For those of you that remember Jenette's Pier at whalebone junction on the Outer Banks, you're probably aware that the NC Aquarium aquired the property after the pier was destroyed. Looks like they're finally going to rebuild it:

http://www.bizjournals.com/triad/stories/2009/04/13/daily48.html


OBX correspondnt for TWW Action News,

Jax883

4/16/2009 8:36:15 AM

cool i guess.

i wish it were further south

4/16/2009 8:40:35 AM

Just got a letter from the aquarium folks saying that construction is due to start May 22nd & should last about 22 months:

Quote :

"We would like to make you aware of some of these inconveniences. Pier pilings will be washed down to a certain point, then driven to a final depth. There will be an increase in construction and delivery vehicle traffic around the site. Depending upon the schedule, it may be necessary for some work to be done on weekends. Public access to the beach immediately adjacent to the construction site and parking in the area will be limited. North-South traffic on the beach along the oceanfront will be restricted, and a fence will be constructed at the boundaries of the construction site to limit access. Every effort will be made to minimize these inconveniences."

5/8/2009 2:24:07 PM

I love how the state is willing to build a fucking pier, but is cutting my teaching paycheck right before the fucking summer break when we don't get paid.

5/8/2009 4:10:37 PM

^sucks and it's dumb, eh?

They tried cutting research student's pay, even though many of us get paid through other-than state funds, it just comes in the form of a government check.

5/8/2009 8:23:11 PM

I was going to suggest that they sold bonds to fund the project (in which case they would have no choice in how to spend the money). Apparently not:

Quote :

"Gov. Beverly Perdue has signed legislation authorizing the construction of the new N.C. Aquarium Pier at Nags Head, according to an announcement from her office. The law allows the Aquariums Division of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to build the pier using up to $25 million in existing non-General Fund money. The funding will come from admission receipts, private funds and a storm water pilot project to clean up state-maintained ocean outfalls, the announcement said. [...] The governor’s office estimates construction of the pier will provide 555 on-site jobs and 1,250 off-site jobs and contribute $14 million to the state’s economy."

I am curious--How does it take nearly 2,000 people to build a pier? Where is the other $11 million going if it's not going to the state economy? How much of the money are private funds? Why is it OK to raid the 'Education' Lottery, but not OK to raid a pier building fund? Why is DNR not saving this money to fund their essential core services?

5/9/2009 9:24:51 AM

Trust me....divisions within DENR have been raided. Air Quality has had money taken from them the GA had no business touching, as dollars weren't appropriated.

But that's the only answer I have to your question. The problem is our gov't doesn't know how to cutback non-essential programs in the lean times.

Rob Peter > Pay Paul

5/10/2009 8:34:30 AM

Are you kidding me? I mean I love piers and all, but seriously? Do we really need this when money is needed elsewhere in the state?

5/10/2009 9:03:51 AM

we're building an aquarium on a pier in one of the places that's gets bombed by hurricanes on a yearly basis?

5/10/2009 9:55:01 AM

Quote :

"Air Quality has had money taken from them"

It's all about visibility.

You can point to a pier and say, "Look, we built that pier! Look at it! GAZE UPON ITS MOTHERFUCKING GLORY!!!!!!"

You can't point to air quality and say, "Look, it's better!"

Doesn't matter that improved air quality is actually more important than a pier.

(You really can point to air quality and say it's better, but you have to use numbers and graphs and stuff. Most people are too lazy to understand numbers and graphs and stuff.)

[Edited on May 10, 2009 at 10:36 AM. Reason : ]

5/10/2009 10:32:49 AM

The pier is going to be built withstand stronger storms than we've ever had in recorded history. It's going to put a lot of people to work. A few months ago Dare County's unemployment rate was 17%.

5/10/2009 2:14:20 PM

I don't know how "timing" effects things, but I know this has been in the works for at least a year and a half, so there might have already been money set aside a while back to do it. That doesn't mean that they couldn't have put it on hold and use the money in other key areas, but I don't even pretend to know enough about state budgeting and how much goes to this and how much goes to that. Fuck it, I just live.

5/11/2009 10:36:20 AM

Quote :

"The pier is going to be built withstand stronger storms than we've ever had in recorded history. It's going to put a lot of people to work. A few months ago Dare County's unemployment rate was 17%."

State employees just took a 1/2% pay cut to help fill $63-million in the state's budget hole.

...but it's ok to spend $25-million on a pier in a hurricane prone area during a budget crises.

5/11/2009 10:39:24 AM

budgets and money are dolled out before the shit hit the fan....

5/11/2009 11:56:34 AM

Quote :

"we're building an aquarium on a pier in one of the places that's gets bombed by hurricanes on a yearly basis?"

We get hit every year?! How am I not hearing about all these hurricanes making landfall?

5/11/2009 1:33:55 PM

didn't you hear the entire coast gets wiped clean every year by massive hurricanes

5/11/2009 1:39:06 PM

damn, that global warming is a real bitch!

5/11/2009 1:43:50 PM

I don't really have time to figure out how to smoothly work this into the conversation, so I'm just gonna go ahead and say that I am/was part of the design team on this project. It's been pretty fun so far, as in getting to do stuff you don't do every day.


I don't want to talk about business a whole bunch and whatnot, but this project has been underway for a while now, and there has been a value engineering phase where some cost reductions took place. It's not like this budget wasn't trimmed along with everything else.

5/12/2009 11:57:47 AM

i used to surf by that pier all the time. it's got some nostalgia for me; glad to see it's getting rebuilt.

5/12/2009 12:04:52 PM

Quote :

"The governor’s office estimates construction of the pier will provide 555 on-site jobs and 1,250 off-site jobs"

This is kind of misleading...

i think they mean 550 people will work on this project site at one time or another and 1,250 people will work on this job at one time or another.

same as saying building a building will "create" jobs for construction workers. the workers are already employed...it is just something for them to do.

5/12/2009 1:04:46 PM