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Health & Fitness

What About Rebuilding Houses Not Boardwalks?

A story about the rebuilding of homes, our current dune system and the future the of the shore.

I was in Ortley Beach last Friday. The sun was shining, temps in low 50's, just a great late winter day at the shore. We all know how devastated Ortley is. Not one house was spared Sandy's raft. I was expecting to hear a symphony of hammers and saws with a chorus of workmen yelling with their many radios playing different tunes. All I heard was the deafening sound of silence. Every house I looked at needed work. Yet not one work crew.

Government officials from the Governor to the lowest Township official has pledged their full support to the rebuild efforts. The only work crews that I see keeping busy are the ones working on the all-important Boardwalk. For some unknown reason the Boardwalk get the most attention. High ranking government officials show up in mass every time a new section of Boardwalk is started or completed. The media covers the event like aliens from outer space have just arrived. The only reason for this is that people who don't own property at the Jersey Shore have ordained the BOARDWALK as the symbol of the shore. I guess they feel if you build the Boardwalk the tourist will come.

Come to what? Too do what? Has anyone from Trenton visited the Barrier Island since Sandy struck? The Island from Pt. Pleasant to the South is block after block of nothing. That's right nothing, but one wrecked house after another! A car ride south on Rt.35 is like riding through the city of Berlin the day WW2 ended.

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The tourist season this summer is dead. What are parents going to do walk their young children past the rows of debris that once was a block of houses? Park their cars on the debris loaded streets and walk on pavements, ripped up by the storm. Can't you just see some youngster trying to pull their little red beach wagon over the potholes? What parent wants to explain to their young children the surreal images they themselves find hard to look at. The condition of the beach is another story. I can just see the families taking turns sunning themselves on the 25 odd feet of dry beach that exist between the water’s edge and the 20ft.  pile of blowing fine sand that is the temporary dunes. No working bathrooms. No drinking fountains. No wash stands with fresh water to rinse the sand away. Just a life guard stand and a person collecting beach fees and checking beach tags, all standing on that symbol of the Jersey Shore the Boardwalk!

Please don't get me wrong, I love the Boardwalks. I like to sit and take in the sun rays, look out at the ocean and people watch. I just don't think the Boardwalk is the heart and soul of the Jersey Shore. I feel the people who once lived and partied in those now wrecked homes made up the Jersey Shore. Those many different homes, each with their own unique style of architecture is the Jersey Shore. Each home had the personal touch of its owner. Those touches might be a flower garden, a deck with some chairs, tables and a barbecue. All of this happening in the front yard because nobody entertains in the backyard at the Jersey Shore. The reason most houses don't have back yards. The whole world gets to know what you’re eating for dinner and hear all your conversations. The best time of day is late afternoon in the summer. The families all take that long walk back from the beach the kids all grouped up with their friends and the adults grouped up with their friends. The street becomes busy with families all walking back to their homes after a day of fun, sun and surf. Then the street becomes quit. Everyone is safe in their home washing up and doing laundry. The next thing you see and hear are people in the front yards playing music and talking. The kids are helping Mom set the table while dad tries to light the barbecue while holding a cold beer.

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Many different food aromas fill the air, all swept into the air by the barbecue smoke. The street starts to have those food smells that you find at a street fair. Everywhere you look you see families sitting together eating, laughing, talking, doing what families were meant to do, enjoying each other’s company. Little by little the front yards start to thin out. The kids plead their case for a longer curfew and the parents begrudgingly give in to less time than what was asked for. Neighbors get together for coffee and crumb cake from either the Colonial or Mullers. They talk and kid each other till their children are home safe and it is time to say good night.

I am afraid that this simple little verbal snapshot of life at the Jersey Shore that I just described may be lost forever. The powers that be have to realize that the shore is more than a Boardwalk and a beach. It is that special blend of people who children and family members are the most important things in life. Personally I cannot imagine the Jersey Shore without a Boardwalk. But the Jersey Shore is more than that. The shore is a complex variety of people all trying to relax in the sun and sand with the people they love the most their families and good friends. That is why those houses from the little beach bungalows to the mini McMansions are so important. Those homes that come in all sizes and shapes are the castles of the blue and white collar workers. These people all made sacrifices and trade-offs in their lives to afford a second home at the shore. The homes at the shore are either a retirement investment that can be enjoyed or part of a tradition they want to pass on to the next generation. Either way those vast variety of homes have a special meaning to each owner.

Now because of an event like Sandy and the way Government is handling the aftermath, everything they worked for may be lost or un-affordable. The simple answer is to build the USACE dune system. We can rebuild our homes to sensible affordable building standards and flood insurance rates will decrease. If the powers that be really want to bring back the shore and let us keep our homes then building USACE dunes not Boardwalks is the way. These hard working people I am talking about are the tourist. They are the people who support the economy of the shore. Without the USACE dune system government will destroy the Jersey Shore by driving out the very people who they are trying to attract. Call the Governor’s office and let Governor Christy know that if he wants your vote in November he has to get the USACE dunes built.

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