Posted on 02/12/2021 12:39:54 PM PST by dynachrome
Sharon Smith has to plunge her toilet to get it to flush. On rainy days, wastewater spills into her yard from nearby drainage ditches. Twice in the last year her house has flooded, leaving behind the sickening smell of sewage, she said.
Her carpets are ruined, the floorboards are buckling, the bathroom wall is pulling away from the tub, she said. In the laundry room, the worst-hit part of the house, the smell of mold lingers. “I want to move, because this flooding is ridiculous,” said Smith, 59.
For decades, residents of Centreville, a nearly all-Black town of 5,000 in southern Illinois, just a 12-minute drive from downtown East St Louis, have been dealing with persistent flooding and sewage overflows. The smell of it is in the air all over town after a rain, and bits of soggy toilet paper and slicks of human waste cling to the grass in neighborhoods where children used to play on warm days, locals said. Kids don’t play outside any more. Gardens don’t grow.
Like Smith, other locals say their water tastes odd and refuse to drink from their taps, relying on donated shipments of bottled water. They worry about the long-term health effects of living under such conditions, and they say that for years elected officials and local utility companies inadequately addressed their cries for help.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Just a thought - maybe you should elect different leaders then? Not just different people, but people with different ideas and priorities, like maybe taking care of the town?
Residents and environmental justice advocates...
Oh, never mind. Now I see the problem. Anytime you have "justice" advocates you can bet you're going to have feel-good but ineffective solutions.
...these issues persist because the town is one of the poorest in America...
As my buddy from Brooklyn would say "Ya tink!" If the local tax base cannot support maintenance and upkeep then elected officials need to get creative. Maybe re-prioritize what funds they have? Maybe enact policies to attract businesses and residents to increase the tax base?
They contend that authorities at the local and state level might have addressed wastewater problems long ago if the area was wealthier and more influential.
If the area was wealthier then they wouldn't be having these problems in the first place. They'd take care of themselves rather than relying on someone else. Then again, maybe not. If they elect ineffective leaders - which apparently they are - then it really doesn't matter how much money or other resources they have, they'll squander them ineffectively regardless.
I feel like I should have more sympathy for them but... When it's gone on for years and nothing is changing, the problem starts to look self inflicted.
LBJ Party Repukelickins
2004 62,410 55.14% 50,203 44.35%
2008 76,160 60.57% 47,958 38.14%
2012 67,285 56.15% 50,125 41.83%
2016 60,756 50.03% 53,857 44.35%
2020 68,325 53.34% 57,150 44.62%Dominion is voting for ya now, Centreville residents.
Good luck getting stuff... 
Welcome to Wakanda.
Sounds like paradise. No white people around.
To maintain an infrastructure requires skilled people. No skilled people in town? Think about that for a minute.
https://www.co.st-clair.il.us/elected-officials
City officials mostly one skin color.
County officials mostly the other.
Looks to me like it’s SSDD.
How can this be in the liberal/progressive utopia of Illinios?
You mean Democrat Mayor after Mayor, and Democratic State reps, and Democratic Senators AND Governors have done nothing to help these poor folks?
I’m shocked I tell you, just shocked that the party of “compassion” is quite literally sh!tting all over these people.
My sentiment as well. Stop electing Democrats to run your cities.
Uh, unless I misread - the town is essentially all black.
So, what is the “leadership” doing?
Under the skin, a pol is still a pol.
Picture of 2017 Centreville Fish Derby at the site. I don’t think I would eat any of the fish from there.
True
Agreed. I had a black neighbor, nice guy, who thought I was a magician when I tuned his old Toyota truck and rebuilt the carb. Then I steam cleaned the engine compartment. It never occured to him to clean under the hood.
Check out my links above.
The town is located on the site of one of North America’s largest pre-contact cities, who had to deal with the same flooding problems currently experienced by Centreville. Those people centuries ago solved the flooding problems with nothing more than basic tools, hard work, organization, and the desire to improve their lives. And they weren’t “white” people at all.
The technology to deal with flooding and disposal of sewage is pre-industrial. There is literally nothing that prevents the people of this community from at least starting to solve their own problems. The fact that they are outspokenly racist points to the cause of their despair, though.
Just casting the TRUTH. Google is your friend. Do some research.
Looks me like all their pols, regardless of skin color, are screwing that city’s citizenry.
That’s the essence of one white towns and neighborhoods go black
An admission they can’t drive their own bus.
Maybe they are not smart enough to get a voter ID card as well.
I’m tired of the race card ploy.
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