Governor Christie: We Need To Get Moving On These Dunes Projects

Well the water's receding, we see that already in the places that high tide was at 7 am this morning. As the day progresses, that water is receding back out. And what we're hearing is that there won't be enough water that is stayed when combined with what is going to come in in a more moderate way in the 7 pm high tide in order to necessitate evacuations broadly or be concerned about significant property damage. You know we're always going to have a bit of property damage. And this is a good opportunity to talk about this.

If you look at what's happening in Margate, in Point Pleasant Beach, two places that are fighting hard against the dunes. You know I saw today on your Philadelphia affiliates that early this morning already there was significant water in the streets in Margate and ice that was floating up the streets, that had already gone up the wall the residents in and government says is good enough to protect them from any storm. Well this is certainly not Superstorm Sandy and the streets were flooded this morning at 8 a.m.

Point Pleasant Beach same thing, there is significant tide coming in and again, these are folks who are fighting against it and here's the result of it: not just the Point Pleasant Beach but if you look at Ortley Beach which is part of that project which has been stopped because of the objections of 17 people in Point Pleasant Beach and about 30 people in Bayhead, Ortley Beach is being pounded. Now we put a lot of sand up there at the request of the Mayor of Toms River. But that sand is washed away and if we had the dune project moving and close to completion in that area, those people at Ortley Beach would not be suffering the damage and the loss they are today.

So, if the people in Ortely Beach sustain the kind of loss and damage they can send their thank you notes to the people in Bayhead and the people in Point Pleasant who continue to fight what is environmentally sound and necessary project. To give you a point contrast in Mantaloking, where we have the sheet piling project done on Route 35, Route 35 is open in Mantaloking.

And so you know we really need to get moving on these dunes projects it's 3 years post Sandy, this should not be held up by what I really believe are a few very selfish homeowners who do not want to give into the idea that we have to build these dunes by using the fake excuse that somehow I want to build a boardwalk or a ferris wheel or a hot dog stand or public bathrooms on the strip of land that we're taking. It's a ridiculous idea, put forward by some selfish folks and their selfish lawyers who are just looking to make money off this. So I am going to down there look at this myself today.

Not to Margate but to the Point Pleasant area as well to see exactly what we need to do to be able to speak to people in the public much more about this and to provide information to the court when this is ultimately litigated.

Source