Governor Gavin Newsom, 56, announced in 2022 that the golden state would be closing four prisons, including the Chuckawalla Valley State Prison in Blythe, which is expected to shut this year.
The town, which is located in Riverside County near the Arizona border, was already struggling, with many of its 18,000-strong population fleeing to Phoenix or the Coachella Valley.
Now they fear that the elimination of nearly 1,000 government jobs in the area will be the final straw.
‘We know it’s going to be a ripple effect across all sectors,’ interim city manager Mallory Crecelius told the Imperial Valley Press. ‘But we don’t really have a grasp of just how much it’s going to impact.’