Your Favorite Jersey Shore Town – Do You Believe it’ll Be Back by Summer? [Poll]

We’re a month away from Memorial Day, and a recent trip down the shore indicated to me that we’re still a long way off from being fully restored.

While I always like to remain hopeful, both my wife and I were still pretty much in shock seeing the condition of all the places we’ve gone along Ocean Ave., from Long Branch down to Sea Girt.

Barricades are still up along many stretches of beachfront, and while construction is still going on at brisk pace, it doesn’t seem to be at a pace where the shore will be able to welcome the hoards that are expected in a month.

Bear in mind I’m speaking mainly of the Monmouth County shoreline.

It’s much worse in Ocean County.

You certainly don’t need me to tell you that if you haven’t been able to move back into your home.

According to this:

A majority of New Jerseyans believe it will take one to five years for the state to get "back to normal" after Hurricane Sandy and roughly 90 percent think Shore communities need to construct seawalls or dunes to prevent similar flood damage from happening in the future, a new Rutgers-Eagleton Poll released today found.

Sixty-four percent of New Jerseyans questioned believe it will take years for the state to fully recover from the storm, according the poll, compared with just 15 percent who believe "normalcy" will return with a year.

“Most residents recognize Sandy recovery is a long-term process, and know it will be quite some time before we have recovered,” said David Redlawsk, director of the Rutgers-Eagleton Poll and a political science professor at Rutgers University. “In addition, they support efforts to ensure damage of this magnitude is less likely in the future, even if it means implementing such costly measures as dune construction and elevated buildings.”

Residents were split, however, on whether shorefront properties should be repaired to conditions before the storm or rebuilt with significant modifications, according to the poll. The poll also showed half of the state's residents were personally affected by the storm, 10 percent of them seriously.

Question is: do you believe your favorite shore town will be fully restored by summer?

I always like to hold out hope, but it’s not looking too good so far.