$40 million may seem like a lot of money to the average person, but it’s just a fraction of what municipalities were spending to cleanup and shore-up their cities and towns following Hurricane Helene.

For Vine City, Atlanta, $40 million was the cost of a solution to flooding problems that long predate Helene. It bought the historic neighborhood a big, beautiful new park that works like a sponge.

GNN has reported on the “sponge city” concept before, whereby parks and urban developers use greenery and water features to help absorb rain and floodwater to slow its entry into the drainage system.

It’s been picked up by the Netherlands and China, and now too, in Atlanta with Rodney Cook Sr. Park.

Atlanta City Council member Byron Amos, who was born and raised in Vine City, remembers severa

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