BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE A DIME?

A popular song during the Great Depression was “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?”  The City of Visalia is now asking its citizens if they can spare approximately four and a half times that amount.

Old timers will remember the flooding of downtown Visalia in the 1950's.  Patrons of Merle’s may recall the vintage photographs on the walls there showing prior floods in Visalia over the years.

Visalia is at the confluence of a number of rivers and channels, including the St. John’s, Mill Creek, Packwood Creek and others that originate from the Kaweah River. That’s why this area is known as the Kaweah Basin. Flooding was quite common here until the construction of Terminus Dam, which was completed by the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers in 1962, to provide flood control and water for irrigation.  A project to raise Kaweah Lake 21 feet was completed in 2004, which included six 21-foot tall fuse gates and spillway.  The City Council took a field trip to view the dam improvements a few years ago, it certainly is an impressive piece of dam engineering!

However, even with these precautions taken upstream, we can’t let our guard down.  In more recent times, due to heavy rains and runoff, Visalia experienced flooding in 2006 and 2010.  The December 2010 storm caused flooding in the subdivision right across the street from my home.  Our public safety personnel did a good job containing the water damage, it could have been a lot worse.  The January 2006 storm event caused over $500,000.00 worth of damage to private property, and an estimated $2.5 million of damage to public property.  Twenty-four hundred sandbags were used by homeowners and city staff.  The December 2010 storms brought with them $2 million of damage to public property, and 3,000 sandbags were used, although no damage to private property was reported fortunately.

Visalia property owners currently pay a monthly fee of 48 cents per parcel or dwelling unit, which fee was used to help enlarge Kaweah Lake, and which has been charged to Visalia property owners since 1997.  Now that that project, which has been crucial to regional flood control efforts, has been completed, Visalians can choose to have a portion of that 48 cent fee (43 cents thereof) redirected to the city to be used to help reduce the risk of local flooding.  (The remaining 5 cents will continue to go towards maintenance of the Kaweah Lake project.)  By the time you read this article, you should have received a ballot from the city asking property owners to continue the 43 cent portion of the storm water fee for a new city use.  Other portions of the storm water maintenance fee will not be affected and are not subject to this ballot.  Likewise, flood insurance costs and requirements will not be affected by the outcome of the vote.  The city is merely requesting authorization to use these funds locally to help reduce chances of future flooding.

The city’s storm maintenance systems includes 40 storm ponding basins, 310 miles of storm pipe, 4,130 manholes, 45 pump stations, and 45 miles of channels, including Mill Creek, Packwood Creek, Modoc Ditch and Evans Ditch.  In particular, these channels need to be maintained and cleaned out on a regular basis to allow for the free flow of water through them.

If you have not already done so, please vote “yes” to authorize this 43 cent per parcel fee to be redirected for use locally to help reduce the risk of flooding.  And don’t forget to return your ballot by March 18 so that it can be counted and your voice heard.  For additional information regarding this project and vote, visit reduceflooding.com.  Brother, can you spare 4 ½ dimes?



If you have questions or topics regarding the city  which you would like to have addressed in future articles, please email Warren at wgubler@ci.visalia.ca.us, or call (559) 713-4400 x 3313.  For past articles, visit directfromwarren.blogspot.com.

Warren Gubler
Visalia City Councilmember