Beach photos 4/19/08

Today was a beautiful day. A great day for a walk on the beach. But the condition of the beach from the point to Winthrop is really terrible. Seaview is blocked, so you can't walk out to the beach from there anymore. If you try to get to the beach from the paths at Seacliff or Winthrop, you've got to jump down about 6 feet from the dunes to the beach, because the dunes are just chunked out from the rough weather we had two weeks ago. It's not a gradual drop to the beach, it is a straight cliff. The cliff goes up to about 10-12 feet at Seaview.

The first three photos show the dunes between Seaview and Winthrop. You may be able to jump off the dunes to get down onto the beach, but I had to walk up to Williams to get off the beach, because I couldn't climb back up onto the paths on the dunes.

Seaview

Between Seacliff and Winthrop

What house did this use to belong to? There are rocks and chunks of cement showing up at the base of the dunes on Seaview, they look like pieces of foundation. There was a cinderblock with decorative stone cemented on the front of it.

Small slabs of concrete and rocks.

The houses that look out on the point - with their fresh sand, which looks like it's already half gone. Second load of fresh sand I should say. Those dunes are shearing off too. The township put new beach fencing on TOP of the fresh sand. I thought those fences were supposed to hold the sand back, not decorate the tops of the dunes. The fence won't do much good up there. We need something to hold in the sand. If it had been done right the first time . . .

Look at this junk. There are more snarled up old pilons exposed then I've ever seen.

This is the point. Remember long leisurely walks around the point? It'll take you about 5 minutes to walk the point now. This low tide.

Oh, there's the sand! Out in the middle of the inlet. This is low tide, looking across the inlet towards OC.

April 2008

Click images for larger views.

Coming over the bridge, trying to see what's left of the point. It was high tide and the water was pretty rough.



At the end of Seacliff, looking north. The yellowish sand is the new sand that the township trucked in. As you can see, the waves are already taking big chunks out of the new dunes. I walked to the end of Seacliff and there was about a 5-6 foot cliff to get from the path to the beach. See the footprints on the top of the new dunes? Everyone should know better than to walk up there.





Here is a south view from Seacliff. The dunes there are now 5-6 foot cliffs too. The waves have taken the beach out right up to the beach fence.

Sunset, July 2007

Here's a beautiful sunset photo sent in to the blog from July 2007. Sent in to us by Ben & Liz Pettine, taken by their son Derek. The Pettine family is from West Chester PA, and they have been vacationing in Strathmere forever.
click image for larger view

Photos - Beach replenishment & contruction

Here are some great photos sent to us by Tom Rodgers & Family, who took these photos in Strathmere last week. Click the images for larger views

Seaview, where the trucks were entering the beach to dump the sand -



On the fresh sand at the end of Seaview, looking north -




In the street on Seaview, looking out at the point from between the last two houses -




A view from the point of the houses beachfront on Seaview -




More sand dumped on the beach between Seaview and Seacliff -




On the dune at Seacliff, looking north -




Looking south down the beach -



On the bay side of the point, looking south towards our bridge-




Some current construction in Strathmere -

On Commonwealth & Webster -




On the beach near Sherman -




Nice to see this house on the Point getting a make-over -

Beach Erosion Project underway in Strathmere

STRATHMERE, N.J. - March 3, 2008 (WPVI) -- It's a "beachhead battle" of sorts in Strathmere, New Jersey. An emergency delivery of sand arrived Monday morning. The challenge will be to prevent more erosion before summer.

Watch the video from ABC Action News-

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=5995221

Strathmere residents say police in demand

Strathmere residents say police in demand
By MICHAEL MILLER Staff Writer, 609-463-6712
Published: Thursday, February 14, 2008

UPPER TOWNSHIP - Inadequate policing tops the list of grievances Strathmere residents have against the township in their bid to join Sea Isle City.
At two Planning Board hearings this month, Strathmere residents recounted stories of long waits for State Police to respond to car accidents, attempted burglaries and even citizen arrests of vandals.
Upper Township, Dennis Township and Woodbine are served by the State Police in the Woodbine barracks. Troopers here patrol 132 square miles in northern Cape May County from Eldora to Marshallville to Strathmere.
Over the years, Strathmere developed a lawless reputation among tourists and residents alike who light bonfires and shoot fireworks.
"It's a frontier mentality out here," Strathmere resident Randy Roash said.
In response, the Strathmere Improvement Association and the volunteer fire company pooled their money to pay the State Police about $10,000 during the past two summers to dedicate a trooper to the island a few hours a night on its busy weekends.
Like neighboring Ocean City and Sea Isle City, Strathmere's population swells in the summer. Those neighboring towns have their own police departments and hire seasonal officers to police the overflow crowds.
The fire company and civic group hoped a dedicated police presence would deter people from obnoxious and dangerous behavior such as setting lifeguard stands on fire, parking in front of people's driveways and hosting rowdy parties on the beach.
Fire company President Greg Bennett said it was galling to pay police for protection Strathmere deserved anyway. But he said the fire company and civic group agreed the police deterrence was worth paying the Woodbine barracks $80 per hour.
"That's ridiculous," Woodbine Mayor William Pikolycky said. "You could get a rent-a-cop for cheaper than that."
Pikolycky said the State Police have always provided additional troopers for special events such as festivals at no cost to the borough when it asks. Woodbine once had its own borough police department.
"They've always responded to every request when we had a parade or vendors or just wanted an increased police presence," he said. "We never made any demands, but they realigned shifts to accommodate our requests."
Likewise, Dennis Township Committeewoman Ruth Blessing said her township never paid for any special details to her knowledge.
State Police spokesman Capt. Al Della Fave said nobody in Upper Township has complained to the barracks or State Police headquarters about inadequate policing in Strathmere. The payment arrangement with Strathmere was similar to agreements police strike with utility companies for special details at road projects to slow traffic.
"They were asking for additional coverage. They were getting the regular coverage," he said. "They approached us. We didn't approach them. They had never had complaints about the service provided.
"They asked for it. In the spirit of cooperation, we were willing to help. We made it happen."
Meanwhile, Strathmere's lawyer Mary D'Arcy Bittner is making the case to the Planning Board that island residents would be better served if they could rely on Sea Isle City police.
She subpoenaed the testimony of the Woodbine barracks station commander. But the state Attorney General's office stepped in to prevent him from testifying publicly at the Planning Board hearings. Instead, the agency plans to submit a confidential report outlining its response times and staffing.
The Press of Atlantic City has requested this written testimony.
Sea Isle City police had no such qualms about testifying. Lt. Thomas D'Intino answered more than an hour of questions in public about the city's staffing and response times at the Feb. 2 hearing.
Police staffing is a major expense in municipal budgets. Upper Township has no local purpose tax, thanks in part to its comparatively small payroll.
"Listen, there's no question there's been a concern about police protection and how best to remedy it - not just in Strathmere but everywhere in Upper. We're very comfortable with what the State Police provide," Mayor Richard Palombo said.
To e-mail Michael Miller at The Press:
MMiller@pressofac.com