(Editor’s note: This letter to the editor that originally published Sunday is being republished because of a typographical error that it contained that was The Republic’s fault.)
From: Don Strietelmeier
Columbus
I would like to add some support to a recent letter of Justin Lienhoop’s in regard to a proposed riverfront project. I, too, feel it would be a poor investment of a lot of public money, and if there is that many dollars it could be better spent in other ways.
It might be wise to use some of that money to stabilize the banks of the river. The rivers are changing. They rise more quickly and more often, some of it due to rainfall amounts and some of it due to more land development, resulting in more and faster runoff.
If the dam is removed, there will be tons and tons of gravel, sand and sediment that will move downstream from the dam. The heavier material will spread out downstream from the dam location, up to one-half mile. The finer material, sediment, will head toward the Gulf of Mexico.
From the pictures of designs I’ve seen, they are all then the water is at low level. I would like to see a sketch on how it would look during and after the flood.
And, you have to keep public safety in mind.
Anyway, that’s the opinion of an old farm boy who farms along the Driftwood River.
Good luck to the city with the river project, but they should spend the money wisely.
