“The arts was and continues to be a magnet for my mind and soul, and it was so obvious to me that life without the arts would just be flat,” – Oleg Guerrand-Hermès
Cultured (10-27-2023)
If Hurricane Rebuilding Is Affordable Only for the Wealthy, This Is the Florida You Get | Opinion
– the New York Times (09-27-2024)
Excerpt:
When Hurricane Ian, the costliest storm in Florida’s history, made landfall nearly a year ago, a storm surge as high as 15 feet left the town of Fort Myers Beach nearly submerged for several hours.
Today a drive across the island reveals countless properties recently cleared of debris selling for millions and even tens of millions of dollars…
The rapid redevelopment of coastal communities like Fort Myers Beach in the face of sea level rise and more intense storms and hurricanes mirrors a phenomenon sweeping beachfronts around the world: upscaling, the practice of replacing old or more modest homes, condos and hotels with more expensive versions, largely thanks to the high cost of building up to new storm-resistant codes and the potentially uninsured risks associated with doing so.
Despite their intent to make coastal communities safer and more resilient, Florida’s building codes can actually complicate resilience efforts in the long term. Buildings constructed with concrete and other stiff materials represent a doubling down on Gulf Coast living as climate change makes Atlantic hurricanes more powerful and more likely to hit that very coast. And taxpayers, along with the federal, state and local governments, must foot the bill to maintain eroding beaches and flood-prone coasts.
And yet we could be making other plans for these communities. There are policies that would encourage people to move away from the coast, as well as new possibilities for movable and flexible structures.
Before the storm hit, Fort Myers Beach was a colorful, pleasantly ramshackle town along a fairly perfect seven-mile stretch of sand. Its single-story bungalow homes and condo buildings gave middle-class sun seekers entree into beachside living. Its low-slung motels welcomed travelers from both the Midwest and within Florida. Many returned year after year.
A few bigger hotels, like the Lani Kai, a pastel-colored resort once popular with spring breakers, dotted choice beachfront lots. But as the cleanup efforts finally give way to planning and rebuilding, it looks as if large, high-end hotels and condos will eventually dominate the beachfront. The new version of local color is best embodied by the 254-room Margaritaville Resort, which broke ground in 2021 and has been built, fittingly, on property that was cleared out by Hurricane Charley in 2004. On the beachfront beyond, the construction of multimillion-dollar homes, condos and tourist lodging will undoubtedly soon rev up.
Upscaling is often an answer to overtourism, since higher-end hotels can bring in strong revenue while lowering density: Ten tourists spending a collective $30,000 put less strain on local resources and patience than 60 budget travelers spending the same amount. Resort developers are also encouraged by what they see on the ground, where luxury properties have been outperforming the overall hotel market in terms of growth and market share for years now. For their part, governments welcome the tax revenues generated by lofty room rates.
But upscaling is also a consequence of confronting climate change, especially in the aftermath of a devastating storm like Ian. Stringent building codes and dysfunction in the insurance industry have driven the cost of rebuilding beyond the reach of many current property owners, including small-scale developers. As a result, Fort Myers Beach’s high-end redevelopment has been sped up by years, if not decades, in the wake of Ian…
Beaches | Coasts of the Month . . .
Photos of the Month . . .
Hurricane Milton
NBC News (10-10-2024)
As Hurricane Milton continues to move toward the Atlantic Ocean, residents in Florida are assessing the damage and power outages as rescue crews sweep flooded areas.
CNN (10-10-2024)
CNN's Isabel Rosales is on the scene in Hillsborough County where rescue operations are underway in an assisted living facility. Later, CNN's Kate Bolduan speaks with U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Deanne Criswell about the damage Hurricane Milton left behind.
Hurricane Milton Is Terrifying, and It Is Just the Start
By Porter Fox | Opinion
the New York Times (10-8-2024)
As Hurricane Milton roars toward Florida’s west coast with winds that spiked to a staggering 180 miles per hour, we are witnessing a new reality. Supercharged hurricanes are no longer outliers, freak disasters or storms of the century. Fossil fuel pollution has made them a fixture of life around the world, and they are going to get worse — with millions of people in their cross hairs.
Many Americans refuse to believe that a major hurricane could hit them. The United States government isn’t much better. Flood insurance remains optional for many coastal residents. Homes continue to be built — and rebuilt — in low-lying flood zones. State governments often lack the funds and staffing to manage recovery. Some loans from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to rebuild are contingent on good credit. But if we are going to withstand this new era of extreme weather, we need to be honest about what has become the most expensive and deadliest kind of natural disaster in the country…