,jobs were fairly easy to find,housing was readily available and life was considerably a lot simpler.My youngest children were ages 4,5 and 12.After getting out of what would be my last physically & mentally abusive relationship,I found a part time job at a local nursing home where I met my wonderful third husband.Since then my children have grown,they are now ages 14 (going on 15),16 ad 22.It is now extremely difficult to find a job especially as an unskilled worker.Housing is also limited.It is now terrifying to send your kids to school,with all of the violence & gang activity.Illinois is reported to have the highest gang activity in the U.S.My electric & gas bill in 1999 was an unbelievely low $4.95 a month(I still have some of my old bills to prove it).NOW,our electic & gas bill is around $200 a month.My rent in 1999 was $281.00 a month for a 2 bedroom house and our rent now is $650.Groceries are outragious.Everything has skyrocketed so much so, that it has left a lot of people homeless.Yes,this small community is quite different from 10 years ago.Crime is up and our streets are a lot less safe.On June 6th of this year,when my 22 year old daughter's ex abusive boyfriend set our house on fire around 4:30 am,not one of our neighbor's spoke up.No one wanted to get involved.Not only has this community changed but,the whole world has changed and most certainly not for the better,in many respects.(posted on flixya by me)