As you may know, a few years ago the Bradley Beach Department of Public Works began cultivating dunes on our beach, by setting out a row of discarded Christmas trees in the sand, about 20 feet east of the boardwalk. The natural movement of the sand resulted in its piling up on, and eventually burying the trees, and the dunes we have today are the result of that. The Public Works staff works year round on maintaining walkable entryways between the dunes, and preventing the dunes from completely overtaking the boardwalk, by moving sand out from behind the dunes and back onto the beach. Some residents have expressed their disappointment that the dunes have blocked their view of the ocean, from the benches on the boardwalk as well as some homes on Ocean Avenue. There is no denying that this has been a very real loss to some people. On the other hand, the dunes are not only a line of defense against a storm surge, they also keep all that sand (that we taxpayers paid all that federal tax money for) on the beach, instead of on the roadway, lawns, and boardwalk. Which saves the town a considerable amount of labor and fuel, and allows us to keep recycling that sand back out onto the berm of the beach. I want to share some photos I took On October 20th, after a storm. It wasn’t the storm of the century, just a two-day storm with some wind-driven rain. Read More »