Stories Related to How Political Connections And A Tennessee Politician Helped Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS — Seven years after the 2008 flood caused $5.4 billion in damages and losses to Cedar Rapids, city officials said they were being told federal aid for building a flood control system to prevent another catastrophe like that was a lost cause.Despite the gloomy warnings, city officials, federal representatives and a lobbyist well-versed in the byzantine bureaucracy were working behind the scenes, laying out a strategy that along with some outside influences ultimately helped unlock $117 million in federal aid — $76 million as a grant and $41 million as an optional low-cost loan — that’s accelerating progress on a system to better protect the city from a sometimes rebellious river.“We never gave up,” Cedar Rapids City Manager Jeff Pomeranz said.