Permanent corrective action to armor the cliff with a rip-rap system has been in place since April 5, 2013 – Project # GXUN 13-0016 – and even has been funded several times, with that money then put to other uses. Local, state, and federal agencies are all aware of the problem and detailed studies have been completed with multiple state and local agencies participating. But year after year this project, important to thousands of military and federal personnel, drops out of the funding formula despite this long-standing plan and remedy.
Meanwhile prices rise and the damage continues, making the immediate cliff a danger, though not one person has been injured in all this time. The site is currently under the ownership of Hanscom Air Force Base’s 66th Air Base Group, with many of its neighbors to the south on Humarock Beach having adequately armored their properties on their own dollar. The people who have signed this petition (with family and friends who know of and have enjoyed Fourth Cliff) urge these lawmakers to take action and see that Project GXUN 13-0016 gets funded this year, saving Fourth Cliff for posterity as an R&R gem. It is also sanctuary to three endangered species of birds.
As a 100% disabled veteran with a Purple Heart and two Bronze Star metals from combat in Vietnam, Fourth Cliff has been a great blessing to my wife and I for 45 years, from tenting to renting guest houses, to holding our daughter’s wedding in the Pavilion, to beachcombing, swimming, and fishing. My three grown children and grandchildren enjoy and love Fourth Cliff. This is our favorite location in all of New England, no, in the United States, a real gem. Contemplating a future without it is almost too hard to imagine.
The announcement of its closure late this year for safety reasons (though no one has been injured there in its history), drove me to post this petition and urge our lawmakers to “Save Fourth Cliff!” It is not too late. Find a way to fund this 2013 project now, and provide the resources needed to upgrade an important historical site and campground for thousands of military members and residents who are an important boon to the local economy.
Take another look at my pictures here: If your front yard looked like this, what do you think the town you lived in would do? You know the answer to this question. So what about the US Air Force leaving its front yard like this? Who will hold it accountable? It must be our lawmakers, local, state, and federal! Do your job as leaders to make 4th Cliff safe for the thousands of military and government people who seek R&R there!
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