After some sea-side towns in New Jersey and New York were hit hard by Sandy last year, the debate over whether to rebuild or simply let Mother Nature take back what’s hers began to form. On one side are residents of areas that have grown quite attached to their homes, their neighbors and the area in which they live. On the other is the unsustainable cost of constantly rebuilding whenever a big storm hits a given area.
When such damage is being paid for with federal money – like the $60 billion package that may get final approval from Congress next week – the debate takes another turn. It’s one thing to rebuild homes that are privately insured, but when individuals feel it’s their due to have the federal government pay to rebuild their homes, even as they see them hit time and time again by storms – that’s when things may be getting out of hand.
Noted Sea Bright, New Jersey Mayor Dina Long, "Nobody has come to us and said we shouldn’t exist. It is antithetical to the Jersey mindset, and particularly to the Sea Bright mindset. We’re known for being strong, for being resilient, for not backing down." That may well be but, again, when the issue becomes federal the local residents kind of lose their say in the matter. Long goes on to say, "we’re not retreating." And that’s fine…as long as that forward march doesn’t involve federal funds. Of course, Long isn’t alone. It is now estimated that 53% of the nation’s population live in coastal counties, a massive increase over the past 30 years.
When such damage is being paid for with federal money – like the $60 billion package that may get final approval from Congress next week – the debate takes another turn. It’s one thing to rebuild homes that are privately insured, but when individuals feel it’s their due to have the federal government pay to rebuild their homes, even as they see them hit time and time again by storms – that’s when things may be getting out of hand.
Noted Sea Bright, New Jersey Mayor Dina Long, "Nobody has come to us and said we shouldn’t exist. It is antithetical to the Jersey mindset, and particularly to the Sea Bright mindset. We’re known for being strong, for being resilient, for not backing down." That may well be but, again, when the issue becomes federal the local residents kind of lose their say in the matter. Long goes on to say, "we’re not retreating." And that’s fine…as long as that forward march doesn’t involve federal funds. Of course, Long isn’t alone. It is now estimated that 53% of the nation’s population live in coastal counties, a massive increase over the past 30 years.
