Page 16
The INDEPENDENT, February 17, 2011
Letters
From page 3
ing Katrina. FEMA and the
Corp see structural projects as
failing catastrophically and, as
a result, causing unprecedent-
ed levels of damage. Second,
everyone with whom I spoke
talked about the millions of dol-
lars and decades of effort
needed to simply obtain permit-
ting for a dam. Right or wrong,
most public officials I spoke
with at the local, state and fed-
eral level were not encouraging
about the prospects for a dam.
As a result of Ms Thomp-
son’s letter, I decided to do my
own, “back of the envelope”
calculation to “site” a retention
dam. Thanks to Dale Webb, I
learned the water flow during
the flood. Using Google Earth I
found one or two areas up
Rock Creek from Vernonia
where a potential reservoir
could reach 1,000 feet in width
(more or less) and maybe a
couple miles in length. Guess-
ing at an average depth, I cal-
culated a total volume and then
estimated the fill rate to be only
1.6 hours. Even if that estimate
is off by a factor of 10, the
reservoir would seem inade-
quate to me.
Of course, I am not an engi-
neer. But that fact actually
proves my point. Very few of us
are. We have very competent
federal staffers (I have met
them) who are engineers and
whose job it is to do these kinds
of calculations and steer public
investment. I, for one, think we
should trust them, at least in
this case.
I appreciate Ms. Thompson’s
concern about the loss of tax
base. I began talking to the
Council about that in December
of 2007. Through grants from
the state and FEMA, we have
delivered more than $24 million
to help businesses, citizens
and the schools recover, so far.
This is not counting FEMA pay-
outs to victims or flood insur-
ance proceeds. All of this in-
vestment has a positive impact
on values and the real estate
market in Vernonia. It is hard to
see that right now, with the na-
tional real estate collapse in the
background. But, this substan-
tial investment has helped and
will help more in the future.
Many flooded families have
been adamant about remaining
in their homes, despite their
dangerous location. FEMA and
the state have helped us pass
though funds to lift these
homes. Other, have made the
sounder choice (from my per-
spective) to leave the flood
plain using the generous buy-
outs afforded by state and fed-
eral programs. Hopefully, many
of these families will relocate
within Vernonia.
It is a misunderstanding to
assume that these purchased
homes would remain occupied
and paying taxes. These prop-
erties were substantially dam-
aged, that is, more than 50% of
their value was spent repairing
them. As such, the city must
force these owners to lift their
homes or tear them down with-
in four years. If the city does
not, the whole community could
lose access to flood insurance.
Since flood insurance is re-
Please see page 22
Just for Fun
Casey and Kyle by Will Robertson
Solve this Sudoku
A n s w e r t o Fe b r u a r y 3
Sudoku is on page 23
In honor of
Pre s i d e n t ’s Da y,
h e re i s a h a t c h e t
that was not used
b y G e o rg e
Washington.
He
that
loves read-
ing,
has
e ve r y t h i n g
within his
reach.
He
has but to
desire, and
he may pos-
sess himself
of
every
species of
wisdom to
judge and
power
to
perform.
WILLIAM
GODWIN
English writer
(1756-1836)