'No Dirt Under The Barstools'

From Frankfort, Ill., news of an Irish pub that's closing because construction workers are no longer coming in.

Contractors building homes and commercial buildings in the Lincoln-Way area would drop in for lunch, and the dirt and mud clinging to their work boots would collect under chairs and barstools, said [Niall] Freyne, owner of Galway Tribes.

"Now there is no dirt under the barstools," he said Wednesday.

Last call's slated for May 30. Nationwide housing starts are running 54.2 percent below last year's pace. The leg bone's connected to the shin bone, I guess, and one of the toes is in Freyne's bar.

After the jump, another look at building in the region.

A listener in Gurnee, Ill., between Chicago and Milwaukee, sent the graph below. He's been working in the village hall, where he says they're no longer getting inquiries about building on local land.

In the chart, you can see that when the builders stopped building, the village lost revenue.

Enlarge

Click to enlarge: Construction has fallen by half in Gurnee, Ill., and with it municipal revenue from permits.

Click to enlarge: Construction has fallen by half in Gurnee, Ill., and with it municipal revenue from permits.