Maybe Sand Isn’t Real Estate

The following article “Living On Shifting Sands” written by By Karrie Jacobs appeared in Metropolis Magazine in January .

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy beach communities and their municipalities need to think about smart seaside development, not a return to the status quo. Sea level rise due to climate change is knocking at the door and who is listening?  Casey Danson

Here is an excerpt:

Once upon a time, the Rockaways were a serene coastal retreat for the wealthy. As soon as public transportation made it accessible—the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) got there in 1892—it took on a honky-tonk demeanor, with seaside bathhouses and dance halls. None of that exists today. In fact, there’s a weird lack of visible beach culture there. This is not Venice Beach, Miami, or even Coney Island. Much of the odd emptiness is attributable to (who else?) Robert Moses. In 1938, in the process of building Jacob Riis Park and the Shore Front Parkway, Moses bulldozed bathhouses and amusement parks. In the 1950s, when the IND line of the New York City subway system replaced the LIRR, he razed hundreds of acres of wood-frame bungalows to create superblocks for those Band-Aid-colored towers and land for a string of public housing projects that are now home to more than 10,000 residents. Of Moses, Emil R. Lucev, Sr., author of The Rockaways (Arcadia Publishing, 2007), wrote, “High-rise buildings and roads are his legacy here.”

Read the entire article here:  America – Metropolis Magazine