Think Your House is the Pits?

The city of Irwindale, Calif., is known for gigantic holes, left where gravel was mined, but the city wants more room for houses. It would cost an estimated $23 million to fill just one of the gaping cavities, so the city's redevelopment agency is considering using tax money to build houses inside a 74-acre abandoned gravel pit. Some of the 175 houses will be as much as 80 feet below surrounding terrain. “Hopefully, it will have the same feeling as if it's on a hillside looking down into a valley,” says city manager Joe Guzzeta. (AP) ...More likely: voters will realize they've been given the shaft.