美国国家公共电台 NPR--Coastal towns are making it more difficult for the public to get to the shore

Coastal¹ towns are making it more difficult for the public to get to the shore

Transcript²

New coastal development and higher temperatures mean more people are vying³ for a spot along the nation's beaches, just as coastal erosion swallows up precious swatches of sand.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Winston Churchill once said in a speech, we shall fight on the beaches. He was referring to resisting an invasion during World War II. But his line could just as well apply to beaches in Massachusetts this summer. Here's Chris Burrell from our member station GBH in Boston.

CHRIS BURRELL, BYLINE⁴: Under blazing sun and temperatures in the 90s, here's what happens when I try parking at a beach in Marshfield, 30 miles south of Boston.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: I'm sorry. You can't park. It's beach sticker only, and it's really packed. So I can't let anyone without one in.

BURRELL: Got it. And is these only stickers for residents?

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: I'm pretty sure, like, you can only be a resident to get a sticker.

BURRELL: It's a similar story up and down the Massachusetts coastline. Towns with so-called public beaches either exclude nonresidents outright⁵ or they create parking and fee regulations that make it difficult or too expensive just to have a day at the beach. And those restrictions⁶ are only getting tighter, says Cindy Castro, the beach manager in this town. While French fries sizzle in the beachside snack stand, Castro says a housing boom means more residents are using the beaches, squeezing out parking spaces for out-of-towners.

CINDY CASTRO: We just had a 250-unit apartment building open up. So that puts more pressure - more residents, less nonresidents. We're staying static with the number of spaces that we have.

BURRELL: Other beach towns, including some on Cape⁷ Cod⁸, are also clamping down to limit access for out-of-towners, blaming the onslaught of beachgoers during the pandemic. Parking tickets in Plymouth, the famous landing site for the pilgrims, quadrupled after town leaders banned nonresidents from parking near one beach. Similar tensions are playing out in Rhode Island, Florida and Puerto Rico between beachgoers and the gatekeepers, such as condo developments or state laws impeding⁹ access.

In Massachusetts, it's also a case of high demand for too little sand. Just 12% of ocean beaches are open to all members of the public, thanks to a statute¹⁰ allowing private ownership all the way to the low-tide line. And despite increasing demand, Massachusetts has not acquired any new recreational beach properties in more than 30 years. Meanwhile, coastal property values have skyrocketed.

ANDREW KAHRL: As housing markets and as communities become more exclusive, public access decreases, if not completely exhausted¹¹.

BURRELL: Andrew Kahrl is a historian at the University of Virginia who wrote a book about restrictive beaches in Connecticut. He says exclusionary¹² practices follow a rise in real estate values.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: In a few minutes, we will be docking.

BURRELL: Off the coast of Massachusetts, on the island of Nantucket, where the median price for a single-family home tops $2.2 million, summer resident Boots Tolsdorf decided¹³ to go beachcombing for scallop shells last summer. But the shells lay on a private beach with no trespassing¹⁴ signs posted from the dune¹⁵ to near the waterline. Tolsdorf, who is 80, says that just minutes after she ventured off the small public beach, an irate¹⁶ beach owner pushed her twice.

BOOTS TOLSDORF: When he approached me, I'm sure I had some shaking in my knees about it. But I'm a pretty strong woman, not maybe physically¹⁷. But, I mean, I thought I had a right to be there, and he certainly had no right to treat me that way.

BURRELL: Nantucket police did not charge Tolsdorf with trespassing, but the man is charged with assaulting a person over the age of 60.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: Jump on the board going that way. You'll ride the wave.

BURRELL: On upscale Martha's Vineyard, beach guards shooing away trespassers are commonplace. But at the island's most popular public beach, erosion is quickly becoming the biggest barrier to access. The eastern side of South Beach is nearly submerged at high tide. Local officials say storms and rising sea levels have eaten away 70 feet of sand in the last three years. The state is now spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to re-nourish the beach, plant dune grass and relocate a bathhouse. Longtime beachgoers like Sherry Sebesta, visiting from upstate New York, say the volleyball nets and lifeguard stand are gone. There's no room for them.

SHERRY SEBESTA: The other day, there was really just, like, 10, 20 feet of actual sand to sit on. It has changed so dramatically so quickly. Within five, 10 years, it seems like it'll be definitely pushed back up to the dunes¹⁸.

BURRELL: Martha's Vineyard isn't alone. Rising seas forced one Cape Cod town earlier this year to abandon its parking lot and build a new one on higher ground. Climate change, bigger storms and coastal towns toughening up access - it all means getting a day at the beach is only getting harder.

For NPR News, I'm Chris Burrell.

1 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 vying   

adj.竞争的；比赛的

参考例句：

• California is vying with other states to capture a piece of the growing communications market.为了在日渐扩大的通讯市场分得一杯羹，加利福尼亚正在和其他州展开竞争。
• Four rescue plans are vying to save the zoo.4个拯救动物园的方案正争得不可开交。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

6 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

7 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

8 cod   

n.鳕鱼；v.愚弄；哄骗

参考例句：

• They salt down cod for winter use.他们腌鳕鱼留着冬天吃。
• Cod are found in the North Atlantic and the North Sea.北大西洋和北海有鳕鱼。

9 impeding   

a.(尤指坏事)即将发生的，临近的

参考例句：

• Fallen rock is impeding the progress of rescue workers. 坠落的石头阻滞了救援人员的救援进程。
• Is there sufficient room for the kiosk and kiosk traffic without impeding other user traffic? 该环境下是否有足够的空间来摆放信息亭？信息亭是否会妨碍交通或者行走？ 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

10 statute   

n.成文法，法令，法规；章程，规则，条例

参考例句：

• Protection for the consumer is laid down by statute.保障消费者利益已在法令里作了规定。
• The next section will consider this environmental statute in detail.下一部分将详细论述环境法令的问题。

11 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

12 exclusionary   

adj.排斥（性）的，排除在外的

参考例句：

• Play not finish, uncle fidgeting, cut exclusionary. 戏未演完，叔父坐立不安，仓皇退席。 来自互联网
• Procecutor: I am asking you to recognize the absurdity of the exclusionary rule. 检察官：我是在请求您认识到这个排除规则的荒谬性。 来自互联网

13 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

14 trespassing   

[法]非法入侵

参考例句：

• He told me I was trespassing on private land. 他说我在擅闯私人土地。
• Don't come trespassing on my land again. 别再闯入我的地界了。

15 dune   

n.(由风吹积而成的)沙丘

参考例句：

• The sand massed to form a dune.沙积集起来成了沙丘。
• Cute Jim sat on the dune eating a prune in June.可爱的吉姆在六月天坐在沙丘上吃着话梅。

16 irate   

adj.发怒的，生气

参考例句：

• The irate animal made for us,coming at a full jump.那头发怒的动物以最快的速度向我们冲过来。
• We have received some irate phone calls from customers.我们接到顾客打来的一些愤怒的电话

17 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

18 dunes   

沙丘( dune的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The boy galloped over the dunes barefoot. 那男孩光着脚在沙丘间飞跑。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat. 将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。