Strinden wants UND used as base for city's comeback
By Gerry Gilmour
The Forum
Earl Strinden says Grand Forks residents can reclaim their city from floodwaters by establishing a "beachhead" at the University of North Dakota and appealing to the nation for financial support.

"Let’s talk amphibious warfare," the former U.S. Marine said Wednesday. "We need a beachhead. We need a secure place to work, a base of operations."

Strinden is executive director of the UND Foundation and a former North Dakota state legislator and Grand Forks councilman. He is among the thousands of Grand Forks refugees waiting out the flood in the Fargo-Moorhead area.

Flooding in Grand Forks and neighboring East Grand Forks, Minn., over the weekend forced nearly 60,000 from their homes.

Strinden said residents were prepared, but dikes could not withstand the force of the river as it pushed north. "The river had too much power. It was overwhelming," said Strinden.

Neither community has operating municipal water and sewer services, and officials say it may be several weeks before people can return to their homes.

While Grand Forks Mayor Pat Owens remains home dealing with flood devastation, Strinden and a scattered contingent of community leaders are meeting to make plans for the future.

Strinden said they have suggested the UND strategy to both Gov. Ed Schafer and UND president Kendall Baker.

He said he has asked the governor to harness the dormant North Dakota Community Foundation – created by the Legislature in the 1970s – as a financial engine for recovery.

Baker late Wednesday afternoon was being briefed by physical plant personnel on the condition of campus buildings.

UND was spared the worst of the flooding. Strinden said the university – founded in 1883 on higher ground 3 miles west of the river – is the perfect staging site for the city’s renaissance.

Strinden said the North Dakota Army National Guard could provide safe water from a tower on the UND campus as people return. "We would have not only safe sewer and water service but a support base for the community," Strinden said.

He said the campus has all the amenities of a small city, including housing for 5,000 as well as recreation and social facilities.

"It’s all there. You start there and all of a sudden you have a working community," Strinden said. "We can expand the community as the water goes down. It jump starts everything."

The first tasks will be restoring United Hospital and surrounding clinics and the city’s business districts, he said.

Strinden said the economic pillars of the community – those companies with large numbers of employees – remain committed to greater Grand Forks.

He said it’s vitally important that smaller businesses signal their intent to rebuild. It’s a signal many employees are waiting to hear, Strinden said.

"There is a danger in a catastrophe of this magnitude, that individuals will give up. There are people without large, vested interest in the community," Strinden said.

"They may not own a home. They may have lost all their possessions in an apartment. Right now they’re thinking, ‘Do we go back, or do we just pack what we have and move to Seattle, or Minneapolis-St. Paul or Denver.’"

People without a paycheck, without a workplace – need a commitment, he said.

"We have to let them know that things are going in the right direction. We’re right in the balance, and we can’t have people giving up hope. We need them as citizens of Grand Forks and North Dakota."

He said the same volunteer effort marshaled to sandbag against the river can be tapped to help people clean their homes and rebuild their lives.

Strinden said reports he’s received from alumni indicate people are prepared to support flood recovery here. He said President Clinton’s message of financial support, delivered on his visit Monday, is tremendous, but that it won’t be enough to make the community whole.

"People across the nation and around the world are ready to respond," Strinden said. "This is disaster of unprecedented proportion. The more attention we can direct to the magnitude of this, the better.

"People of this region have tremendous character and a history of self-sufficiency, of neighbor helping neighbor, but we will need outside help for this," Strinden said.

He said it will take leadership and investment to rebuild.

Strinden said rebuilding efforts will dwarf the construction boom the state witnessed when Grand Forks and Minot Air Force bases were established.

"There will not be enough painters, there will not be enough sheetrock people. There will not be enough people to install furnaces," Strinden said. "The work will provide more jobs for more people than we have available right now. This is a crucial time for North Dakota."