By CRAIG BUSWELL | Kendall
In a pretend effort to help the victims of the last flood, the medicine show called FEMA has come to Kendall to create a “get out of Kendall free card.”
The four property owners the Village of Kendall is currently helping do not live here and should instead be given help in flood proofing their former homes. Instead, their structures will be torn down and their land a permanent weed patch. Possibly as many as six houses will be torn down and their refuse contributing to shortening the life of the Monroe County landfill. In addition, two businesses are in danger of government overreach to please people who do not live here. Unlike other communities, no new buildings will be located out of the floodplain to take their place. The lumberyard is partially gone; the garage, threatened; and the sale barn, threatened. We have no grocery store, and the Prelapp building stands empty. A new business is already leaving after just a few months.
Americans are self-destructive, and Kendall even more so. FEMA doesn’t see that the Baraboo is a headwaters river, unlike the Kickapoo, which empties more valleys and is far more destructive. Treating both rivers the same is foolish. A little research over the last 100 years would make one thing about an earthen dam where Lydon Valley enters the village. In flood-prone years, a lower door could be closed and a top spillway could release a controlled amount of water until the crisis is over, when the bottom exit could be reopened. This would protect the village from the worst tributary of the three that flow into the village. This is just one idea that could be explored. There are more.
The green space would create an extra burden for mowing.
Lastly, I can think of no advantages to the taxpaying citizens of Kendall. $255,000 would be better spend on flood proofing.
