Jeff Davidson and Regenia Bailey interview about the Midwest floods of June 2008, Iowa City, Iowa, September 30, 2008

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Jeff Davidson and Regenia Bailey interview about the Midwest floods of June 2008, Iowa City, Iowa, September 30, 2008

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Title	Jeff Davidson and Regenia Bailey interview about the Midwest floods of June 2008, Iowa City, Iowa, September 30, 2008
Creator	Davidson, Jeff Bailey, Regenia
Date Original	2008-10-02
Summary	The Mayor of Iowa City, Regenia (age 48), talks with the director of city planning for Iowa City, Jeff (age 51), about the Iowa floods of 2008.
Contents	Jeff talks about flood disaster and flood recovery (00:01:04) -- Regenia talks about when she knew the flood would be a serious event (00:01:58) -- Unprecedented event for planning department. Evacuating mobile home area. Going door-to-door to 175 trailers. Tough experience. People without another place to go (00:02:39) -- Regenia - how city staff members were on the front lines (00:04:59) -- Having compassion for victims. Jeff remembers 1993 floods (00:06:54) -- Jeff was struck by the understanding people had about being told to leave. Temporary levy did hold. Trailer parks had high potential for devastation (00:08:32) -- Regenia - the recovery effort. Sense of defeat among people who had fought the river and lost. Surprised to see condominium people adrift (00:11:11) -- Jeff compares Iowa City to Cedar Rapids - both low and high income properties affected by flood. People not accustomed to victimization. People in trailer parks able to respond with more grace. Compassion to people in high-income areas (00:12:46) -- Jeff talks about theory that 95 percent of people he works with in municipal service are good people - 5 percent are really difficult but deserve the same attention (00:16:08) -- Regenia has received mostly positive feedback about municipal effort (00:17:23) -- What Regenia is working on now as Mayor of Iowa City in the aftermath of the flood (00:18:12) -- Jeff talks about programs going forward but not being able to do everything. Feeling guilty given that Cedar Rapids was much harder hit (00:19:21) -- Jeff and Regenia talk about a neighborhood near City Park and University, beauty of neighborhood (00:21:00) -- Event came early in Regenia's mayoral appointment (00:21:54) -- Director of Public Works giving news that reservoir would spill. Shock that this would exceed the 1993 floods. Regenia knew it would be big when members of Planning department were out sandbagging (00:22:32) -- Intensity of focus, people canceling their vacations. Hugh sandbagging operations. Jeff remembers comments about being younger in 1993 (00:25:00) -- Extraordinary community response (00:26:00) -- Never getting back to normal - a "new normal." Hopes people will be on their guard (00:27:00) -- Jeff talks about people loving the river and being by it despite the flood danger. Changes that will likely happen in the community. Building in the flood-plain (00:28:30) -- Regenia and Jeff's experiences going to school in flood-exposed buildings (00:31:37) -- Personal effect for Jeff's life. Changes and loss of things loved (00:32:42)
Topical Subject (LCTGM)	Floods Evacuations Disaster relief
Personal Name Subject	Davidson, Jeff Bailey, Regenia
Geographic Subject	United States -- Iowa -- Iowa City United States -- Iowa -- Iowa River
Chronological Subject	2000-2010
Type (DCMIType)	Sound
Type (AAT)	Oral histories (Document genres)
Type (IMT)	mpeg
Language	English
Digital Collection	Iowa City Flood
Contributing Institution	StoryCorps (Project) University of Iowa. Libraries. Digital Research & Publishing
Subcollection	Flood Oral Histories
Rights Management	Educational use only, no other permissions given. U.S. and international copyright laws may protect this item. Commercial use or distribution of this digital object is not permitted without written permission of the copyright holder.
Duration	00:34:05
Contact Information	Contact Digital Research & Publishing at the University of Iowa Libraries: http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/drp/contact.html
Digitization Specifications	MP3 mpeg layer 2 audio @ 64kbps derived from archival WAVE files
Date Digital	2008-10-02
File Name	DDA000508.mp3

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Jeff Davidson and Regenia Bailey interview about the Midwest floods of June 2008, Iowa City, Iowa, September 30, 2008

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