Thank you Carrie Robertson Meyer,
North Beach Community Association.
Dear Council and city leaders,
Please watch this 5 minute video showing North Beach streets today. We all know it hasn't rained in a while - right? So where'd all this water come from?
The standing water flooding our streets comes from the faulty storm water system on North Beach that is so low that it allows saltwater from the bay to backflow up through the pipes and into the streets on a regular basis.
The only real solution to this longstanding problem is to elevate the low-lying streets and properties with dirt fill so the water has some where to drain to. That's why digging a canal in the center of North Beach at one of the highest points (producing a lot of fill) actually makes sense because that high point (6 feet or so) is where all of North Beach should be in order to survive climate change and to survive into the next few decades as the sea level rises.
I see the cost of the canal and fill as a public-private venture, with the public part being the streets and the private aspect being each private land owner paying to fill his/her own property to reach a certain per-determined elevation. We need to modify our master plan to set that elevation as a standard -- high enough to ensure public safety. Flooded streets are not safe for anyone.
I think there are federal and state government resiliency grants available to help pay for building a new drainage system for North Beach, esp considering how dire the problem is currently -- how unsafe for the public this situation is.
With climate change front and center in politics right now, waterfront communities all over the country will be clamoring for available grant funding, so we should get a head start on them and lead the way into the new era. Having a grant writer for the city who can apply for those grants would be a great investment in taxpayer dollars.