Questions About The Freeport Floodway Buyout Plan
If you’re like me, you’ve got a few questions about the Pre-Disaster Flood Mitigation Grant awarded to the Freeport area through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
For those that missed the reporting, this FEMA grant is designed to help citizens who for too long have lived in the floodway east of the Pecatonica River. The funds, nearly $3.4 million, will give the city the ability to purchase homes in the floodway, demolish them, and relocate citizens to safer areas. (Probably not in that order.) The newly empty land will then be turned into a “green space”. It sounds like the city has repeatedly applied for this relief over the past few years but because of COVID among other things, it was only recently awarded.
It’s refreshing when government works to relieve a hardship for its citizens. Residents of the floodway are victims, after all. Historically, around the world, lower income and “outgroup” neighborhoods can be found in areas with increased environmental hazards. These communities tend to lack the resources to escape and society all too often makes sure it stays that way. We’ve known low-lying areas around the river flood for generations. Repairing this historical misstep is the kind of task we invented governments for.
Referencing the historical side of flooding can distract from the unprecedented flooding we and similarly located communities have experienced in recent years. There wouldn’t be such a need for FEMA grants if not for the climate crisis. There is a growing amount of scholarship around “climate refugees,” communities forced to abandon their homes because of the climate crisis. Climate refuges aren’t just people from foreign countries, they’re our next-door neighbors too.
So, this FEMA grant is a tremendous opportunity for our area to not only mend, but to also invest in the future life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness of the citizenry. I do have a few questions though.
1. Do the citizens of the floodway want to move? It may seem like a silly question given the hazards but let’s not forget, these are people’s homes. They grew up there. They have families, communities, memories. Some of them may not want to move. Some of them may not be able to move, even with government assistance.
2. By “green space,” do we mean “left to go wild” like some other lots around town? Or is this going to be a new park or a cultivated preserve? I know some local counties have taken similar swaths of land and turned them into preserves with state and federal help. It seems like that would be a great asset to the community and fit in with the town’s green initiatives. I understand there was a similar project decades ago, so interest already exists. Frequent readers know I’ll always support a new park.
3. Who gets to use the “green space”? There’s a long history of land being taken from a disenfranchised group and turned into something for the privileged under the guise of “outreach.” If half the neighborhood is replaced by “green space,” it should be something the other half of the neighborhood wants and can use.
4. Where will citizens of the floodway be relocated to? I know there’s likely a different answer for every citizen, but if it is guided by the city, I’d be curious as to the methods and guidance offered. There seems to be a number of vacant or for sale properties around town. I bet the city could assist in bargaining a fair price. These are citizens in need, after all. An abandoned citizen won’t be a citizen for much longer.
