Does it play at the barbershop?

You'd think you'd find a ready-made fan club for flood protection at Larry McKinnon's barbershop.

After all, the strip of blue tape 10 feet off the floor marks the high-water point when the Cedar River ripped through McKinnon's small business at 1601 Ellis Blvd. NW in June 2008.

Although the afternoon lineup of regulars recently gave McKinnon credit for quick, hard work mucking out and reopening his building, sentiment for a friend doesn't change their opinions on taxes and flood protection.

“I'll help him put this place up on stilts so I can get my haircut,” said Floyd Davie, 80, “but I'm not voting for the tax.”

McKinnon - whose shop is in the middle of the Time Check and Harrison Elementary School neighborhoods, both savaged by floodwaters - said he will vote yes March 6 to extend the 1 percent local-option sales tax for 10 years. The money would help build a flood-protection system on both sides of the river.

“I'm for it mainly because I won't be able to survive here if I don't have flood protection,” said McKinnon, a mild-mannered 76-year-old with no plans to retire.

Most of his customers are older, and some of them live or have lived in the vicinity of the river. Less than a month before the election, they still have questions about the proposed tax extension, about the 2008 flood and about flood protection.

Does the city really need flood protection? Wasn't the Flood of 2008 an aberration? Does the city really have a flood-protection plan? Can we count on the city to use the money for flood protection if the sales tax is extended? What if the federal and state governments don't contribute funds, too?

The river is just four blocks away, and what's between the back of the barbershop and the river is something of a no-man's land. It's a place in limbo, waiting for somebody to determine its future. There are a few renovated homes. More boarded-up houses wait for demolition. Empty lots abound, and forlorn trees mark spots where flooded homes once stood.

An afternoon debate

McKinnon is barber to three City Council members - Mayor Ron Corbett and at-large council members Chuck Swore and Don Karr. All three are proponents of the tax extension for flood protection.

On this day at McKinnon's barbershop, Swore was holding court.

Arnie Juhl, 80, told Swore that the 2008 floodwaters climbed much higher than they would have because a train bridge near Eighth Avenue SE collapsed into the river, holding back water.

Swore disagreed. Hydrology experts, he said, concluded that the bridge might have raised water levels an additional 6 inches. That mattered little when the water climbed 12 feet above the city's historic high-water mark, he said.

Jim Poorbaugh, 76, who owned a locksmith's shop next door in past years, wanted reassurance that the tax extension for flood protection would not take effect until the current 1 percent sales tax, which has been used for flood recovery, runs its course in 2014.

It's an extension of a tax, not a tax on top of a tax, he was assured.

Poorbaugh suggested that the risk for future flooding might not be remote, as farmers continue to add tile to their fields to make more land available for crops and as developers continue to pave ground.

“That's why we're having higher floods. Water has no place to go but into the river,” he said.

Willie Holub, 75, whose house on Ninth Street NW was flooded, said he's lived near the river for years but never had a flooding problem until 2008.

“I'm not a gambler, but the percentages are (that another flood of 2008 magnitude won't occur),” Holub said.

Holub repeatedly said he can't vote to fund a flood-protection system when the city hasn't provided a plan for it. Davie agreed.

It's an assertion Swore has heard a lot, and he couldn't contain himself: “It's unfair to say, ‘I'm going to vote no because you don't have a plan.' Our plan is to put in flood protection,” Swore said.

“It may be unfair, but if it's lacking concepts or plans, I will vote no,” said Holub.

Swore said the city's flood-protection plan will surely change as the time arrives for the Army Corps of Engineers to design a flood-protection system for the west side of the river, as it is now doing for the east side.

“I'm telling you it won't be exactly as it's been preplanned,” Swore said.

More public input promised

McKinnon recalled the extensive amount of work and money the city has put into developing its plan, an effort that involved consultants, the Army Corps of Engineers, city officials, the City Council and public input.

Linda Seger, president of the Northwest Neighbors Neighborhood Association and a frequent visitor to McKinnon's shop, told Swore that most flood victims were too busy cleaning their flooded homes and businesses to participate in the process in the first months after the flood.

“I think we need another chance for public input,” said Seger, who supports flood protection and is a member of the pro-extension residents' group, Cedar Rapids Extended Sales Tax.

The city's preferred flood-protection plan - which has an estimated price tag of $375 million and which city officials have called a basic Chevy plan, not a Cadillac plan - provides west-side flood protection and more east-side protection than the Army Corps of Engineers' east-side-only plan.

Swore promised more neighborhood meetings so residents can help modify the 3-year-old plan before a final design is set. Design and construction can't come until the city has revenue, however, Swore said.

Rebuilding hinges on protection

Holub and Poorbaugh like the city's idea to replace the flooded and demolished Time Check Recreation Center with a new one on Ellis Boulevard NW, at the site of the former YMCA and Boy's and Girls Club, just down the street from McKinnon's barbershop.

The spot, though, sits in the current 100-year flood plain, which means the city would have to go to greater expense to elevate a building on the site - should it choose to put the recreation center there, Swore said.

Likewise, other spots along Ellis Boulevard NW and between it and the river sit in the 100-year flood plain and likely won't see new building unless there is flood protection.

“There are some very aggressive plans to try and help Ellis Boulevard, but if we don't have flood protection, forget it,” Swore said. “If there is no flood protection, how in the world are we going to convince anybody to spend money to develop Ellis Boulevard?”

Swore is voting yes March 6. So are Seger and McKinnon. Poorbaugh might. Davie won't. Holub almost surely won't, and Juhl isn't decided yet.

“It's no advantage to me, though it's probably needed,” said Juhl, who lives on high ground away from the river. “You got a little different perspective if you don't need it.”

Skeptic Holub has been back in his home - outside the 100-year flood plain on Ninth Street NW and three blocks from McKinnon's barbershop - since the six-month mark after the 2008 flood. Still, he has not risked finishing his basement. Until now.

“It's been three years now, and I can't stand it,” Holub said. “I want to see it redone. So I'm taking another chance.”

Related articles

Will flooded areas of Cedar Rapids be redeveloped?

One step forward (thegazette.com)

All's quiet on the LOST front (thegazette.com)

Most Cedar Rapids candidates favoring flood protection system (thegazette.com)

Iowa Senate panel approves bill creating flood mitigation fund (thegazette.com)