Beach repairing for the start of spring break

[iceangel]

I put this in the Off Topic forum and it did no good!! Since it is hurricane related, I thought I would give this forum a try!!
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http://pensacolanewsjournal.com/sports/ ... 3B25.shtml

Beach businesses repairing for the start of spring break
December 28, 2004
Michael Stewart

@PensacolaNewsJournal.com

Spring break is a little more than three months away and Pensacola Beach business owners are struggling to repair damage by Hurricane Ivan before the tourism season begins.

So far, 18 out of roughly 120 beach businesses have reopened.


A construction crew works to get the Gulf Aire Motel back into shape Monday for the start of the spring tourist season on Pensacola Beach. The motel was heavily damaged during Hurricane Ivan.
Photo by Ben Twingley@PensacolaNewsJournal.com"We're hoping about a third of the businesses will be open by April 1," said Pensacola Beach Chamber of Commerce Director Sandy Johnston.

It could take more than a year for some business owners to rebuild. Storm surge destroyed all but two units at Clarion Suites Resort and Convention Center, for example.

Like many home owners throughout the two-county area, repairs to many Pensacola Beach businesses also are on hold until insurance claims are settled.

"All I wanted for Christmas was my insurance check," said Pensacola Beach businessman Fred Simmons, who owns or partners in two beach motels; the waterfront Paradise Bar & Grill; Geronimo's Spirits; a rental agency and a realty company. "I didn't know we had legalized gambling in Florida. Paying an insurance premium is like gambling because you don't know if you're going to get paid for damages."

Simmons has forged ahead, however. With no income, he is pinning his hopes on a Small Business Administration loan to keep him afloat and offset the $80,000 monthly payments on his various business interests.

His popular local hangout, the Paradise Bar & Grill, is open for business, and work has begun on the Gulf Aire Motel and the Sandpiper Inn, both of which Ivan filled with 5 feet of water. Simmons said he hopes renovations on the motels wrap up by late March or early April in time for spring break.

The motel space is needed. Johnston said phones are ringing off the hook already from people wanting to stay on the beach now or reserve rooms for next year.

So far, the Comfort Inn on Fort Pickens Road and the Hilton Garden Inn on Via de Luna are taking "RTs" -- real tourists -- an acronym that has popped up to differentiate between visitors and the many out-of-town workers staying at area hotels to repair storm damage.

Other beach hotels, such as the Hampton Inn and Springhill Suites, both on Via de Luna, likely won't reopen until the summer, beach officials said.

"We're actively engaged in preparing insurance claims to help everyone get operational," Santa Rosa Island Authority general manager Monte Blews said. "We are hoping we will have very good spring break season."

The news is not all bad. When the businesses reopen, some will be better. Both the Gulf Aire and Sandpiper Inn, which Simmons plans to combine into the Paradise Inn, are among the oldest motels on the beach. Simmons said he plans to install raised tongue-and-groove pine ceilings and retrofit the motels in a plush boutique motor lodge motif.

"It's going to be like something out of the past brought into the modern century," Simmons said.
©The Pensacola News Journal
December 28, 2004

[depotoo]

wow! surprising there are so many that still haven't re-opened. thanks for sharing.

[iceangel]

http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/lif ... 2F5B.shtml

Newcomer’s view: Despite Hurricane Ivan, the region’s natural beauty is still breathtaking and unmatched
December 30, 2004
Lynette Wilson

@PensacolaNewsJournal.com

I don't know what Pensacola looked like before Hurricane Ivan.

When the storm hit, I was safely nestled in northeastern Louisiana.

The closest I had ever come to Pensacola was in the late 1980s. I was 14 and vacationing with my parents. We spent a night in Fort Walton Beach. I remember the room, with a Gulf view, costing $90.

Before Ivan hit, my former editor at The News-Star in Monroe, La., asked if I wanted to cover the storm. I didn't hesitate. The answer, of course, was yes. Who in my position would say no?


Lynette Wilson, who moved to Pensacola after Hurricane Ivan, only knows what she’s seen so far of the town. She has been impressed with how much “green space” is devoted to residents in the city. She is shown at Bayview Park near her home in East Hill. Gary McCracken@PensacolaNewsJournal.comOn Sunday, Sept. 19, photographer Brandi Jade Thomas and I left Louisiana in a GMC Safari.

We didn't know what to expect. Obviously at the time, I didn't have a personal connection to Pensacola and could write with a certain amount of detachment. I felt fortunate to cover the aftermath and was ready to do the job.

We exited Interstate 10 at Davis Highway, and other than downed trees along the roadway, we hadn't seen much destruction. The gas lines and lack of working traffic signals were our first look at Hurricane Ivan.

Then we saw the destruction. It was surreal; an unbelievable amount of damage. But we were more concerned about arriving at the newspaper on time.

We had MapQuest driving directions to the News Journal's office -- not that there were street signs to guide our journey. But we made it.

When we walked into the newsroom, my heart began to race. I wanted to work, after all, that was the only reason I had to be here.

The work was great. I was energized. It was an excellent experience professionally. But I would be leaving something out if I didn't say I felt awkward. Looking around the newsroom, I didn't know who lost what or how the News Journal's employees had been personally affected. And for the most part, I didn't ask. Probably because I didn't know what to say to someone who lost everything. "Hey, look on the bright side." Please.

The loaners from other Gannett newspapers stuck together for the most part -- since most of us were staying in the same hotel, with hot water and electricity no less. More than many of our Pensacola colleagues had.

About this series

Hurricane Ivan's impact on the area and its residents will be felt for a long time. This week, a few staffers will share their thoughts about the storm's presence in their lives as the new year approaches.I lived in New York City when al-Qaida suicide-bombed two planes into the World Trade Center's Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001.

This was, of course, an entirely different situation. But on that Sept. 12, I got out of bed and kept moving forward.

I left New York nine months later because I wanted to experience the Deep South and become a more experienced reporter. And, to this day, I feel guilty for having walked away from the city when it was just beginning to rebuild.

I imagine Pensacolians feel a similar commitment to ride out the recovery. To pick up the pieces and make Pensacola stronger.

About a month ago, I moved to Pensacola and became the News Journal's environmental reporter. And I became part of Pensacola's recovery team.

Honestly, I expected a much faster debris cleanup, but I don't really see the debris so much.

I see the water. So much water.

The birds. The many, many parks in my East Hill neighborhood. I can see why people live here. It's not a mystery.

What worries me, however, is that when I talk to environmentalists about the area, they don't say, "You should have seen Pensacola before Ivan." They say, "You should have seen Pensacola in the '50s, '60s and '70s," before pollution became a big problem, or at least hit the radar in the way of fish kills, increased incidences of cancer, toxic plumes and polluted waterways.

It's the unnatural environmental degradation that really, I think, is such a heartbreaking story.

A friend of mine owns a Cessna. He flew in from Louisiana recently and took me up in the plane. We flew east along the beach. It was a clear day and we could see for miles. The white sand and the green water spread out before us for what looked like forever. Despite Ivan, the region's natural beauty is still breathtaking and unmatched.

Then looking to the left, we could see all the blue roofs and the infrastructure and structural damage.

Maybe my vision is clouded after living in the impoverished Mississippi Delta for two years, and the same likely holds true for my friend, a Washington, D.C., native, because when we flew over Pensacola, the damage played second fiddle to the beauty.

Most people I've talked to about the hurricane refer to Ivan as the worst they can remember. And many remember at least two if not three previous hurricanes.

I've spoken to elderly people who have lived in Florida all of their lives. I haven't spoken to anyone who plans to leave.

Aside from being home to many Pensacolians, this is a desirable place to live because of the coastal environment.

I mean no disrespect to anyone who suffered as a result of Ivan, but I cannot help but think that you can rebuild a house, a building, a business, a road, and material goods can be replaced, all relatively easily compared to the cost of destroying the natural environment.

Lynette Wilson became the Pensacola News Journal's environmental reporter in November.
©The Pensacola News Journal
December 30, 2004