Poplar Bluff, MO Levee Break! Evacuate Now

[mysteriew]

It's a bit different when that town is a rural crime-ridden wasteland that is going to be a ghost town in a decade. The farmland feeds thousands of people. It is much more valuable.

This is Cairo:

It's definitely not more important than farmland.

Source: http://luvy1994.blogspot.com/2009/06/cairo-illinois-is-known-to-be-strangest.html

I have trouble understanding this. Why the fears for the farmland? The Ohio and Miss River valleys have always been considered great agricultural land because of the thousands of years of flooding, and because of the silt rich farmland. When there is a flood, a lot of topsoil gets washed away, and it ends up in the flooded areas. Which is usually good for the land. Yes, there will have to be a lot of clean up. But I don't see the fear for the land as being permanent.

 

[Stella5]

The farmland feeds thousands of people. It is much more valuable.

It's definitely not more important than farmland.

I respectfully disagree as my family still has a retail building with 30+ historical & collector vehicles in it, as well as two historic houses that have been owned by the family for decades. The farm land is a very small percentage of farmland (130,000 acres) and will drain quickly and will bounce back. Only 20 something of crops have been planted so far in Missouri because it has been so wet, so you really aren't losing a ton of crops that have been planted. You can't replace invaluable memories that haven't been removed from the homes. My dad has been on flood duty with the guard since being activated on Friday and hasn't had the time or opportunity to make the trip from Springfield where he is full time with the guard to retrieve anything from Cairo.

 

[dsntslp]

Tilley reacts to flood plan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQjqjhHAip0&NR=1

Tilley apologizes for Cairo comments
[video=youtube;rwv03-ddBLc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwv03-ddBLc&feature=related[/video]

 

[Quiche]

He didn't apologize to me, and I was completely offended by his remarks-- so, I won't accept his smarmy retraction. jmo

 

[dsntslp]

Cairo, IL.

[video=youtube;IJW8lOzJJPE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJW8lOzJJPE[/video]

There are a lot of these about the downtown if one puts "Cairo, IL" in the Youtube search bar. Sad, very sad. The differences in the downtown and the outskirts with homes in the other video I posted. A very sad state of affairs for that little town and a piece of history to be lost forever.

 

[eileenhawkeye]

I'm not sure what your picture means, but I did a street level google the other day, and Cairo looks like there are plenty of homes being lived in. Main Streets all over the United States, imo, are fallow due to big business moving in (Walmart, for example). I feel they're making the right decision preserving the neighborhoods. jmo

My picture was to show that Cairo has been almost abandoned. The downtown area is gone. I've been to plenty of small downtown areas in different states and none of them look like Cairo. The population went from 15,000 in early 1900's to around 2,800 today. It's decreasing by 25% every decade and will be a ghost town soon enough. Cairo's downtown is not becoming a wasteland because of big businesses coming in.

Here's Cairo:

Here's the downtown of Princeton, NJ:

See a difference?

130,000 acres of land is more important than some rural town. That land feeds millions of people and it's supports the farmer's livelihood. The floods of 1993 ruined many acres of farmland that still hasn't been farmed again, 18 years later. The government can provide relocation assistance to the people of Cairo; everyone has already been evacuated.

 

[wfgodot]

I'm not at all sure why one would compare the downtown of Cairo to that of Princeton NJ, which has much more going for it economically and geographically, and has had for centuries. It's chalk and cheese, apples and oranges to compare the two.

I would always err on the side of a habitated town rather than however-many acres of farmland. Cairo, if for no other reason than its association with Mark Twain in his great novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (and also in his memoir Life on the Mississippi), should get the nod. Living history cannot be replaced. Cairo is not merely "some rural town." It is a part of American heritage. It is a place where Americans live.

 

[Quiche]

Cairo may not be a vital economy, but it is home to a population that matters. mo

 

[eileenhawkeye]

I'm not at all sure why one would compare the downtown of Cairo to that of Princeton NJ, which has much more going for it economically and geographically, and has had for centuries. It's chalk and cheese, apples and oranges to compare the two.

I would always err on the side of a habitated town rather than however-many acres of farmland. Cairo, if for no other reason than its association with Mark Twain in his great novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (and also in his memoir Life on the Mississippi), should get the nod. Living history cannot be replaced. Cairo is not merely "some rural town." It is a part of American heritage. It is a place where Americans live.

Even if you stop the levees from flooding Cairo, the history in that town is going to be completely destroyed in a few decades. The historic buildings are all in shambles and there is no one preserving them. Most of the people of Cairo are too poor to completely renovate a house, and the government doesn't seem to give a darn because there are thousands of buildings all across the U.S. that are just as old as the buildings in Cairo. There was no significant historical event that happened in Cairo (like a battle) so the government sees no need in spending money to fix up the town.

Also, the farmland is a place where Americans live too. It's not just barren land.

 

[Stella5]

snipped
130,000 acres of land is more important than some rural town. That land feeds millions of people and it's supports the farmer's livelihood. The floods of 1993 ruined many acres of farmland that still hasn't been farmed again, 18 years later.

With all due respect, those farmlands do not feed millions of people. What is farmed there is largely, if not all, animal feed. Also after the floods of 1993 most all farmland that was flooded was being farmed again a year or so later, and some with bumper crops that had never been seen before. The farmland will recover. And the comparison between Cairo, IL & Princeton, NJ is simply not a comparison. Princeton is home Princeton University for goodness sakes! Try looking at other small towns with what were once darling main streets with booming businesses and surrounding suburbs and compare them... Pocahontas, Arkansas & Canton, Mississippi to name two... they are not expendable.

 

[MNlady]

I've never been to Cairo, IL, but from the video above, it has a beautiful residential area. Some of those homes are old and just gorgeous.:great:

The downtown makes me want to cry...I wish someone could come in there and inspire those people, light a fire of civic pride under them, to rehab their downtown. Paint and elbow grease, baskets of flowers, donated hours by carpenters/laborers. . . that street in the above picture could be a wonderous thing to behold and wouldn't need a bazillion dollars to do it either. What a crying shame. IMNSHO flood the farmland, planting will just be a little late this year. . . and to the people of Cairo, get the lead out of your britches and do something about your town~! Shame on you~! :maddening:

 

[eileenhawkeye]

With all due respect, those farmlands do not feed millions of people. What is farmed there is largely, if not all, animal feed. Also after the floods of 1993 most all farmland that was flooded was being farmed again a year or so later, and some with bumper crops that had never been seen before. The farmland will recover. And the comparison between Cairo, IL & Princeton, NJ is simply not a comparison. Princeton is home Princeton University for goodness sakes! Try looking at other small towns with what were once darling main streets with booming businesses and surrounding suburbs and compare them... Pocahontas, Arkansas & Canton, Mississippi to name two... they are not expendable.

Pocahontas and Canton aren't turning into ghost towns and probably won't be completely abandoned in a decade. Canton is in metro area of over 600k people which definitely gives it a huge advantage over Cairo when it comes to employment. There are plenty of homes over 300k for sale in Canton so there is something desirable about Canton that makes people want to live there. The people and officials of Canton put a lot more effort into preserving their city's historic buildings. Also since Canton is in a good sized metro area, residents of other nearby towns can come into Canton for a day trip, bringing in revenue for the town. Cairo doesn't have a sizable population surrounding it to do that.

What happens when everyone leaves Cairo in a decade or two? What happens to the historic buildings then? People aren't just going to uproot and move to a rural area on a floodplain.

Also, Cairo's crime rate is 4.5x HIGHER than New York City's. New York has 8 million people; Cairo has 2,000 people. That will definitely keep away anyone who was considering a move there or any tourists who may want to check out a historic town during a road trip. At least in big cities, you can "hide" the bad areas and have the tourist areas be safe and clean; you can't do that in a town of Cairo's size.