The federal government is refusing to restore eroded beaches in Pinellas County unless homeowners agree to one condition: public access.

Lisa Hendrickson is almost out of sand.

Hendrickson is the mayor of Redington Shores, Florida, a well-heeled beach town in Pinellas County. Her town occupies a small section of a razor-thin barrier island that stretches down the western side of the sprawling Tampa Bay metro area, dividing cities like Tampa and St. Petersburg from the Gulf of Mexico. Many of her constituents have an uninterrupted view of the ocean.

The town’s only protection from the Gulf of Mexico’s increasingly erratic storms is a pristine beach that draws millions of tourists every year — but that beach is disappearing fast. A series of storms, culminating in last fall’s Hurricane Idalia, have eroded most of the sand that protects Redington Shores and the towns around it, leaving residents just one big wave away from water overtaking their homes.

  • @[email protected]English
    32•5 months ago

    This is 100% some asinine NIMBY boomer idiocy. I am completely behind the Army Corps of Engineers policy here. Greedy, regressive assholes are harming the public good - but it’s like HALF of the people in the affected area. They are fucking around, and they are going to find out, and they will deserve the resulting situation.

    I honestly cannot sympathize with the homeowners. They’re refusing to grant the easements in return for a MASSIVE handout by the ACE that will literally save their properties because they don’t want people sitting on the sea wall near their houses, and then they won’t even consent to a substantially less effective local piecemeal strategy because it’ll partially block their view from a house that’s going to fall into the ocean in 5-10 years because they wouldn’t consent to anti-erosion measures.

    So you know what? Sure; deny climate change, make it illegal to mention in text books, keep your easements and views. I’ll get my popcorn ready for when those dipshits start taking a bath in the gulf while in their living rooms, while complaining that nOboDY CouLd hAVe sEeN tHiS ComMiNG.