Sandy - are we fools to rebuild/federally re-insure in the same demolished areas?

Submitted by Jeff Buster on Sat, 01/05/2013 - 15:52.
Sandy - are we fools to rebuild/federally re-insure in the same demolished areas?

 image is a mash up of images  from Google images search for "aerial views of Sandy damage".

Of course the local communities cannot pay their municipal pensions without the continued real estate tax income from ALL the real estate destroyed by the hurricane.  So, like fools, it will all be rebuilt in the same zone, and, soon, will be destroyed again - round and round like the cyclone or the Ferris wheel

But we need taxes from every bit of buildable land - especially along the beaches - which enjoy fresh air.    No zoning department will nix re-building stupidity if taxes are nixed too.  

And the feds will continue to provide flood insurance - but I bet the insurance doesn't pay the full payout - taxpayers do!  This isn't just Mr. Christie's or Mr. Obama's political problem,  this is a long range national problem.   Here at Compeditive Enterprise Institute is a conservative review of the flood insurance which was legislated in 1968

After Katrina the plan was 18 billion in debt and congress was considering forgiving the entire debt.    That's not reasonable.  Here is another review from the Washington Post - the upshot is that if you live above flood water - you are paying for the folks to rebuild on the beach.

So maybe those 67 republican congressmen who refused to vote for Sandy aid are not being so unreasonable....

 

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Power lines

Sadly we are going to make the same mistakes ...over and over...again.  New Yorker has a great article:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/01/07/130107fa_fact_klinenberg

NJ requires rebuilt houses go up on stilts or pay $

 Flood maps seem pretty scientific since they are a combination of topography and flood flow volume and velocity.    

But to a developer flood maps are merely another small challenge - changing a flood map can bring in millions of dollars of profit.   Take a flood area which is under water and make it dry land - you can do this on a map!  nd then the land is much more valuable!

This type of map twisting will now take place more and more in NJ where re-building of the Sandy Storm damaged buildings are required to be raised up on stilts - or pay more flood insurance.  

 Raising the structures is an intermediate step which will allow the property owners to stay on location, and a step which will allow the local municipality to continue to collect real estate taxes on the property.    The second reason is the most important!

You can read about the new stilt requirement here at USA Today.