CapeCodToday Blog Chowder

I'm very interested in discussing the science and engineering of repairing the breach. You have me until you get to the part where you say: "Why do we assume that everyone threatened by the breach is rich?" Why even bring that up? The editorial started the smarmy slant to get attention and sensationalize the issue, but we don't need to carry on in that vein. For the last time, no matter how rich or poor the homeowner is, my take on this is that people should pay to protect their own property.

If you want to make this a rich/poor arguement again, talk to somebody else. And your last sentence is totally unnecessary and rude. As I previously pointed out, my family home was threatened by a beach when I was young and the water actually flooded our yard. I've been on both sides of the breach.

You've made your point, I've made mine. Have a nice day.

So, I'm not insensitive to those who are facing this issue. But, I still believe that if people want to protect their homes, they should pay for it themselves. (The piping plover point is a whole 'nother issue- more money wasted.)

Florida has it's own problems with it's beach/land management and they're still figuring out where they've gone wrong and how to try to right it. Personally, the governemnt has made so many errors in trying to manage our natural resources that I would be very leery of taking their past solutions are the ultimate cure. Not to mention that the outer beach has a long history of washing through at various points and it will continue to breach no matter what we can do. We can try to keep filling in the holes, or we can try to find a way to work with nature, or take our lumps when nature doesn't work with us. Whether we like it or not, we'll probably end up with the latter.

Thanks- this is at last a productive conversation. I don't claim to be an expert by any means, but for the record, my back ground is study or the natural history of Cape Cod, I've worked for Fish & Wildlife and various sportsman's organizations. My father was a commercial fisherman and I, too, worked in the commercial fishing industry for many years. My family has been on the Cape since at least the 1690's which gives me a long, long history here, via family stories of the past. Erosion has been a pretty constant problem here. People have had to face either losing their homes or relocating them for hundreds of years. When I was a kid, I lived in one of those old homes that had been moved to another location. Also when I was a kid, during a severe winter storm, I heard my mother scream from upstairs and ran up to see a 4 foot wall of water coming at the house, because a barrier beach had broke through and now we were suddenly on water-front property. We could and did row around our yard.

Will continue...

I have said REPEATEDLY that it makes no difference whether they are rich or not. YOU brought up the money factor and the notion that if we don't help them, they will lose their homes/leave and we will ultimately lose the money they pay in taxes to the town. AGAIN, my main comment is that they shouldn't be trying to fill in the breach because it's a fultile effort! It is a waste of money. But, since you bring up money (again) people who have enough money to own these homes should be ashamed and embarrassed to be coming before the town with this proposal.

And, what I said was "I have a problem with people using their money to throw their weight around..." I said nothing about people speaking up. All you can talk about is the class warfare aspect- you are ignoring the fact that filling in the beach is a stupid idea because it won't solve the problem. If you want to talk about the pros and cons of filling in the beach, fine. But leave the "Oh, the poor rich people- no body likes them" out of it. No body is sympathetic to that line of commentary.

Filling in the breach is the ONLY way to save the fish pier???

What, so we shouldn't sell houses to 'rich people'?

I have no problem with so called rich people- I DO have a problem with people using their money to throw their weight around. I also am against wasting money on stupid 'solutions'. Even if they do manage to fill in the breach, it's a temporary cure at best. It is absolute folly to attmept to keep the beach the same forever.

Capemom; Another good post! (I liked your previous post, too!)

About all the rich 'swells' leaving Chatham and the Cape in general- gee- then the Cape might be the nice, quiet place it used to be before it was ruined by all these 'swell' folks who came over the bridge with all their money and 'improvements'.

BTW; I grew up in a neighboring town but my kids went through the Chatham school system and there were plenty of 'rich' kids in their classes. Even if the two individuals mentioned don't have kids going to school here, someone paid for their education, so what goes around, comes around. If they can't afford to take care of their own homes, they shouldn't have them. I've never had to ask anyone to bail me out when my home was damaged by a storm (hurricane) and nor did I ask.

Regardless of how you feel about who pays for filling in the breach, many of us would object to the strong possibility of seeing all that money wasted when Mother Nature tears a new breach in the beach- as will inevitably happen.

I say let the concerned homeowners do what they need to do to protect their homes- short of filling in the beach- and let them pay for it themselves. That's the price you pay for being a homeowner no matter where you live and how much money you have.

It's been a long time since I was in the third grade in the 1960's, but I believe that the Cape Cod Times is still at the same location where we took a class trip to visit the "Cape Cod Standard Times" (as it was known, then) to see how newspapers were made. Downtown Hyannis wasn't nearly as crowded then, as it is now. It seems to me that they've out-grown their location and what with the development, horrible traffic and all, the location has out grown them.

CapeMom; I couldn't have said it any better, so I'll just say DITTO!!!

:-D

Congratulations, Danny!

You may not remember me- I went to school with you and your siblings and have run into you off and on over the years. I wouldn't have recognised you with your hair cut off!

I, too, married a foriegner- my husband is Canadian- with a Green card! We are living in the back woods of Florida, now.

I wish you both much happiness! :-D

Interesting read! I love to learn about birds and nature- thanks!

McFly; I wasn't saying that ALL newspaper deliverers were non-aliens, I was just trying to say that there are plenty of Americans who are. Every morning, a group of us would wait for the truck to arrive with our bundles of newspapers and talk and most of us were actually housewives with children who needed a job that would allow us to stay home with our kids during the day.

I delivered papers for eight years and neither myself nor any other newspaper deliverers I knew were aliens, illegal or otherwise.

I lived on Cape for the first 41 years of my life but now live in SW Florida. We were at ground zero when Charley hit in 2004, with sustained winds of 145 miles an hour and peak winds of 172 miles an hour. The initial estimates were that we wouldn’t have electricity for three month, but power was restored to most customers with in a month. Thanks to the National Guard, thousands of Utility and tree workers who arrived from all over the country and Canada, too, we were way ahead of schedule. Destroyed cell phone antenna towers were temporarily replaced by portable antennas- even if the number of calls bogged down the system so much that it was still very difficult to get a call out. Another problem, was places for people to stay. Since almost 100% of homes and businesses – including hotels- were damaged, it was hard enough to house all the residents, never mind the cast of extras- who also needed to eat, by the way.

A little reminder from someone who’s been there- please don’t assume that someone is going to come in and save you after a hurricane happens. Keep hurricane supplies on hand and access your house for its weaknesses. Have hurricane shutters ready to go up at a moment’s notice. (Taping windows is useless.) Be ready to evacuate if you live in a vulnerable neighborhood or if you believe that your house will not stand up to a hurricane and know where you’re going to evacuate to. FEMA is still struggling with the last two hurricane seasons and down here, people are still waiting to resolve Hurricane Charley claims after almost TWO YEARS- so be prepared to take care of yourself and if need be, fix your home and/or business on your own.

Let’s hope that you never need to worry about it, but as they say: “Prepare for the worse, hope for the best!” Good luck to everyone!