Sunday, July 21, 2013

Poineers!, Oh Pioneers!


To paraphrase a Walt Whitman poem:

Come my tan-faced children,
Follow well in order, get your lawyers ready,
Have you your agenda? have you your sharp-edged tongues?
Pioneers! O pioneers!


Once again this town commission is already girding up its loins to do legal battle with all those who would criticize yet another uninformed venture by a failed group of people who speak with a single tongue it seems. It should be noted that this commission has so far lost every single legal squabble they have precipitated.

This time it will be very expensive and actually create more problems for future generations of taxpayers than the commission's north end beach plan might help.

Below are images of every inlet in the state of Florida. I include them so taxpayers can clearly understand that building two groins at the north end is unique. No other county or municipality has chosen to build groins near an inlet. Why?

I want to use images to try to inform residents just how ill- advised it is to spend tens of millions to construct unneeded groins that will severely and quickly erode Beer-can Island which is county property. Manatee County will surely take issue with their beach being ravaged as the result of two groins adjacent to the island and demand that the beaches not only be restored, but also maintained on a yearly basis. This will be extremely expensive for Longboat taxpayers, year after year. 

If you look at the various inlets you will notice that every single one has two jetties, one on either side of the inlet, and not a single inlet has groins. Does that make you wonder why it is that the town commission has decided to become pioneers in inlet management? 

Do you know that the commission is ready to spend $25 million dollars of your tax dollars on a scheme proposed by people who stand to make millions on the project, without asking for advice from a single outside independent qualified engineering company? Would you be so trusting?

Even though Florida created statutes to encourage investigation of alternative ways of maintaining our beaches, this commission has chosen to proceed in complete ignorance of  what is being done in other communities around the world.

Below are two pictures of the proposed groins at the north end. The second shows how the beach will fare if no groins are erected. There is not enough difference to merit spending tens of millions of tax dollars. Additionally, the town manager has repeatedly cautioned the commission that groins require more sand replenishment than leaving the beach in its natural state. 


Groins and erosion down-drift.
Looking at the Islander, it will
much more severe.

Natural beach with projected erosion

Because this commission refuses to ask for input from other communities that have successful inlet management programs, we taxpayers may end up spending much more money than we need to. Ignorance seldom produces good results. It is important to email the commissioners and demand that they act prudently and in our best interests.

The rational approach to managing our beaches adjacent to our two inlets would be to seek input from communities with successful programs. 

Then there is the issue of spending our money to maintain Beer-can Island which belongs to the county to which we send eighty percent of our Manatee county taxes. Why is this commission asking taxpayers to pay and pay and pay, when we should be demanding the county control their inlet that is responsible for gobbling up 86% of the sand lost off the north end beaches - 86%!

Here are images of every other inlet in Florida - notice NO GROINS.