Participation Type
Workshop
Presentation #1 Title
Citizen Participation in the Development of Pikeville, Kentucky Flood Control Policy
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
In 1977 Pikeville, Kentucky experienced a devastating flood. This was not the first flood in this area, or the last. However, the 1977 flood was especially devastating, and it occurred concurrently with a number of economic activities including a shift from deep mining to strip mining, the building of a regional airport, and the rerouting of both a railroad and the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River. Subsequently, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) developed flood control policies for all of the U.S. including Pike County, Kentucky. This study explores the extent to which grass-roots citizen participation was involved in economic activities that may have contributed to the 1977 flood, and in FEMA’s current flood control plans. The study has ramifications regarding who profits and who benefits from flood control policy throughout the Region.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Norman Rose was partially raised in Whitley County, Kentucky and graduated high school from an urban Appalachian neighborhood in Cincinnati. He earned a BA degree in psychology and a Ph.D. in sociology. He is a retired prison administrator and served for ten years as an Ohio prison warden. He also served as an advisor to Iraqi and Kurdish prisons. He currently teaches at Kent State University, is married, and has two children and a grandson.
Citizen Participation in the Development of Pikeville, Kentucky Flood Control Policy
In 1977 Pikeville, Kentucky experienced a devastating flood. This was not the first flood in this area, or the last. However, the 1977 flood was especially devastating, and it occurred concurrently with a number of economic activities including a shift from deep mining to strip mining, the building of a regional airport, and the rerouting of both a railroad and the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River. Subsequently, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) developed flood control policies for all of the U.S. including Pike County, Kentucky. This study explores the extent to which grass-roots citizen participation was involved in economic activities that may have contributed to the 1977 flood, and in FEMA’s current flood control plans. The study has ramifications regarding who profits and who benefits from flood control policy throughout the Region.
