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Kiwanis defining statement, adopted October 2004.

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NEWSLETTER

Kiwanis Club of Cedar Rapids

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

The meeting was called to order by President Bob Hatala, Esq.  23 Members in attendance.

Guests:    Christina Djerf 

Birthdays: Jim Doyne and Kathleen Hedlund (6/27), Pam Landon (6/30)

Anniversaries:  None

Announcements:  Mary Corkery coordinating volunteers for Kernels games, potentially realizing $2,100 for our causes; Families Helping Families is working with a satellite TV supplier, and will get $100 for each household that signs up; Waypoint is looking to replace toys lost in the floods, and is seeking sponsors for gift cards for kids bowling outings.   

Happy Bucks:  Dick Boardman threw in a buck, hoping for a return from stimulus funds; Joe Schmall is happy for his brother, recently named commander of the USS Maine, a nuclear submarine; Joe is also going to Saint Louis to see Albert Pujols play; Chuck Wehage is glad to be finished with a project to install a TV antenna in a 110° attic; Keith Sutherland had a dollar for a good cause; and Dan Breitbach had a dollar for a forgotten, perhaps frivolous reason.  

Upcoming Programs:   

Speaker: 

Brian Fagan told of the complexities of flood recovery and future flood protection.  For protection, the Army Corps of Engineers requires a 1:1 ratio of cost of protection and value of protected assets – a difficult and time consuming justification process.  The biggest problem in CR is the hurt which was put on small business.  Those that have reopened have taken on too much  debt, and too little government support is in the pipeline.  For instance, the State of Iowa has arranged for $519M in flood recovery funds, of which just $20M is earmarked for small businesses.

Iowa’s flood is the fourth worst natural disaster in the history of the US, so the 15-year estimate on recovery is understandable.

Negotiations with FEMA continue on 44 damaged city-owned properties.  There’s a 168-day lead time from claim submission to FEMA response.  Fagan figures the city’s damage is $3B, and the community loss is another $6B.  So far, $60M is arranged – a drop in a barrel.

Control of future floods by management of the entire watershed, which has been discussed in a previous luncheon, is extremely challenging because of the requirement for cooperation by all upstream stakeholders.

  
Word for the day:  Having the character, style, or diction of prose as opposed to poetry; lacking poetic beauty, feeling, or imagination; plain, matter-of-fact.  Hence b. transf. Unpoetic, unromantic; commonplace, dull, tame.  

Submitted:   Chuck Wehage