Last edited Fri Nov 2, 2012, 05:42 PM - Edit history (1)
I grew up in the hills of Staten Island (Sunset Hill / West Brighton) and ranged over every open patch of land there I could, but left for more rural locales after 1989. Too many of my favorite childhood patches of swampy woodland or saltwater marsh, places I loved to explore & walk my grandparents' dog & go birding or mushroom hunting, all fell to 'development.' The houses in Bull's Head now sit where freshwater wetlands would routinely drench me up to my knees or higher. The last time I was in Staten Island (years ago - 2005-ish?), a gas station sat atop some brackish wetlands in Linoleumville I distinctly remember having to swim across channels after getting a little lost. I was incredulous that it got permitted, but that's what big bucks and a 'mitigation' (BS) plan will buy you I guess. All asphalt now, so of course the storm waters rose higher!
I have nothing but compassion & respect for all the Staten Islanders who have lost their homes. This devastation is not their fault, except perhaps in the most tangential of ways that it is ALL our fault - all of us who drive cars and otherwise consume material and energy resources. HOWEVER, those assholes who rubber-stamped all the coastline development, all the wetlands in-fill, all the greedy over-development? They deserve nothing but contempt.
I agree, ChisolmTrailDem, many of the neighborhoods devastated by Sandy should NOT be rebuilt. This is a chance for wetlands restoration and some advance mitigation of the impacts of the NEXT storm, which will surely come. Plus, Staten Island could benefit from some more open-park space and public, natural waterfront lands.
-app
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