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Saturday, November 03, 2007
People traversing Times Square in Manhattan were temporarily distracted Friday from tracking Hurricane Noel's path as vivid color photographs of Palm Beach County beaches flashed on the Jumbo-Tron there.
Instead of the tiny portion eroded by Noel on its path up the Eastern Seaboard, the photos featured the 45 miles of beaches that remain open for swimming, surfing and strolling, and which are a significant draw for tourism.
The images are part of a damage-control campaign by the Palm Beach County Convention & Visitors Bureau to counter negative depictions of the county's beaches appearing in the news.
The bureau's new leader launched the offensive after a recent Weather Channel segment used erosion in Jupiter to characterize the whole county.
Using the slogan, "Always a Beach in Palm Beach County," bureau President and CEO Jorge Pesquera sent an image-bolstering release to 4,900 national news outlets, television "markets of influence," and national news gatherers including NBC, CBS, CNN, ABC, Fox News, MSNBC and The Weather Channel.
"The overwhelming majority of beaches ... are open, accessible and welcoming to visitors," Pesquera said, and reports of countywide beach erosion are "false."
Pesquera based his message on the findings of Dan Bates, director of the Palm Beach County Environmental Enhancement & Restoration Division.
Bates said only two miles of the county's 47 miles of coastline are areas of critical erosion concern.
"There will always be a beach here for visitors," Bates said. "It is part of the natural process for beaches to erode and expand."
Pesquera acknowledged that rougher ocean conditions likely kept "all but the most ardent surfers from the water."
Nonetheless, "the beaches never closed and, other than swimming restrictions, beach recreation has not been impeded," he said.
The bureau also filed a complaint with The Weather Channel and contacted the reporter "who was making these outlandish statements based on an isolated situation in Jupiter," Pesquera said.
Michael W. Sole, secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, sent staff into the field this week to evaluate the effects to the shoreline from the combined effects of Noel and a high-pressure system off Northeast Florida.
"DEP is working on how to expedite permitting to allow communities to recover and protect property," Sole said.
Areas that might need permitting assistance include portions of the beach south of Jupiter Inlet, segments of Singer Island, the Lantana Public Beach, and part of Palm Beach and South Palm Beach, according to the DEP.
For permitting questions, call (850) 488-7708, or see www.dep.state.fl.us/beaches.
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