Lea Murphy has lived on the same Brookside street since 2001. She loves her home, her street and her community. There's just one problem: her house has flooded six times.
"We've ranged anywhere from 6 standing inches of water in the basement to 14 standing inches of water in the basement," Murphy shared. "I mean it's wall to wall. It's like walking into a wading pool."
That's one reason she's supporting the GO Bond up for election on April 4.
"Bring it on. We need this money to get this problem solved," Murphy said.
Flood control is issue 2
Question 2 calls for approving the issuance of $150 million in bonds to improve flood control to prevent floodwaters from backing up into homes and businesses.
Kansas City Mayor Sly James said, "Flood control is a major issue. Especially when by raising this $150 million we get $536 million in federal money."
Murphy says they've tried everything from, "Glass block windows put in to help prevent the water from coming through. We've rerouted gutters to try to alleviate the water flow coming into what we thought were weak areas. We've put dirt against the side of the house to kind of shim it away so that the water can't get up."
"When it hits there's nothing you can do. It's just how bad is it going to be, how high is the water going to be and how much is it going to cost to repair."
Critics like Patrick Tuohey with the Show-Me Institute agrees that infrastructure repair are needed, but blames the city for decades of neglect. At issue is the amount of money that the city collects without changing how that money is spent. Tuohey also argues the tax increase is really for 40 years, not 20, and is much more expensive than advertised.
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Dia Wall can be reached at dia.wall@kshb.com.
