As the St. Pete Catalyst reports, “Deficient beach infrastructure increased storm flooding. “
During a visit to Indian Rocks Beach to assess the damage from the two hurricanes that hit us in two weeks, County Board of Commissioner Chair Kathleen Peters pointed out how critical the beaches are in protecting people and property and propelling the local economy.
Chairman Peters explained that the six feet of sand that eroded as a result of hurricane Idalia was not there to absorb much of the wave energy that inundated the coastal communities from the last two storms.
So – without time (and the money) to repair the beaches, the “back to-back storms brought billions of dollars in damages to Pinellas County’s coastal communities.”
Chairman Peters – you and I , (and if you surveyed our community, I think you would find most people), are on the same page:
- The beaches are the key to our economy.
- Two hurricanes in two weeks caused massive damage to the beaches and, as a result, to the surrounding communities.
- We were not able to repair the beaches from previous storms because we did not have the money – we were counting on the federal government.
The end result, is that we need to have massive amounts of money so we can protect our beaches from future storms – and we can’t count on bailouts coming from Washington. We need to have a big reserve of our own funds.
Where is source of those funds – the Tourist Development Tax. We can’t afford to invest a big hunk of those funds in a stadium. The stadium doesn’t drive our economy – the beaches do.
