Iowans Washed Out of Homes Find Their Future Hard to Grasp

[tannybogus]

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Seven weeks after this river town went under water in the biggest flood ever recorded here, city officials on Tuesday provided a first glimpse of their redevelopment plan to increasingly restless and frustrated residents, many thousands of whom remain displaced from the wreckage of their homes.

In three information sessions, city officials and their consultants showed residents a framework for rebuilding that begins with public comment and culminates in a report to the state by the end of the year.

So far, specifics are few. City leaders called for “sustainable” neighborhoods, better transportation and reinvestment in downtown, but emphasized that they were still in the information-gathering stage of the plan, which will be shaped by how much federal money is available for long-term recovery.

The sessions did little to assuage the concerns of flood victims who say they do not know where — or if — they should rebuild.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/us/30cedar.html

The government is perfecting the skills they learned in Katrina.

Be careful if FEMA sends trailers. :hide:

[Sal Minella]

1. FEMA already sent trailers.

They were taken back, because of mold. As you said, perfecting the skills.

Edit to add link:
http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080724/NEWS/444639574

[tannybogus]

3. Actually FEMA has been at this for years.

Hugo hit SC in 1989. They didn't even get the trailers out. I remember a news clip showing them

locked up behind a fence in Atlanta. They wanted to make sure people who really needed them got one,

and they had to keep the paperwork straight. They were so busy worrying that someone was going to

steal one of those "Golden Mobiles" that I don't think any ever got sent. It apparently gave them

time to find ones with formaldehyde and mold(or they could be the same ones that were sitting for 20 yrs.)

:grr: :grr: :grr:

[jwirr]

2. My guess is that *ss will make sure Fed money is short since CR is

known as a heavily Democratic and Union city. Iowa has a Democratic Governor and I think CR has a Democratic mayor. They will have a hard time getting cooperation from *ss.

[Sal Minella]

4. That had crossed my mind, yes -- NOLA North.

"Let them drown, they're Democrats."

I think there was some real fancywork done on the Diebolds in 2004 to shoehorn Iowa over into the * column.

It was solidly Kerry and then, very late at night, oozed across the line for Bush. I was on the phone with a friend at the time, and we couldn't believe it was happening. So Iowa is no doubt on Karl's "Bad State" list, and should be punished.