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These were poster boys and girls for how its done. Non-complaining mid westerners. White people that pulled together in the face if natural calamities and didn't rely on federal assistance to be made whole again. Not like those unmentionables....
Turns out neo-liberalism is an equal opportunity for unemployment political economy.
August 28, 2009
After Iowa Flood, Feeling Just a Bit Ignored
By SUSAN SAULNY
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — It was more than a year ago that the core of this city was submerged to its rooftops, a result of record flooding on the Cedar River that caused an estimated $6 billion in damage — among the most costly natural disasters since Hurricane Katrina.
The outpouring of attention toward New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, ratcheting up again now as the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaches, has not been seen here. In fact, the people of Cedar Rapids are feeling neglected.
The recovery here is only limping along as waterlogged buildings are still being gutted, thousands of displaced families remain in temporary housing, and large-scale demolition to make way for a new downtown has just begun.
Federal financing for long-term recovery is trickling in, with the government having committed money for about half of what the city says it needs. And only a fraction of that has actually arrived.
“We really feel that we are the forgotten disaster,” said Greg Eyerly, the city’s flood recovery director.
To be sure, Hurricane Katrina’s huge reach and a botched emergency response devastated a far greater swath of the country than did the flooding in the Midwest, and no one here is trying to make tit-for-tat disaster comparisons. No lives were lost in the flooding in Cedar Rapids, and the government’s initial response to the crisis was generally considered a success.
But over the long term, the tone has changed, and the feeling of neglect amid devastation is palpable now. Five weeks of severe weather in the summer of 2008 made disaster areas out of 85 of the state’s 99 counties.
So far, Iowa has been promised $3.1 billion in federal assistance for housing, infrastructure and business recovery, but only $689 million has been distributed, and local officials estimate its damage need at something more like $8 billion to $10 billion. The state suffered $1.6 billion in infrastructure damage alone.
In Cedar Rapids, city officials estimate that they need close to $6 billion.
The slow pace of the money flow for long-term recovery has held up crucial decisions about what is going to be rebuilt in the city of 120,000 people. Whole communities are waiting to hear about buyouts and demolitions, new levees and flood plains. Many are in limbo, and the frustration level is rising. Some residents are still living in FEMA mobile homes. Even City Hall remains displaced.
The economic recession has only made a bad situation worse, drawing attention and perhaps dollars away from Iowa.
Still, Mike Papich, the owner of a funeral home wrecked in the flood, has decided to start rebuilding his house and business in the New Bohemia section, a patchwork of recovery and abandonment not far from the river.
“We don’t know for sure what’s going to happen over here, whether it will be needed for a new levee or flood wall or what,” said Mr. Papich, 50. “I told someone with the city, ‘I assume that since you’re giving me a building permit, that’s an assurance you won’t be taking my property.’ They said, ‘Not necessarily.’ So then I thought, What am I doing?”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/28/us...ef=todayspaper
Good luck, good people, you are clearly going to need it, along with the rest of us.
Turns out neo-liberalism is an equal opportunity for unemployment political economy.
August 28, 2009
After Iowa Flood, Feeling Just a Bit Ignored
The outpouring of attention toward New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, ratcheting up again now as the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaches, has not been seen here. In fact, the people of Cedar Rapids are feeling neglected.
The recovery here is only limping along as waterlogged buildings are still being gutted, thousands of displaced families remain in temporary housing, and large-scale demolition to make way for a new downtown has just begun.
Federal financing for long-term recovery is trickling in, with the government having committed money for about half of what the city says it needs. And only a fraction of that has actually arrived.
“We really feel that we are the forgotten disaster,” said Greg Eyerly, the city’s flood recovery director.
To be sure, Hurricane Katrina’s huge reach and a botched emergency response devastated a far greater swath of the country than did the flooding in the Midwest, and no one here is trying to make tit-for-tat disaster comparisons. No lives were lost in the flooding in Cedar Rapids, and the government’s initial response to the crisis was generally considered a success.
But over the long term, the tone has changed, and the feeling of neglect amid devastation is palpable now. Five weeks of severe weather in the summer of 2008 made disaster areas out of 85 of the state’s 99 counties.
So far, Iowa has been promised $3.1 billion in federal assistance for housing, infrastructure and business recovery, but only $689 million has been distributed, and local officials estimate its damage need at something more like $8 billion to $10 billion. The state suffered $1.6 billion in infrastructure damage alone.
In Cedar Rapids, city officials estimate that they need close to $6 billion.
The slow pace of the money flow for long-term recovery has held up crucial decisions about what is going to be rebuilt in the city of 120,000 people. Whole communities are waiting to hear about buyouts and demolitions, new levees and flood plains. Many are in limbo, and the frustration level is rising. Some residents are still living in FEMA mobile homes. Even City Hall remains displaced.
The economic recession has only made a bad situation worse, drawing attention and perhaps dollars away from Iowa.
Still, Mike Papich, the owner of a funeral home wrecked in the flood, has decided to start rebuilding his house and business in the New Bohemia section, a patchwork of recovery and abandonment not far from the river.
“We don’t know for sure what’s going to happen over here, whether it will be needed for a new levee or flood wall or what,” said Mr. Papich, 50. “I told someone with the city, ‘I assume that since you’re giving me a building permit, that’s an assurance you won’t be taking my property.’ They said, ‘Not necessarily.’ So then I thought, What am I doing?”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/28/us...ef=todayspaper
Good luck, good people, you are clearly going to need it, along with the rest of us.
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