The situation is really sad, but this graphic is awesome.

Followed a link to this from Barry Ritholz' The Big Picture blog. I learned more from one graphic than I could from several pages of story. What a civic mess, affecting real people who want to live in a decent place.

It always upsets me when cities invest in sporting arenas and stadiums. How many more economists need to study this phenomenon before city managers will get the memo: these facilities never pay off.

I like your style, Susie. I can tell from your shading and strong curves that you've got a steady hand, but you use it wisely, without getting bogged down in realism.

Kind of ironic that the timeline under the heading read "But it wasn't always like this" shows Stockton was founded during the Gold Rush. More like same old, same old!

Stockton's just 75 miles from where I live and work, but it might as well be in Andhra Pradesh for all the coverage it gets in the interior Bay Area (I'm a news practitioner myself, so consider this a plea of guilty as charged). Beautiful job bringing some of the major issues (and parts of Stockton) to life.

This is my hometown, and I've watched it go through some serious strife in the last few years-I'm the budding age of 31. What is most disconcerting is that there seems so few solutions available, or at least viable ones being offered.

I grew up here, went to the Marines for four years (Iraq Vet 2003-2004) and when I came home the mortgage crisis had gutted our communities, and the crime had gotten noticeably worse.

Even after waiting it out and going to school at our local 4 year institution, University of the Pacific, many of the neighborhoods are still lined by foreclosure signs.

The job market here is still suffering, primarily because we've jammed as many service based jobs in, ignoring more valuable career tracks for our citizens. Everyone is doing the best they can and still trudging along.

But despite all the negative attention, I hope many of us who live here will learn the folly of our ways- city leaders listen up, and that we will bring jobs that can sustain the families who want to work and live here. I want to hear more hopeful news for my hometown.

When I read articles in Forbes, a magazine for tycoons and crooks, bullying my fellow citizens with their inane headlines,"Most Miserable etc." I get sick. Let me tell you these people here are lean and mean. We're fighters, and we don't need anyone unloading their garbage to sell a story.

In contrast to Forbes, this artwork was inspiring. It reminded me of being downtown as a kid before things got bad, before all the department stores closed. It's still okay to love where you're from even when everyone else is selling you out and saying your heyday has passed.

Don't believe what they say. Show em' what you're made of Stockton.