Emerald Isle Mayor's Notes
The
following are my comments made at the June 3 dedication of the new
beach access ramps and walkways.
 THANK YOU ALL
for attending today’s dedication of the deck and ramp access to the
beach for both the Western Ocean Regional Access and the Eastern
Ocean Regional Access. Since completion several weeks ago, these
ramps have been heavily used by individuals in wheelchairs,
individuals that find it difficult to navigate steps, families
taking items to the beach, etc. The deck has been used by
individuals that want to see the ocean but find it difficult to walk
in the sand. It has been enjoyed by many and will be enjoyed by many
in the future.
The realization
of this project is truly the result of many working together. On a
project like this, there is never one single beginning point, and it
is virtually impossible to recognize everyone that played a part. I
thank all of you that played a part in making this happen.
Several years
ago the Carteret County Mayor’s Association for Disabilities,
through Randy and Kim Hebert, inquired about how we could get more
handicap beach walkways. One thing led to another and Rudi Rudolph,
Carteret County Shore Protection Officer, organized a meeting among
all Bogue Banks municipalities, CAMA, the Hebert’s, and himself. The
Hebert’s were able to explain the difficulties being encountered by
the handicap community, CAMA was able to explain the types of
construction allowed on the beach and we discussed the challenges of
maintaining different types of structures on the beach. I think
everyone left with a better understanding and a desire to do
something.
In the case of
Emerald Isle, Alesia Sanderson, our parks and recreation director,
put together an application for a grant for these two projects from
CAMA. We were fortunate to receive the grant for 80% of the project;
the Emerald Isle Commissioners provided the other 20% and the
project was off and running. Frank Rush will speak about the
individuals that played a part in getting us from the funding stage
to completion today. This was a true team effort between the Shore
Protection Office, the Mayor’s Committee for Disabilities, CAMA, and
the town of Emerald Isle.
The Emerald
Isle Fire Department has beach wheelchairs that can be used on a
daily basis free of charge and Bruce Norman of our fire department
can relay to you some of the many favorable comments that he has
gotten about the program. Also, the Mayor’s Committee for
Disabilities has received several grants for the Crystal Coast
Tourism Development Authority for the publication of a brochure
about handicap accesses. Carol Lohr and Elizabeth Barrow of the
Tourism Authority are both here today … another example of teamwork.
In closing, I
am very proud of the beach accesses that Emerald Isle provides for
the general public “free of charge.” This past winter I spent two
weeks in Florida
playing golf in two different cities. They had access points that
were comparable to ours, but there was no free parking. There was a
charge to park at all of them. Emerald Isle has four access points
with “free parking” for about 450 vehicles; Bogue Inlet Pier has
additional parking for over 200 vehicles at a free or minimal
charge; and there are 74 additional accesses maintained by the town.
On an annual basis, the town of Emerald Isle spends approximately $150,000 on
trash pickup alone (not to mention the many citizens that walk the
beach to pick up loose trash on a daily basis and we couldn’t keep
the beach clean without them) to maintain its beaches and beach
facilities for the enjoyment of all.
Planning
and finding the resources for parking and access is not easy.
Emerald Isle is proud to have improved beach access significantly
over the last five years and looks forward to more improvements in
the future. Thank you all for
coming and I hope you are as proud as I am and come see us often.
Also, don’t
forget about the brick fundraiser program for additional
EMS equipment and furnishings. We need at least 20 more
purchases to reach the next price break. Look at
www.emeraldisle-nc.org/brick for details or call Kelly Gamble at
252-354-3424 for information.
Read more articles in the
May print edition of Island Review.
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