let's catch up

If you've been following the blog, what you've seen is the inspiration for what I'm trying to accomplish. If this is your first time,,,, here's the gist.

I have had 3 first hand encounters with natural disasters, that is 3 floods in the town I live in within 18 months. I did my part to help the community, was inspired by the others in the community and I'm currently disillusioned with the support we all have in our communities within this great country to fight the recurrence of natural disasters. Believe me,,, I am not saying we can stop a tornado or a flood from happening. All I'm saying is that there are gaps in our structure in dealing with such recurrences.

We as a society deal with these situations on a reactive basis. I guess it goes back to the old theory, "Don't fix it if it ain't broken". Frankly,,, it all boils down to what side you're viewing from. I'm not taking away from those who lend a hand to help their fellow neighbor when they are in need. A flood hits, you jump in and work, the waters return to normal and your life goes on. I get it because I've lived that. What I'm saying is there's a need to look closer at the causes of the disasters themselves and do more to eliminate recurrences.

Take a look at this link - http://www.buckslocalnews.com/articles/2008/01/17/archives/20080117-archivejrc-21.txt

An early warning system to the residents of the town. Speakers placed on telephone poles to warn us of the impending doom. I can tell you that I still live within this community and to this day almost 20 months later, there are no speakers, in fact, three years removed from the last flood, some people,,,,, have forgotten. Not the folks that were hit over and over again. Not the people who still haven't received the funding to elevate their homes. Believe me, these people are thinking about that river and canal differently than most every time they see them and although an early warning system may give folks enough time to bring their belongings to higher ground, a proposal to eliminate the recurrence of the flood would do more. Take a look at this article, I was shocked to find out about a proposal dating back to the 60's to eliminate recurrence but here it was being discussed again after the fact, as a reaction to the most recent problem.
http://www.buckslocalnews.com/articles/2005/06/09/pennington_post/top%20stories/14666490.txt

This first hand encounter led me to dig a little about other towns. If we, this small river community in PA had a solution in place and no way to pay for it,,,, maybe we weren't alone. Maybe towns across our country are in the same boat. Solutions in place without a way to get them completed. Here's the gap in our system I've been referring to and I believe I have a solution.

DD