Saturday morning at 8am on WCLK's The Local Take I spoke with former mayor Ambassador Andrew Young, who turns 88 on Thursday, March 12th. I ran into Ambassador Young at a social event a few weeks ago where he was speaking about the Mississippi River and the levee system that used technology developed by the Dutch. The system in New Orleans was installed in 1936. I mentioned that like New Orleans, Amsterdam is also below sea level, but you never hear about that city flooding. He says we can access the same technology for our country.
Ambassador Young speaks about how the City of Atlanta has been masterful at creating public private funding for many opportunities such as the 1996 Olympics, Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and the Mercedes Benz Stadium. He wishes that the federal government and other municipalities could be run the same way. Since Hurricane Katrina, Ambassador Young has been meeting with leaders in the 31 states that the Mississippi River impacts. With updated technology he believes that much of the flooding damage caused by Katrina could have been prevented. He also mentioned the flooding last year in Houston that resulted in huge damage could have also been prevented. As glaciers continue to melt, the water rising will go somewhere and it is time for us to prepare.
He again speaks about the Netherlands who invested in Atlanta while he was the mayor. He speaks about the technology to prevent flooding along not only the Mississippi but her tributaries the Iowa River and Missouri River.
I asked about getting private funding for infrastructure projects and he said it can be done. Ambassador Young also implores our listeners to "Go Vote!". He was on his way to early vote and expressed his support for Vice President Biden.
For more information on Ambassador Andrew Young
For more information on Forecast for Spring 2020 Expected Floods
For more information on The Mississippi River
Register to VOTE