Wash, Dry … and Fold
Let’s explore how dramatically changing economic trends can shift the ground beneath our feet. Instead of taking a macro view of stock markets and currency exchanges, we’ll visit San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood where one of the few remaining laundromats is closing its doors. “While families have been hauling their dirty towels, sheets, and underwear there for decades, the business’s future earnings now pale in comparison to the value of the land it sits on.” Like many urban centers, San Francisco is becoming too expensive for people who can’t afford a place with their own washer and dryer. This story of a single laundromat is a metaphor for a much broader American (and even global) saga: a growing geographic divide in which people from different socioeconomic groups are not only unequal, they’re completely separate. From The Atlantic: The Decline of the American Laundromat.