Sand blown by a Nor'easter this month sweeps across the beach in Sea Isle City.
Letters: Let's stop throwing money into the ocean
Your article about the impact of this most recent storm on New Jersey beaches missed the point ("Shoring up after a wipeout," Tuesday). There will always be storms, and they will always strip sand off Jersey beaches.
As someone who has vacationed in Strathmere for many years, I know the pleasures of a beautiful beach. But one has to begin to question how much of our common resources we are going to use to try to keep sand on these beaches. There was a massive beach restoration project conducted all summer on the Strathmere and Sea Isle City beaches. People working the project told me they were essentially digging sand off the ocean floor that had been poured onto Ocean City beaches in earlier restoration projects. After thousands of dollars, nature has just washed this sand back into the ocean.
When can a reasonable discussion take place about pouring our tax dollars into the ocean? Home and business owners will need to be compensated for loss of property, but this continual waste of public money has to be questioned at a time when major infrastructure projects go unfunded. The story isn't that nature moves sand from place to place, but, rather, what is a rational response to this enduring reality?
Jean Hunt
Philadelphia
