On the one hand, the bar and restaurant owners are waiting for clarification from the government on what will and won't be allowed in terms of beach construction; no one wants to invest in something that may be torn down after the new beach rules are handed down. On the other hand, everyone (including local government officials) knows that as we approach high season, pressure builds to have businesses open, beach chairs to rent, cold drinks to serve... and that's how they rebuild the ranks of the employed and lessen demand for government assistance. I have no idea how that tension will eventually play out, but already there are indications that the hard-edged rules proposed by Paris may be softened by the needs of expediency. It seems clear that the French side was harder-hit than the Dutch side, and also that their national government is trying to set up rules that (they hope) will minimize damage and losses when the next hurricane comes. Which i find to be a reasonable objective, although the devil is always in the details, isn't he? :-) Now that I've said this, I wonder how many posts it will take for this thread to get shut down as people inject their own political points of view onto someone else's affairs - not many, I predict.