The pier itself has been having issues for over a decade, been opened and closed, they’ve tried to repair it many times (man, if only California wasn’t wasting hundreds of billions of dollars on graft, waste, fraud, illegal aliens), but, now
El Niño turns crumbling California pier into climate battleground over what to save — and who pays
As a historic El Niño supercharges the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco experiences record high seasonal sea levels, the latest structural casualty of intense wave action is prompting Bay Area politicians to call for help from the state and federal governments.
They want to rebuild a concrete pier shut down this month after officials deemed it unsafe because of cracking from decades of pounding surf and storms.
As waves crashed against the derelict structure Monday morning, U.S. Rep. Sam Liccardo (D-San José) held a news conference and asked the federal government to follow through on $50 million in climate resilience funding promised by the Biden administration but terminated by the Trump administration in 2025.
See, it’s Trump’s fault!
The city of Pacifica had been on the shortlist for the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, managed through FEMA. California and 22 other states successfully sued to reinstate the program, but the funding has yet to be allocated.
Liccardo also asked for nearly $1 million in promised funds from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for a handrail project on the pier and an additional $9 million to protect coastal bluffs.
So, he asked for a lot of money that wouldn’t actually fix the pier. Oh, and there’s just one problem
The issues actually go back further. Why didn’t the State Of California fix it? Or the city of Pacifica, which owns it? The Biden admin had 4 years to do this. The money was allocated but never dispersed by the Biden admin.
Coastlines are already being buffeted and inundated by rising seas. With the closed-off Pacifica Municipal Pier in the background, local politicians and community members said they’re on the front lines and want to rebuild.
“Pacifica is ground zero for coastal resilience,” said state Sen. Josh Becker (D-Menlo Park), as he asked Gov. Gavin Newsom to declare a state of emergency and “help us fix this pier and help this community recover again.”
It’s California: the coast is always being buffeted, especially up north around the Bay area. Pacifica is just to the south of San Francisco, which shows .65 feet of sea rise per century. Average. A big nothingburger.
Anyhow, maybe California should fix their own shit. The ocean actually doesn’t look like much in Pacifica. And here’s the pier. Why is it that we in NC can fix our own piers after big storms such as Noreasters, tropical storms, and hurricanes without depending on Los Federales?
The payoff to the California Coastal Commission should suck up a big chunk of the money they are begging for.