When are people going to wake up?

What The Seen said.

Again, as noted in my previous post in the Sandy Storm thread, the huge over-development of coastal America, east & west & Gulf, is due in huge part to the 1968 flood insurance subsidies that Congress passed at the behest of the developers & the builders.

Was it sound financial policy? No.
Was it sound policy in any way shape or form? Heck no.
Was it designed to generate more profits for the building industries at taxpayer expense? Heck yes, to the tune of $ 200 million per year in losses to American taxpayers who pay for the claims on these coastal structures.

If taxpayers would grow a set & make Congress end federal govt subsidized property insurance for coastal areas & let the market find its own true level, you'd see a lot of empty coastline where structures once perched. How nice would that (open space) be, for all Americans...?

Never happen, tho. If you want to know where the true answers are located in our great nation, just follow the money boyz.

Love my country, fear my govt.

 

A lot of people going off on this topic.Well I think it should be as simple as all our shores having a good distance of parking lots from the shoreline to the richer's that have their homes close to the beach. Everyone has access and no harm done if parking lots flood. Some concrete work at best. Im not kidding as I have seen first hand how places like Malibu and Santa Monica have been ruined even without a hurricane. If we treated our national parks like we do our beaches you would hear people crying about how our national resources are more important that money being made. I cant build a house in Yosemite so why the jersey shore ? The shoreline is just another prize especially in the east coast. It passes away like everything we attach value to. And the rest of us hoards battle it out to enjoy it. All of the unhappiness for a transient prize we grip so tightly. A big shout out to all people that make housing right on the shore possible.Thank you.

 

so, if i read this right, people are saying that we should stop building on barrier islands based on a once in a hundred year storm?? So by that logic, these same people would advocate building bans in tornado alley, near any Pacific coastline (tsunamis), or any stream, creek or river.

 

let's all move here...

from another thread:

"I recall driving to from St Louis to Decatur Illinois to play ball. And crossing the Mississippi R was eye-opening, 'cause there were literally miles & miles of land going east & west from that river with zero inhabitants, just barren land.

I had no idea that the flood plain was that vast. I don't know the laws & regs there, but it seemed like building anything in those regions was totally forbidden."

could it be that no one wants to live there?

 

Agreed. It's just common sense...or of course gov could invest in 'sea walls' so nice beach houses are protected yet still spitting distance. Build a house on a barrier island and get it washed off and expect sympathy...? Same goes bellow sea level New Orleans style. There will be another Katrina and politicians will do lots of chest thumping and 'nation (re)building'. Those 100 year storms will be coming in much closer intervals, all empirical data points that way. So, you know, maybe we should have a bunch of trailers there, but build a mansion and then get it pounded? Well, no surprise there.
F-ing 'sea wall in every town'...really, man. I am glad that guy doesn't have a job in planning and development.

 

sounds reasonable. my preference would be to inform people of the risks then let them do what they want but have no bailout for stupid decisions.

 

wait wait wait wait wait......if my young mind serves me correct, Weber stated that there was a seawall in monmouth county. Last time I checked, there was surf all over monmouth county, wait wait wait....that is one of the highest populations of surfers in jersey (in monmouth county), which in fact is the place that has a seawall. now you are stating if you dont like it move. originally it was stop rebuilding because we need 3 blocks of beach before housing starts. first you were like "lets get together and rebuild in a smarter way" and now youre all like "if its too hot get out da kitchen!"

but if you go back to your original point, ocean city md is only 1 mile wide at its widest point. ocean cit nj has 6.33 square miles of land. manasquan is only 1.3 miles of square land....you get my idea that your idea is impossible. therefore make up your mind on your own opinions. if you want people to realize that they made a mistake in buying ocean front property and to move, go to town meetings and tell all the homeowners that's what they should do. if you think they should move all the houses 3 blocks back, go to the town meeting and tell them. Either way, the town will laugh at you. you need a better idea to stand on, rather than blabbering about ocean rising and outlandish statements.

the ocean has risen and fallen and spread all over the world. infact, at one timem all land was together as one continent named "pangea"!!! then over time it split miles and miles apart. and now we have our 7 continents!!! and you think this minimal rise in sea level is just unheard of?

my point is, that a better drainage system and sea walls, and maybe even better system of jetties would allow for better control over erosion. what we should do is look into other countries to see if they have the same issue. countries like japan and austrailia all get hit with storms just like us. maybe they have better technology in prevention of storm erosion. but simply rearranging our shore islands will not work.

 

superfish, the problem w/ hard structures is that they restrict the free migration of sand along the coast, essentially robbing peter to pay paul. ever notice how the beach is quite a bit farther back on one side of a jetty than the other? the same thing happens w/ sea walls. the road south of the towsend's inlet bridge in avalon, nj was destroyed b/c of the seawall there. no beach in front to slow down or diminish the wave energy, so when the waves hit the seawall full force, all that energy was translated directly onto the road. it looks much like highway 12 north of rodanthe at the moment.

check this page out: http://www.beachapedia.org/Shoreline_Structures lots of good info there about sand migration & how hard coastal management structures screw w/ that.

 

then i go back to my original half with better draining haha

 

i respectfully agree to disagree

 

i read a story a long time ago about a plan to drop nukes in hurricanes to dissipate them. that seems cheaper.

 

just to be clear, since you referenced my earlier post, i do not agree w/ you. i'm an islander, always have been & always will be. i was born, raised, & will die on my island. yes, building directly on the ocean front is stupid. anyone who understands the ocean understands that. but i do not agree w/ or condone the idea of reclaiming the barrier islands for parks or refuges or what have you. this is my home & will remain so.

 

what happens to those who don't want to sell ever? Alot of people hand their beach homes down to their kids. Plus, where does the money come from for these purchases????

 

it amounts to the same thing. would you prevent the passing down of houses/property to children or grandchildren? you're talking about destroying an entire lifestyle/history/sub-culture. expect people to react negatively, possibly violently so, to this idea.

& yes, of course i'm biased. but how does that make my points any less valid?