Beach Dunes

The following was sent to The Press of Atlantic City:

Once again an issue in this city has prompted me to write and weigh in with my opinion. Why do we constantly spend money on services and infrastructure only to spend even more money on the same services and infrastructure. Case in point: the newest cause celebre, the Atlantic City beach dunes. Now we have people complaining that they are too high and they can't see the ocean. The engineers determined the height in order to insure that the dunes will do their job properly, which is to keep said ocean from washing away the beaches. Since the ocean has been stealing the beaches for years, and we have spent countless millions replenishing the sand, a final solution was agreed upon and enacted rather successfully, so far, since it seems the beaches are still here. Now, a few malcontents are lamenting their loss of an ocean view when they stroll down the boardwalk. Maybe they'll be happy when the ocean is once again breaking waves underneath the boardwalk like it had for years. I worked on the boardwalk at (formerly) Illinois Avenue. I watched the water creep closer and closer each year until it finally reached the boardwalk and I think the dunes are a wonderful idea and have saved the beaches through many storms since they were erected.

To recap the events; we paid for constant beach replenishment and then we paid for the current dune project and now we are being asked to pay for their reduction and then we'll have to pay for beach replenishment once again when the beaches wash away. Please don't let the dunes become a money pit like the bus terminal was. As many may recall, the city repaired the old bus station for several million dollars even when they knew it was to be torn down, only to move it to one location and then have to move it YET AGAIN to another location. That was another case of our city fathers spending good money after good money after good money all at the expense of the taxpayers of New Jersey. Can someone, ANYONE, say the buck, literally and finally, stops here?

I can't afford another dollar!

Keep the dunes and keep the beaches!

Mortimer Spreng

Atlantic City, New Jersey.