JEK, that is super cool that you have old newsletters that show on one hand that the politics of decision making seems to the same as always, and simultaneously that despite the frustratingly slow pace of evolving rules and habits, that things have dramatically improved as well. Can you image a truck driving up to St Jean beach and scooping up the sand and driving away? Or that someone would propose the solution to be going to Saline to scoop their sand instead? Now the fight is about over building at St Jean, which time will tell if it is or isn't going to be the disaster predicted.
Many people would like to lock their favorite places in amber to preserve them just the way they like them, but change is constant even if you do nothing, as the disappearing sand on St Jean demonstrates, so the best you can do is find a pathway of 'best' changes, which is something that will never get 100% (or even 50%) agreement. The battles are to chart that course.
Along those lines, adding sand to beaches is forbidden in many locations around the world because it is considered un-environmental and destructive to the plants and animals where the sand is put AND deeper out where the sand comes from. Some would prefer that nature be allowed to do its thing even if that means people don't get a sandy beach to play on.
Like most of us, I'm personally on team "change it or keep it the way I like it." Of course the disagreements are built into the phrase "the way I like it" whether it be sand, construction, vaccines or tipping at restaurants.