Glad to see that money from other states will be used to buy up homes of the 1% crowd along the water. This whole thing is disgusting and is not the proper use of federal money. Individuals and states should pay for the risks they take.
Let’s see. I’m the lucky guy who’s well-built beach house wasn’t ruined, while the rest of my neighbors were. The government buys them out and rehabs the land, leaving me the sole house on the block. As such, I’m surrounded by pristine park-like areas which can never be redeveloped. My house value skyrockets because of the ‘exclusivity’. Not bad. Guess I’d pass on the buyout.
In the long run, the tax payers will pay less to buy a lot adn put a picnic table on it than to keep replacing the structure and furnishings with every storm. NFIP and FEMA both should be in support of this kind of action nationwide.
I wrote to Gov. Christie months ago about the need for downzoning & relocation to safer places, and he still hasn’t replied. I haven’t given up either; this is the sort of work I got my college education for. I seriously doubt the residents of Union Beach really “understand the risks.” I doubt Christie does, either. Let’s see their academic backgrounds in the Earth Sciences. I’m qualified. Repeat victimization costs not only taxpayers, but consumers who have to compete with repeat victims for the natural resources replacement buildings and possessions are made from. But being nasty to the victims can’t be very productive. Read Aesop’s fable about The Wind and the Sun. I’ve called my approach “one-and-done.”
“…but [Christie] does not want to force people to sell.”
Pardon the expression, but isn’t that big of him? This is what passes for a conservative these days. He loves the concept of NFIP, which is to blame for enticing people to build in these risky locations to begin with. Now he wants to buy them out with money taken by force from those of us who had enough sense not to take the government bait.
The bossy loudmouth Christie promotes all manner of redistributionist scams, but we’re supposed to think he’s a great limited-government guy because he stops short of ordering people out of their homes at gunpoint. Sheesh.
“They understand the risks.” I’m sure they do. And they also understand that when they are bitten by those risks, the insurance that they were not charged an adequate price for will be there, since the government can’t go out of business. No matter how much money it loses, it will simply force all of us to cough up more. Then the politicians pat themselves on the back for being so compassionate, and the cycle starts anew.
I don’t understand why this is a complicated problem. You stop subsidizing what should be risk retained by these residents. You do this by: 1) Don’t subsidize flood insurance in these areas. 2) Make these areas ineligible for federal disaster aid. If people there want to risk their own money, fine and dandy. Just leave me alone.
Glad to see that money from other states will be used to buy up homes of the 1% crowd along the water. This whole thing is disgusting and is not the proper use of federal money. Individuals and states should pay for the risks they take.
I guess the country is really poor if I’m in the one percent as my only home worth $150,000 was destroyed in the storm.
Let’s see. I’m the lucky guy who’s well-built beach house wasn’t ruined, while the rest of my neighbors were. The government buys them out and rehabs the land, leaving me the sole house on the block. As such, I’m surrounded by pristine park-like areas which can never be redeveloped. My house value skyrockets because of the ‘exclusivity’. Not bad. Guess I’d pass on the buyout.
Proof again he’s not fit to run for president. Spending others people money is already the norm in the white house. You can keep him NJ.
FEMA should have remapped these areas years ago and people would have had a flood policy. Any if they didn’t it’s their own freaking fault.
In the long run, the tax payers will pay less to buy a lot adn put a picnic table on it than to keep replacing the structure and furnishings with every storm. NFIP and FEMA both should be in support of this kind of action nationwide.
I wrote to Gov. Christie months ago about the need for downzoning & relocation to safer places, and he still hasn’t replied. I haven’t given up either; this is the sort of work I got my college education for. I seriously doubt the residents of Union Beach really “understand the risks.” I doubt Christie does, either. Let’s see their academic backgrounds in the Earth Sciences. I’m qualified. Repeat victimization costs not only taxpayers, but consumers who have to compete with repeat victims for the natural resources replacement buildings and possessions are made from. But being nasty to the victims can’t be very productive. Read Aesop’s fable about The Wind and the Sun. I’ve called my approach “one-and-done.”
“…but [Christie] does not want to force people to sell.”
Pardon the expression, but isn’t that big of him? This is what passes for a conservative these days. He loves the concept of NFIP, which is to blame for enticing people to build in these risky locations to begin with. Now he wants to buy them out with money taken by force from those of us who had enough sense not to take the government bait.
The bossy loudmouth Christie promotes all manner of redistributionist scams, but we’re supposed to think he’s a great limited-government guy because he stops short of ordering people out of their homes at gunpoint. Sheesh.
“They understand the risks.” I’m sure they do. And they also understand that when they are bitten by those risks, the insurance that they were not charged an adequate price for will be there, since the government can’t go out of business. No matter how much money it loses, it will simply force all of us to cough up more. Then the politicians pat themselves on the back for being so compassionate, and the cycle starts anew.
I don’t understand why this is a complicated problem. You stop subsidizing what should be risk retained by these residents. You do this by: 1) Don’t subsidize flood insurance in these areas. 2) Make these areas ineligible for federal disaster aid. If people there want to risk their own money, fine and dandy. Just leave me alone.