PDA

View Full Version : NJ loses 30-40ft of beach. Tax money will be used.




alucard13mmfmj
11-20-2012, 01:09 PM
http://news.yahoo.com/study-nj-beaches-30-40-feet-narrower-storm-072629739--finance.html

SPRING LAKE, N.J. (AP) — The average New Jersey beach is 30 to 40 feet narrower after Superstorm Sandy, according to a survey that is sure to intensify a long-running debate on whether federal dollars should be used to replenish stretches of sand that only a fraction of U.S. taxpayers use.

Some of New Jersey's famous beaches lost half their sand when Sandy slammed ashore in late October.

The shore town of Mantoloking, one of the hardest-hit communities, lost 150 feet of beach, said Stewart Farrell, director of Stockton College's Coastal Research Center and a leading expert on beach erosion.

Routine storms tear up beaches in any season, and one prescription for protecting communities from storm surge has been to replenish beaches with sand pumped from offshore. Places with recently beefed-up beaches saw comparatively little damage, said Farrell, whose study's findings were made available to The Associated Press.

"It really, really works," Farrell said. "Where there was a federal beach fill in place, there was no major damage — no homes destroyed, no sand piles in the streets. Where there was no beach fill, water broke through the dunes."

The beach-replenishment projects have been controversial both for their expense and because waves continually wash away the new sand. The federal government picks up 65 percent of the cost, with the rest coming from state and local coffers.

How big the beaches are — or whether there is a beach at all to go to — is a crucial question that must be resolved before the summer tourism season. The Jersey shore powers the state's $35.5 billion tourism industry.

But the pending spending showdown between congressional Republicans and Democrats could make it even harder to secure hundreds of millions of additional dollars for beach replenishment.

From 1986 to 2011, nearly $700 million was spent placing 80 million cubic yards of sand on about 55 percent of the New Jersey coast. Over that time, the average beach gained 4 feet of width, according to the Coastal Research Center. And just before the storm hit, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded nearly $28 million worth of contracts for new replenishment projects in southern New Jersey's Cape May County.

U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican, used a photo of a pig on the cover of his 2009 report "Washed Out To Sea," in which he characterized beach replenishment as costly, wasteful pork that the nation could not afford.

"Taxpayers are not surprised when they learn how Congress wastes billions of dollars on questionable programs and projects each year, but it may still shock taxpayers to know that Congress has literally dumped nearly $3 billion into beach projects that have washed out to sea," he wrote.

A message seeking comment was left Monday with Coburn's office.

U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, predicted lawmakers from New Jersey and New York would be able to get additional shore protection funds included in the next federal budget, despite partisan wars.

"I think we will be able to make the case," he said. "We can show that this provides long-term protection to property and lives. You can either pay up front to keep on top of projects like this, or you can pay on the back end" through disaster recovery funds.

Menendez this week noted that Congress has approved emergency recovery funds for victims of Hurricane Katrina and tornadoes in Missouri, among other natural disasters.

During a tour of storm-wrecked neighborhoods in Seaside Heights and Hoboken, Vice President Joe Biden also vowed the federal government would pay to rebuild New Jersey.

"This is a national responsibility; this is not a local responsibility," Biden said. "We're one national government, and we have an obligation."

Jogging in the street because Sandy had destroyed the Spring Lake boardwalk for the second time in little over a year, Michele Degnan-Spang said it was difficult to comprehend how things have changed in her community.

A few stray planks of the synthetic gray boardwalk that was just replaced last year after Tropical Storm Irene were strewn about the sand; concrete pilings that used to support the boardwalk now stretch for a mile off to the horizon like little Stonehenges.

"It's horrible," she said. "It's draining to see this. It's surreal. I'm walking through it and saying, 'This really is happening.'"

Degnan-Spang predicted she and her extended family would be back on the sand soon, though.

"The drive is going to be to get back on the beach next summer, no matter what it looks like," she said. "We don't go on vacation because we live in the most beautiful spot in the world. We all go to the beach; it's what summer is. It'll come back; it'll just be different."

-----------------------------------------------------------

So... Rich people buying expensive houses on the shorelines/beach won't gather money from the community from other rich people to redevelop their beaches?

Money should be used to help get businesses up and running. Help poor people who's insurance did not cover even 1/4 of the repair costs to their homes. Updating and improving infrastructure.

Take money from middle class to help the upper class.. *sigH* Just so they can frolic on the beaches on their beachfront property.

Unless the beach being rebuilt is important to local businesses, I don't really see any other valid reasons.

specsaregood
11-20-2012, 01:14 PM
So... Rich people buying expensive houses on the shorelines/beach won't gather money from the community from other rich people to redevelop their beaches?

Money should be used to help get businesses up and running. Help poor people who's insurance did not cover even 1/4 of the repair costs to their homes. Updating and improving infrastructure.

Take money from middle class to help the upper class.. *sigH* Just so they can frolic on the beaches on their beachfront property.

Unless the beach being rebuilt is important to local businesses, I don't really see any other valid reasons.

Even better, they tax people to use the beach in NJ. You have to buy a beach pass to use what your tax dollars are going to build.

Anti Federalist
11-20-2012, 01:52 PM
Even better, they tax people to use the beach in NJ. You have to buy a beach pass to use what your tax dollars are going to build.

Yup, and have been charging for "beach badges" since I was kid.

I hear they ain't cheap anymore either.

specsaregood
11-20-2012, 01:55 PM
Yup, and have been charging for "beach badges" since I was kid.
I hear they ain't cheap anymore either.

I don't recall how much. We go to the state park beach without the lifeguards; cuz screw that.

Origanalist
11-20-2012, 01:56 PM
Even better, they tax people to use the beach in NJ. You have to buy a beach pass to use what your tax dollars are going to build.

Sounds like WA State. The State takes the trails created by hikers, widens them out and charges people to park their vehicles at the trailhead.

AGRP
11-20-2012, 02:01 PM
You must individually pay "government" which is supported by extortion and represents everyone to enjoy a beach that belongs to everyone? Makes complete sense.

Anti Federalist
11-20-2012, 02:02 PM
I don't recall how much. We go to the state park beach without the lifeguards; cuz screw that.

A beach badge for Belmar is $7 for the day.

It was 50 cents back in the 70s.

Zippyjuan
11-20-2012, 02:02 PM
Interesting point in the piece:

Routine storms tear up beaches in any season, and one prescription for protecting communities from storm surge has been to replenish beaches with sand pumped from offshore. Places with recently beefed-up beaches saw comparatively little damage, said Farrell, whose study's findings were made available to The Associated Press.

"It really, really works," Farrell said. "Where there was a federal beach fill in place, there was no major damage — no homes destroyed, no sand piles in the streets. Where there was no beach fill, water broke through the dunes."


Some of the beaches near me get rebuilt. Yes, it costs money. But the beaches also bring in money- tourists to visit and spend dollars and pay taxes and create local jobs. And in this case, sounds like it saved a ton of money in terms of limiting damages to the area from Superstorm Sandy.

Origanalist
11-20-2012, 02:02 PM
You must pay "government" which is supported by and represents everyone to enjoy a beach that belongs to everyone? Makes complete sense.

It's never enough, never. And every year they figure out more ways to collect.

dannno
11-20-2012, 02:05 PM
Wow, a beach badge?!

Fuck THAT shit, you people need to come to California. As tyrannical as it is in some respects, it is much more free in others. People here would NEVER EVER EVER allow a "beach badge" program. We even shut down a major push by the city to institute parking fees at more beaches recently. Most of them are currently free to park at.

Stay away from major cities, cruise the coast from between LA and San Francisco.

aGameOfThrones
11-20-2012, 02:14 PM
"To those beautiful, ignorant bastards!"- Nucky Thompson

http://cdn2.hark.com/images/000/391/812/391812/original.jpg

RonPaulMall
11-20-2012, 02:19 PM
Taxpayers obviously shouldn't be paying for it. But I also can't fathom how NJ has spent 700 million dollars on this. Beach replenishment involves a pump, a bit long pipe, and some dump trucks and such. As far as construction jobs go, it is hard to imagine anything simpler. The businesses on the boardwalk and local communities should be able to finance this by passing around a hat. And that's how it should be financed too.

Zippyjuan
11-20-2012, 02:24 PM
$700 million is a 25 year total (1986- 2011). That does come to $28 million a year.

It says that covers 55% of their coastline and they have 130 miles of that http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_coastline so $28 million to do 71 miles is about $400k a mile.

Beach access is free out here in CA. Some places may charge for parking.

Nirvikalpa
11-20-2012, 02:25 PM
Even better, they tax people to use the beach in NJ. You have to buy a beach pass to use what your tax dollars are going to build.

*SUPPOSEDLY* I heard that the beaches in NJ will be free for the next 3-5 years... but... rumors, rumors.

And for all the shit NJ's getting... locals and natives know where the free beaches are already. Dumb tourists feed into the "buy a beach tag" bullshit...

presence
11-20-2012, 02:28 PM
Two words:

beach morphology

Three more words:

migrating barrier island

and yet two more words:

coastal landscaping

...one more word:

jerseyfication

Three final words:

sea level rise

Demigod
11-20-2012, 02:40 PM
.kl;