A good editorial for 200 year protection but we need to hear public voices raised for 500 year protection, which major river cities (St. Louis, Tacoma, Dallas, Kansas City) already have, while New Orleans has 250 year protection and Sacramento currently is at about 89 years.
An excellent graphic of this can be found at the California Department of Water Resources @ http://www.levees.water.ca.gov/history/floodprotect.cfm
Editorial: Big flood vote
Editorial: SAFCA poised to ask residents to invest
Published 12:00 am PST Friday, February 16, 2007
The local agency in charge of flood protection in the Sacramento area is ready to ask residents in harm's way whether they are willing to pay a dime (via a property assessment) for a dollar's worth of new protection. It is a bargain. This assessment election, and its outcome, is arguably the region's most important political decision of the year. The area faces no greater threat than flooding. And it has no greater opportunity to do something about it than in the coming weeks.
Board members of the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency, or SAFCA, voted Thursday to authorize this election. SAFCA has done a masterful job putting together a list of achievable flood control projects on the Sacramento and American rivers, as well as for streams that threaten south Sacramento. The timing could not be better.
Billions in state funds for flood control projects will be available, because voters approved a statewide flood bond, 1E, last November. The communities that are ready to invest in their own futures will end up with the most protection. SAFCA has put the community in the perfect position to prevent a disaster from happening.
