“It’s on FEMA.”: Long Beach makes last effort to save harbor after FEMA denial

It’s been nearly four years since Hurricane Zeta surprised the coast with its power and wiped out multiple piers — including Long Beach’s one and only harbor.

Since then, they’ve been in a long battle with FEMA to rebuild. Now, the city is reaching the end of its options and filing an arbitration.

“Arbitration, it will go through a three-person federal judge bench and they will hear our side and then they will hear FEMA’s side,” explained Long Beach Mayor George Bass. “Then we can rebuttal and they can rebuttal. It’s going to cost us money but right now we have nothing to lose. We’re still not going to get but $2.3 if we accept.”

You heard that right. FEMA has offered 2.3 million to fix the harbor which engineers estimated to cost about 11 million dollars to restore.

Mayor Bass says he will not allow citizens to fund this project.

“To do a tax increase to be able to pay for this harbor would be crazy,” Bass said. “It’s not on them. We pay taxes. We pay federal dollars. It’s not on them. It’s on FEMA. That’s what they do. That’s what they’re supposed to do. They’re supposed to help us get back to what we were.”

Either way, FEMA will only pay to restore the harbor to its original form, but the city is tired of wasting time and money.

“We’ve asked for about four million dollars in federal mitigation funding which will allow us to do concrete pilings and do things differently here,” Bass said. “Look at what all we’ve had to pay over the years. We could have put the harbor back, done it right, and not had these damages.”

Mayor Bass says a resolution will hopefully come around October.