WINSLOW, Ariz. — This once-bustling city in northern Arizona has a troubled relationship with rain. Winslow needs it but just a little can overwhelm a levee system that officials have pleaded with the federal government for years to fix.
The Biden administration recently announced $14 billion in spending on environmental restoration and infrastructure projects like the one in Winslow, where most residents are Native American or Hispanic, the median household income is less than $38,000 a year and a quarter of residents live in poverty. They say the spending is in line with Justice40 but have not detailed how.
And the corner off Route 66 made famous in the Eagles song “Take it Easy,” with the line “Standin’ on a corner in Winslow, Arizona,” would look more like a stream than a sidewalk in a flood, the city said. Estrella D. Santiago Pérez, an environmental affairs manager for a group that has long pushed for the Puerto Rico dredging project, said the $163 million in federal funding will help improve the health of the San Juan Bay Estuary. It also will enhance living conditions for residents near the Martín Peña Channel who suffer when frequent flooding sends sewage-infested water into their homes. Some residents must relocate.
“Until that happens, we won’t be able to judge the Biden-Harris administration,” said Kyle Whyte, a University of Michigan professor who is on the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council.Rural counties such as Navajo and Santa Cruz in California have pushed for years for social justice to be more of a factor in funding from the Army Corps so that projects from disadvantaged communities would be more competitive.
“The communities that you want to help the most are the communities that have the least capacity to compete for the money,” said Colin Wellenkamp, executive director of the Mississippi River Cities & Towns Initiative.In Arizona, Navajo County and Winslow must come up with 35% of the cost for design and construction of the levee project, which is $35 million.