My hometown has disappeared from Planet Earth
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11/13/2018
I was born and raised in Attleboro, as was my father. Lived there from 1950-1968 and again from 1970-1973. The town was not bad when I was growing up, other than the fact there were lots of bullies in my area (South Attleboro), at least there were jobs.
My understanding is after the Vietnam war ended a number of Vietnamese and Cambodians came in as refugees. I don't remember for sure who did what, but one of these groups (if I remember correctly that was the Cambodians) actually enslaved the other group. Then there was a family from Attleboro that started some crazy religious cult where they literally starved their kids...
After that... both the jewelry manufacturers pulled out, as did Texas Instruments. So how would this be a "great place to live"??? Last time I was there was about 10 years ago... it looked like my father's worse nightmare came true. He was a City of Attleboro firefighter for 30 years. There was a section of town that he always called "slums of tomorrow" - but last time I was in town the whole place looked like that. Oh plus the local gas station I filled up in (just off 95) had some additive in it that damaged my engine... water or something.
So, not so sure I'd believe any of those glowing reviews. Probably written by some employee of the mayor. About every decade some politician seems to come up with a new plan to revitalize the place, but you really have to wonder how they would do that with no economy? You only have to take a short trip to "beautiful" downtown Pawtucket, RI to see redevelopment plans at their finest (those very weird plastic bubbles over the sidewalks that look to be part of a hamster habitat).
Oh and there's that little surprise... Attleboro has the HIGHEST amount of hazardous waste in MA. Why? The jewelry industry! Yup, they dumped toxic chemicals in barrels for years into the 10 Mile River... and one of my brothers got cancer after attending a kindergarten in Attleboro that the playground was built over a toxic waste site. Yup "great" place to raise your kids (NOT!).
Jean | Smithfield, VA