djmich
Footballguy
Really no need for this in this thread.People have lost a lot and are using this thread for support and help.Fair enough, and perhaps I did not make my points clear. Yes, I'm annoyed with the rich who own beach houses. Yes, I think people who built houses in Belle Harbor or Long Beach accepted the risk of living on what amounts to a barrier beach. Not ritzy places, not cheap either. I'm sure most of those folks never thought they would experience a tidal surge like the one Sandy brought, but frankly, they should have. Flooding in those areas has occurred before. Many times, in fact. They should have understood the risks. Further east, places that never flooded before did flood. I really feel for those folks. People living 1/4 to a 1/2 mile away from the water never could have expected an event like this.maybe I did misunderstand but you did say the homes in the NE which implied all of them. and also, i didnt lose anything. didnt want anyone thinking i did. i live in staten island but NOT in an evacuation zone.Sorry if you misunderstood. I in fact simply stated that many areas were middle class, and some depressed, like parts of the Roackaways. I don't lump in people whose houses were inland that got flooded either. I rather specifacally talked about houses built on sand. So, contarilly, I will chalk up your response to being beyond just upset, but having your life turned upside down and ruined from a point of having lost so much. There are MANY others all across the south shore of LI who are not in the least wealthy, nor do they live on a freakin canal or even within blocks and blocks of the shore line. I'm NOT talking about those unfortunates. I'm talking about freakin Fire Island, th Hamptons, million dollar homes built on the water.sorry you dont know what youre talking about. Midland Beach and New Dorp in Staten Island are NOT rich areas with expensive houses. Tottenville is a rich area. the houses that got destroyed werent even beachfront homes. the storm surge came inland quite a bit. you couldnt be more wrong about your description of the houses lost. these were bungalows and blue collar families. your whole post couldnt be more wrong and ill just chalk it up to you not having any power and being cranky or not getting whole picture but evrything u said makes me very upset.The out of state workers ahve been freakin awesome, in so far as I have ineracted with them. I spoke with two of the linemen who were working to restore my power. They were from Illinios. Twice they worked 18 hour shifts here, and slept in thier trucks those two nights. Said they had finally been given rooms in some flea bag hotel. Granted, they are making huge overtime bucks, but still... they are sacraficing.
FEMA and the Red Cross. Worthless. The Red Cross will NEVER see a dime from me. When they gave out blankets after 9-11 at ground zero, and then sent bills to the people they gave them too... they and their 1200 6 figure administrators can kiss my buttocks. The Red Cross is a federally approved scam, always has been. Now the Salvation Army... different story. They quietly help people and do it without expecting anything in return. Even my old man said so based on his experiences in WWII. When I served the country, I found the same thing.
Find ways to donate and help OUTSIDE of the Red Cross. The sad thing is that 99% of the Red Cross volunteers are hard working well intentioned people who are betrayed by the Red Cross as much as the victims they claim to serve are.
Yes, I have whined a bit. I pay the highest utility rates in the country, and don't have a viable company to provide that service. I have a right to complain, and the fact that others have suffered far worse does not diminish my right to be outraged.
I have not forgotten those who have lost everything. However, I did not choose to build a house on sand. Having said that... I have always felt those who are willing to live on a beach know the risks. The quality of life is great, but there IS risk. One hopes that living on a barrier beach or island never does bite them in the buttocks, but...
I DO feel horribly for the shore line home owners. The sad truth is you take that risk, you may pay for it some day. Hurricane Sandy was that day. I have always resented the amount of $$$ the feds through the Army Corp of Engineers has spent every single year on Long Island, dredging, rebuilding the sand bars, reinforcing the sand dunes... it's freakin sand. There is a LOT of money in the Hamptons and Fire Island. Houses built on sand. It's gonna move, sooner or later.
IMO, it boils down to this in most of the beachfront communities: it costs a lot to live there, that money buys them an inordinant amount of influence and money spent to defend those properties, and money just isn't enough to keep a house built on stilts safe.
It's sand. It shifts, it moves, it gets flooded. Don't build a house there and complain when the inevitable eventually happens. Be well insured, and prepared lose everything and to rebuild WHEN, not IF the time comes.
The homes lost in the NE here was not the 9th ward. Those homes in NOLA were below sub standard housing, a refuge for the poor. Most of the homes destroyed here were homes that cost a pretty penny. Sections, like parts of the Rockaways were not affluent, but these homes for the most part were owned by people with means. Middle class and higher.
What am I trying to say? The people mad ehomeless by Sandy are far more able to recover their lives than the poor refugees of Katrina. We DO need to help them as much as we possibly can to rebuild their homes and lives. I would suggest some of them consider higher ground, or accept the idea that this WILL happen again. Sooner or later. You want to live on a beach... the ocean will eventually once again become an uninvited guest.
Long Beach is hardly affluent but it's a FREAKIN beach, OK? Even though it's a middle class area, it's a freakin beach. Put a house on sand... and roll the dice, because the ocean put that sand there, and the ocean will some day come back to try and reclaim it. That doesn't mean I don't feel terribly, I don't have compassion for those folks. I do. In spades.
People who had their homes float away are swearing hey will return and rebuild. All I'm sayin is I don't think that's such a good idea... unless you are willing to go through this nightmare all over again.
Maybe I'm just nuts, but I have looked at exactly how many feet above sea level my house actually is. 24 feet, and miles away from the water, like 8 or 9. If I were living within a mile of the coast and only 8 feet above sea level...well, one has to understand a catastrophe could occur. I'm just saying that it should not have been the surprise it was for a lot of people. They should have made themselves more aware of their individual risk, however unlikely.
Spilt milk. It happened, and it's awful. But if you insist on rebuilding where it flooded... when you could choose a safer place to live, I'm just not sure you have a functioning brain.
Telling someone they "don't have a functioning brain if you insist on rebuilding where it flooded" is pretty disrespectful.
