You got recognized (as part of the Hip Replacements) by the choir group yesterday, and it's gone to your head? No; I'm pretty grounded. Joan and Steph keep me that way.
Today, I did have a neighbor ask for my autograph... she saw me on TV this morning. It was on a news piece that was shot last week; just ran this morning.
An investigative reporter for the CBS affiliate here in Phoenix ran a piece a couple weeks ago regarding 3 homes near our development that were having flooding issues after the unprecedented rain last month. They felt the issue was the development south of us that was changing how water flows off of South Mountain. The result of that news piece: the City pointed at the County, and the County said the flood/water-flow plans that were in place were doing just what they were supposed to do.
I reached out to that reporter and let her know that debris that came down from the mountain clogged the wash built to handle water flow around our community. She and her camera man came out, met with another board member and me, asked some questions on camera. Shannon, the other board member, gave the reporter video that she shot when the water flooded one of the main streets in our community. The reporter, Susan Campbell, said she would take this to the City and County and try to get more information.
Turns out, the City and County do have a plan, but apparently couldn't come up with that info when the reporter first asked about it. There is a flood control project that is scheduled for 2028 (formulated in 2022) east of our community, and another for 2031 (just formulated) on the western side of the community.
Not the immediate resolution hoped for, but there is a plan. I guess we can hope there isn't another one of those "once in a decade" rains in the next 6 years.
The reporter reached out to me yesterday to let me know the piece would run during the 7:00 news hour. I thanked her for the heads-up. About 15 minutes of shooting video, edited down to about 30 seconds of each of us talking about the situation, and other video and stills that we provided. She got a response from the City/County, and it is good information for the 3 homeowners from her earlier piece, and for the 367 homeowners in our development.
Being human, I was relieved that I didn't look like a dufus on-camera. And the end result: definitive information. Just trying to do good for the community.
2 comments:
I've been on TV a few times, mostly as part of public hearings at City Hall where I was an expert. I always declined interviews, since I was not authorized to speak for the developer or client. Did not want to say anything that painted them into a corner, but I would answer straightforward technical questions. You might be surprised at how often noise comes up....
I am clearly not an expert - I reached out to the reporter to see if she could get some information from the City and/or County regarding any flood control plans. Nothing has been updated regarding flood control in this area since prior to 2019, and there are hundreds of new homes, mostly in planned communities. In 2019, where our house sits was a cotton field.
The reporter came out to interview us and get more information and videos. She was able to get answers where our board and management company got nothing from either government entity. The flooding in our community happened because debris from the new development being built south of us washed across an irrigation canal, across a county road, and into the wash that was built to protect our community. If the debris hadn't clogged up the grates, we would have had no flooding.
A personal note: our home was not on the street that got flooding - I was trying to get answers for the homeowners on that street... and still there was a "what are you trying to achieve?" comment from a homeowner. I wasn't expecting the City or County to pay for damages to our park (it would have been nice if they sent some equipment to help with the cleanup - that didn't happen) - but I would like to know that measures are being taken to prevent this issue in the future. At this point, I am no longer surprised at how often "noise comes up."
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