It was to have lasted a quarter of a century or more, that Tempe Town Lake dam. A rubber structure, Tempe Town Lake dam created a beautiful natural landmark for the city of Tempe, Arizona. According to Associated Press reports, however, one of the 11-year-old dam segments burst. Two-thirds to three-fourths of Tempe Town Lake will flood the dry riverbed of Salt River, which happens to be an area where some of Tempe’s homeless tend to sleep during the summer.
Injury wire quiet on Tempe Town Lake
No injuries of property damage at Tempe Town Lake has been reported as yet, as outlined by local media sources. Area residents said they heard a loud “ka-boom” and felt the ground shake near Arizona State University. Seconds afterward, witnesses saw animals fleeing the scene. After several minutes, safety alarms started to sound. Whether transients camping within the Salt River bed heard the alarms is unknown.
One billion gallons out of Tempe Town
Consider that flow, advises city Mayor Hugh Hallman. City officials apparently knew back in 2007 that Tempe’s hot, dry climate was taking its toll on the rubber dam. Yet repair action was not taken at that time. Two years later, engineers advised Tempe government to act, to no effect.
And also the homeless masses?
Officials know the alarm sounded, however they do not know if the blowout at Tempe Town Lake dam impacted any homeless persons in the dry riverbed. This could all just be mechanical failure and bureaucratic inaction. Yet it might be the cost of homelessness makes this affair something entirely more fiscal in nature. A wide array of experts have founded studies that show the U.S. shells out nearly $ 11 billion annually to address chronic homelessness. According to Forbes magazine, the annual expenditure would decrease to just under $ 8 billion if the homeless all had subsidized housing.
Give them homes or they’ll drown
Tempe’s home country of Maricopa County has 8,000 homeless people daily, reports AZCentral.com. If these disadvantaged individuals all of a sudden had residency, taxpayer funds would be saved and Maricopa County would cut their emergency resource expenditures nearly in half. If the Tempe Town Lake dam event moves more homeless people into permanent housing, something truly positive will result from this minor civic disaster.
Discover more information
philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/nation/20100721_ap_rubberizeddambreaksatmanmadearizonalake.html
azcentral.com/community/tempe/articles/2010/06/11/20100611tempe-homeless-outreach-united-way.html
forbes.com/2006/08/25/us-homeless-aid-cx_np_0828oxford.html
