Neighbors,
We met with DC Water during the Bloomngdale Civic Association held this past Monday. Many residents were underwhelmed by DC Water's presentation. We agreed to host a second public meeting with DC Water on Saturday, August 4th (time and location to be determined). It is troubling to know that many residents just experienced flooding for the third time in less than two weeks. It has become painfully obvious that we cannot wait indefinitely for solution.
As an initial matter, we need to get a better understanding of how many residents have been impacted and the scope of the damage. These questions were asked of DC Water during our meeting but the representatives were unable to provide clear and concise responses and have not since followed up with additional data. Even if DC Water provides information regarding the impact and scope of the damage, unless we assess the problem on our own we will have no way of evaluating the accuracy of their data. As such, Please find below a link to a brief survey (10 questions) for residents who have experienced flooding. You do not need to complete the survey if you have not experienced flooding. In addition, we only need one survey completed per address. The information we collect will be useful in discussions with DC Water and elected officials. As such, if you have experienced flooding recently or in past years, please complete the survey as soon as possible but not later than Wednesday, July 25th. Please also help us collect this data from neighbors who are either not on Scott's Bloomngdale listserv or who do not have computer access. Here's the link to the survey:
Bloomingdale/LeDroit Park Flooding Survey
In addition to data collection, I strongly encourage residents to call, write, and/or tweet to DC Water, Mayor Gray and Councilmember McDuffie to convey the urgency of this situation. We cannot wait for a solution that is 20 plus years away. It is unacceptable for any of us to be terrified that our homes may be overrun with sewage and/or water every time it rains. Further, I urge you to pick up the phone or draft a note even if your home has remained dry. If flooding continues in our neighborhood we may all be negatively affected. Just yesterday, I heard from a real estate agent who expressed great concern that if Bloomingdale develops a reputation for flooding, that may adversely impact our home values and ability to secure tenants for basement apartments. Persistent flooding could also cause our home insurance rates to increase. As such, I encourage you to reach out to DC Water and our elected officials soon and often. Remember, there is strength in numbers!
Best,
Teri Janine Quinn
President, Bloomingdale Civic Association
214 then 908 then 1913
2 comments:
Please complete the survey if you have had flooding problems!
I've taken the survey as I had previously spent a lot of money getting things fixed in a round of flooding several years ago. But it seems all the mitigation we undertook was in vain as the ground water level is just too high and water seeps in whenever there's too much rain. So i'm interested in that free consulting program dcwater has. I'd like them to come and look and tell what more we can do.
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