Kids, too apparently...In Porkopolis...the land of flying pigs and turkey drops..
So, Cincinnati otherwise known as Porkopolis or the Queen City, builds a new school down in the East End about five years ago, as part of a massive new school construction project.
This new school happens to land in the flood plain of the Ohio River, sitting on the banks of the great Ohio in fact. The construction gods of Cincinnati Public Schools have the school built on stilts...to keep the school from flooding and being damaged by high water.
However, they apparently didn't take into consideration how the kids would access the school once the water rose. Not if...but when the water came up...nor did they consider where teachers and administrators would park or get safe access to work while the Ohio River is out of it's banks.
Kids and teachers have already been displaced twice this year by rising water...so far...and this was after using up their calamity days because of snow...we've had a lot of bad weather this year.
And...The shiny new school isn't even situated on the site of the old school...The site was actually moved TO the flood plain....in a place that floods even when there are no record breaking rains swamping the Ohio valley, like right now.
So what did school officials do....outsource this school construction project to people who don't live in Ohio and have no idea about how often the area floods nor how to crack a history book and look it up?...Ohio flooding info...complete with pictures is on the internet...and always front and center is the East End, which is what we're talking about here...
Maybe they got tripped up by the name change...East End and Eastern Avenue were changed to Riverview in an attempt to attract rich people to what was one of the poorest white sections of Cincinnati....But call it East End or call it Riverview or call it Columbia Tusculum...it still floods...yearly.
And I know the rich people are building on the hills overlooking the East End...but then water affects hills, too...witness the occasional mudslides that shut down Columbia Parkway access. Put enough million dollar condos up in them thar hills and the East End will start looking like a landslide of Pacific Palisades, California proportions.
As for the kids...well...they are being shipped off to high ground.... Burton Elementary in Avondale....just behind my house...Burton Elementary was closed a few years ago and the kids there dispersed to other nearby elementary schools...Burton was stipped of electricity and other utilities at the time...These necessities have since been replaced because the kids from the river school are temporarily being housed there while the water is up.....they are in fact being bused..and probably have to get up earlier...their parents have to make unusual accomodations, etc...seems like a lot of wasted money and effort..
I guess the permanently shuttered Burton is the temporarily permanent solution to flooded Riverview, since nobody is talking about studying the matter or moving the school out of the flood plain..
The school is pleasing to the eye...where it sits on its stilts by the River....however...pretty is not always functional, is it....school kids need function and simplicity...not pretty and useless...
The Riverview kids are good kids....I see them when they turn up at the local Avondale Library...which is crowded even on slow days...It literally overflows when the Riverview kids come to the neighborhood and mingle with the Avondale kids. Maybe Avondale needs a new library to accomodate the increase in clientele...
Meantime....Cincinnati Public Schools are laying off a couple of hundred people because of decreasing state education money...as teabag Governor John Kasich continues his plan to privatize education by funding charter schools...bolstering home schooling...while defunding the public schools...
Oh, what a world...what a world...
Sing!
"hey there..if you've ever wondered...wondered whatever became of me...I'm livin' off the air in Cincinnati...Cincinnati WKRP!"
So, Cincinnati otherwise known as Porkopolis or the Queen City, builds a new school down in the East End about five years ago, as part of a massive new school construction project.
This new school happens to land in the flood plain of the Ohio River, sitting on the banks of the great Ohio in fact. The construction gods of Cincinnati Public Schools have the school built on stilts...to keep the school from flooding and being damaged by high water.
However, they apparently didn't take into consideration how the kids would access the school once the water rose. Not if...but when the water came up...nor did they consider where teachers and administrators would park or get safe access to work while the Ohio River is out of it's banks.
Kids and teachers have already been displaced twice this year by rising water...so far...and this was after using up their calamity days because of snow...we've had a lot of bad weather this year.
And...The shiny new school isn't even situated on the site of the old school...The site was actually moved TO the flood plain....in a place that floods even when there are no record breaking rains swamping the Ohio valley, like right now.
So what did school officials do....outsource this school construction project to people who don't live in Ohio and have no idea about how often the area floods nor how to crack a history book and look it up?...Ohio flooding info...complete with pictures is on the internet...and always front and center is the East End, which is what we're talking about here...
Maybe they got tripped up by the name change...East End and Eastern Avenue were changed to Riverview in an attempt to attract rich people to what was one of the poorest white sections of Cincinnati....But call it East End or call it Riverview or call it Columbia Tusculum...it still floods...yearly.
And I know the rich people are building on the hills overlooking the East End...but then water affects hills, too...witness the occasional mudslides that shut down Columbia Parkway access. Put enough million dollar condos up in them thar hills and the East End will start looking like a landslide of Pacific Palisades, California proportions.
As for the kids...well...they are being shipped off to high ground.... Burton Elementary in Avondale....just behind my house...Burton Elementary was closed a few years ago and the kids there dispersed to other nearby elementary schools...Burton was stipped of electricity and other utilities at the time...These necessities have since been replaced because the kids from the river school are temporarily being housed there while the water is up.....they are in fact being bused..and probably have to get up earlier...their parents have to make unusual accomodations, etc...seems like a lot of wasted money and effort..
I guess the permanently shuttered Burton is the temporarily permanent solution to flooded Riverview, since nobody is talking about studying the matter or moving the school out of the flood plain..
The school is pleasing to the eye...where it sits on its stilts by the River....however...pretty is not always functional, is it....school kids need function and simplicity...not pretty and useless...
The Riverview kids are good kids....I see them when they turn up at the local Avondale Library...which is crowded even on slow days...It literally overflows when the Riverview kids come to the neighborhood and mingle with the Avondale kids. Maybe Avondale needs a new library to accomodate the increase in clientele...
Meantime....Cincinnati Public Schools are laying off a couple of hundred people because of decreasing state education money...as teabag Governor John Kasich continues his plan to privatize education by funding charter schools...bolstering home schooling...while defunding the public schools...
Oh, what a world...what a world...
Sing!
"hey there..if you've ever wondered...wondered whatever became of me...I'm livin' off the air in Cincinnati...Cincinnati WKRP!"
No comments:
Post a Comment