The Mushroom Factor

I live high on a hill. I don’t expect I’ll ever be flooded. Yet, lately, like many people, I have an awareness of flood insurance that I didn’t have before. Funny how nature captures our attention.

According to the media, in Wisconsin alone, there are about 50 communities not participating in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). This makes them ineligible not only for flood insurance but also for state and federal aid. Why would so many communities, like that of Lake Delton, go without? For what reason would local governments leave their constituents, well, not exactly high and dry?

The Capital Times editor emeritus Dave Zweifel has an interesting opinion in today’s paper. It sheds light on what otherwise is a murky matter. According to Zweifel:

“There are many reasons, but they usually boil down to that never-ending social and political battle we know as development. Once the municipality agrees with FEMA’s definition of a flood plain, new building within that plain is subject to numerous restrictions. Not only do the buildings have to be constructed to withstand floods, but their location in relation to bodies of water faces restrictions and, in some instances, building can’t happen at all.

Communities and, particularly, the developers don’t like that. Not only do the flood plain rules limit structures like resorts and condos on valued lakefront and riverfront property, but they can put a crimp into a municipality’s grand design to grow and add more tax base.”

How sad.

Once again, it’s all about money and personal desires. Developers want their fortune, without respect to sensible building standards or the land on which they build. And owners want their dream home, whether it’s safe from overflowing waters or not.

Once again I ask: who should pay for this?

The Midwest typically is not a great concern in national news, however, in recent weeks our weather has made daily headlines. With repeated rains totaling anywhere from 7-12 inches at a crack, many Midwestern states are dealing with what’s now known as the Flood of 2008.

Here in Wisconsin, Lake Delton has become our poster child of flooding. On June 9, torrential rains caused the 245-acre, man-made lake to tear away the county highway that served as its dike and literally drain itself within hours into the already flooded Wisconsin River. Most dramatic is the coverage of lakefront homes that were ripped from the shoreline and washed away into the rushing waters.

You sure have to feel for these homeowners.

But wait. When I watched the TV news coverage, my feelings became mixed. I saw Lake Delton homeowners bemoan the loss of their…yep, you got it…vacation homes. Don’t get me wrong. I realize multiple-homeowners work as hard for their real estate as the rest of us. But when thousands of Midwesterners elsewhere are struggling to save the only home they own from water, sewage and who-knows-what, it’s hard to feel pain for those crying for their vacation homes.

My feelings were furthered mixed when I read of Lake Delton’s insurance woes. It seems the community was not enrolled in the federal flood insurance program. Nor were homeowners covered in their private homeowner policies. Here’s where I start to ask questions: At what point must each of us, as individual citizens, assume responsibility for our own rights and privileges? And to what extent are we, as a society, responsible for the rights and privileges of individuals?

One of the homes was valued at $1 million. As the Tomah Journal put it, “Does the government owe them another $1 million lakefront home? A less expensive home with no lake frontage? Anything?”

Another couple spent their life’s savings to build a dream home along side the lake, all the while knowing they were uninsured. Is this wise? Are taxpayers responsible for their love of water, even to the point of foregoing common sense?

A phone call to my insurance agency answered some of these questions. My agent explained that most private insurance companies do not offer coverage against flooding. Rather, homeowners purchase insurance from the federal government’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which they obtain through their private insurer.

But there’s a catch.

Homeowners cannot receive coverage if their community is not enrolled in the NFIP program. Reasons for not enrolling are usually because the area is determined to be a low risk for flooding. In the case of Lake Delton, a lakeside village located between Dell Creek and the large Wisconsin River, its officials disputed a federal updated floodplain map and forfeited their eligibility in the program.

This happened seven years ago.

So, let’s think about it. Here’s a community, surrounded by water, whose elected officials chose not to comply with its only source of flood insurance. For seven years. Would it not be the responsibility of homeowners to question these decisions? To oust those oafs from office and elect officials who act more in their behalf? To get involved?

These are difficult questions, to be sure. What do you think?

As for me, I’ll stay living on my hill and enjoy the water from afar.

I’m a fair person. I strive to do the journalistic thing of covering both sides of the story, even though as a blogger I’m not legally required to do so. I do this because I consider myself a caring and ethical person.

So today I’m following up on yesterday’s post regarding Wisconsin Management Company and their lease with Jordan Gonnering, the UW-Madison student who found his fiancé murdered in the apartment they shared. Previous news reports stated the property management company had not determined it would release Gonnering from the remaining 16 months of his lease.

Today Wisconsin Management Company did the right thing. According to owner Russ Endres, the company announced it has decided “to release all parties from any lease obligations.”

This was a caring and ethical thing to do, and for this I applaud Wisconsin Management Company.

Every once in a while something happens within a community that causes outrage, fear and unrest. Such is the case here in Wisconsin with last week’s murder of Brittany Zimmerman, a 21-yr-old medical microbiology and immunology major at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She was found by her fiancé in the apartment they shared near downtown Madison.

In a city that prides itself for its down-to-earth, humanistic and relatively crime-free living, this event has caused a compassioned uproar that continues to spread from one concern to another. Residents and college students question whether police are doing enough to protect the public. Homeless panhandlers now bring suspicion and debate. And now, as of this weekend, the community’s ire has spread to the matter of housing.

Rightfully so.

Yesterday’s news reported that Zimmerman’s fiancé, Jordan Gonnering, (who, by the way, was ruled out as a suspect in the case) may have to continue renting the apartment where he discovered her slain body. Gonnering, a 22-year-old UW-Madison student, may be bound to the 16 months he has remaining on his lease with Wisconsin Management Company, in spite of his wishes to live elsewhere.

Russ Endres, owner of Wisconsin Management Company, gave no definite answer to the media, yet said his company:

“must treat its thousands of renters fairly and equally. It also ‘has an obligation … to the owners of the property. ‘ He confirmed he has contacted the property owners, Janet and Carl Van Rooy, of Indianapolis, about the situation, but he wouldn ‘t say if the Van Rooys were willing to waive the lease.

Carl Van Rooy, who is a partner in Wisconsin Management Co., also is chief executive officer of Van Rooy Properties, which manages apartments in Indiana, Florida and Missouri and rents commercial space in Indianapolis. Van Rooy refused to comment Friday.”

—Wisconsin State Journal, Sunday, April 13, 2008

I’m amazed that Wisconsin Management Company could even entertain ideas of not waiving Gonnering’s lease. As a parent of four children, all of whom attended University of Wisconsin schools and rented area properties, I’m well aware of the racket landlords have going in college communities. Wisconsin Management, with its out-of-state owners and large volume of properties, easily meets the classic slum-lord criteria.

If you’re considering renting an apartment soon or are parents of college-age children looking to rent, please take time to research Wisconsin Management Company, which manages rental property throughout Wisconsin and Illinois. Also check out Van Rooy Properties, which leases out property in Indiana, Missouri and Florida. Be aware of recent events and the possible moral ethics of these two companies.

If you have opinions on the matter of releasing Gonnering from his lease, please email Kevin Senke, vice president of Wisconsin Management Company, or call (608) 258-2080.