Enough blame. Work together to fight flood maps.

Imagine how different our lives would be if we had the ability to see into the future when we make big decisions. Unfortunately, we can’t.

If Valley Stream village officials had been blessed with the gift of unerring prognostication before they voted in 2009 to approve the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s revised flood maps for the community, their decision probably would have been very different. In the past three years, village officials have gotten a lot of flak from some residents for approving these maps, and sticking hundreds of homeowners with four-figure annual insurance premiums.

The maps were created by a federal agency, at the direction of the federal government, and can only be changed at the federal level. The village’s blameworthiness in this situation is questionable, given that there is evidence that FEMA wasn’t so upfront about the impact of the new maps in the first place. Last year, Sen. Charles Schumer came to Valley Stream to denounce FEMA officials for using a Suffolk County study to create Nassau County’s maps.

We think there is agreement in Valley Stream among residents and village officials that the community does not belong in a high-risk flood zone. Unfortunately, we have seen few signs that there can be cooperation to do something about it.

The Valley Stream Community Association is a relatively new civic organization — it held its second meeting just last week — and was organized by residents who have been outspoken in their opposition to the flood map changes. The first two meetings of the group have focused on FEMA.

Back in December, the Herald called on leaders of the village and the Community Association to work together to solve the flood map issue. Leaders from both groups expressed some dismay with our editorial, saying there was no animosity between them. In a letter to the editor, one Community Association leader wrote that the two groups are “not at war, so there is no need to make peace.” Yet, contradictory to that, much of last week’s meeting was spent criticizing the village for approving the flood maps. Community Association members were also critical of village officials for not attending the meeting, even though it was scheduled for the same evening as the Board of Trustees’ budget work session. That just sounds like criticism for the point of criticism. So we’ll try to make our point again.

There is nothing productive, at this point, in continuing to point fingers at the village. Playing the blame game is just posturing, and does nothing to solve the problem. Community Association leaders should embrace the village as a partner. Imagine how much stronger its fight could be with the clout of New York state’s third-largest village on its side.

As a newspaper, we greatly appreciate citizen involvement. But good citizen involvement often means working together with others you might not agree with.

Let’s get Valley Stream out of the flood zone. That means continuing to lobby federal officials who, to date, have not come up with any meaningful solutions. Continuing to blame the village, which cannot solve the problem, is wasted effort when there are letters to write, emails to send and phone calls to make to the federal representatives who can enact change. Imagine how much more powerful this message could be with a united Valley Stream.