William Nagle of Sea Bright got a certificate of occupancy for his Center Street apartment on December 29th, yet continued to charge FEMA for 68 nights of hotel stays from January 14 through March 23, according to charges filed by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.
Nagle was arrested and charged Wednesday with third degree Theft by Deception for defrauding FEMA of more than $12,000 in Transitional Aid Housing.
“Being a victim does not open the door to defraud the government in times of need. We can all pull together in times of crisis to help one another, but that combined effort to aid and assist comes with the understanding that no one will take advantage of the situation,” Acting Prosecutor Christopher J Gramiccioni said.
Former Waveland, MS Mayor Tommy Longo tours Sea Bright with Mayor Dina Long in February. Longo, three other Gulf Coast former mayors and former Congressman Gene Taylor will address the Bayshore Conference of Mayors on May 17 in Keansburg, Photo: NJ.com
A group of former mayors and a former congressman who led their Mississippi communities to recovery from Hurricane Katrina are coming to the Jersey Shore next week to share their knowledge and experience with New Jersey’s mayors and senior municipal officials who are continuing to deal with the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy.
The group will be speaking at a meeting of the Bayshore Conference ofMayorson Friday evening May 17, 7PM, at Anthony’s Restaurant, 65 Church St in Keansburg. All mayors and senior municipal officials of towns impacted by Sandy are invited, according to Union Beach Mayor Paul Smith, the conference president. Those wishing to attend should contact Smith via text or phone call at 732-713-0506. If someone who should have gotten an invitation didn’t, this is it. Readers are encouraged to pass this post on to their mayors.
The Mississippi delegation, comprised of former Congressman Gene Taylor and former mayors Brent Warr, Eddie Farve, and Tommy Longo, is being flown to New Jersey free on charge by Southwest Airlines. Their lodging is being donated by Dominique Ervin, General Manager, Hampton Inn of Neptune/Walland Sal Cannizarro of Immediate Care Medical Walk In of Hazlet.
This mayors helping mayors project is the brainchild of author and former CNN correspondent Kathleen Koch. A Bay St’ Louis, MS native, Koch has dedicated herself to supporting survivors of natural disasters since Katrina. She is the author of Rising from Katrina: How My Mississippi Hometown Lost It All and Found What Mattered and is donating a signed copy as a door prize for the conference. She was sent to Japan by the U.S. State Department in March of this year to deliver her message of Resiliency and Words of Hope to the survivors of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami of the second anniversary of that catastrophic event.
A fitness instructor and model, Melissa, 31, is competing in her first pageant. After Superstorm Sandy destroyed so much of her hometown, Highlands, she was moved to find a vehicle from which she could contribute to the rebuilding and recovery. Her platform is Restoring the Shore: Hope for Highlands.
Since Sandy hit, Melissa has been hard at work bringing happiness to the lives her Highlands neighbors who have suffered mightily. She promoted Operation Prom to make sure Henry Hudson Regional High School female students will have nice dresses to wear at their prom this weekend. Melissa and her sister Amanda appeared in an Anderson Live segment, Do car dealers rip off women in March.
The Mrs. New Jersey pageant is on Saturday, May 11, 7PM, at the Walter Edge Theater at Atlantic Cape May Community College.
Bean cites Local Finance Board’s Decision Against Marlboro Councilwoman Randi Marder To Support His Complaint
Doherty Dismisses Complaint As Politics
Belmar Councilman Jim Bean. Photo credit: Belmar.com
Belmar Councilman Jim Bean, a Republican, has written to the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs’ Local Finance Board requesting an investigation into a “potential violation” of New Jersey’s Local Government Ethics Law by Mayor Matt Doherty, a Democrat.
Doherty’s wife, Maggie Moran, a former Deputy Chief of Staff for Governor Jon Corzine, worked as a consultant for AshBritt, the Florida company that performed debris removal throughout much of New Jersey after the Superstorm Sandy. Belmar paid $2.67 million to AshBrit and its affiliates, according to Bean’s complaint which can be found here.
Doherty said that Bean is “Belmar’s Bayshore Tea Party….a cancer on the Republican Party.”
“This is the second, politically motivated, baseless complaint Bean has filed against me in the past 8 months, ” Doherty said, “If he didn’t waste his time on this nonsense maybe he could actually do something useful for the people of Belmar.”
Only those residents and business who have registered with FEMA by 11:59pm on May 1 will be eligible for CDB grants
Gov Chris Christie and HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan announce $1.83 billion in federal grant money for New Jersey’s recovery from Superstorm Sandy at Bahrs Landing, Highlands, 4/29/13. photo by Art Gallagher
U.S . Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan joined Governor Chris Christie at Bahrs Landing in Highlands this morning to announce that the Obama Administration has approved New Jersey’s application for $1.83 billion in grant funds to assist businesses and homeowners from the 9 counties catastrophically impacted by Superstorm Sandy in rebuilding to a “new normal.”
“Today we take another important step toward recovery and healing for hard-hit communities in New Jersey,” said Donovan. “HUD has worked closely with Governor Christie, Senators Menendez and Lautenberg, and the New Jersey Congressional Delegation to help design effective programs that will help small businesses reopen, get families back in their homes make communities more resilient as quickly as possible. We have also imposed additional internal controls and accountability measures and we will be working with the Inspector General to ensure that all funds are used as intended – to help families, small businesses and communities get back on their feet and rebuild.”
“Today’s news sends a very powerful message that New Jersey is moving forward and that the Jersey Shore will be open for business this summer,” said Governor Chris Christie. “These funds will provide critical resources to our Sandy-impacted homeowners and businesses to reconstruct, rehabilitate and continue down the road of recovery. While there is much work ahead of us, we have come a long way during these last six months, and I want to thank Secretary Donovan and his team for their tireless efforts as we all work together to rebuild our great state.”
Christie and Donovan said that the CDB grants will assist homeowners and businesses who have received all that is available from FEMA and their insurance companies, yet have fallen short in the funds needed to rebuild. Donovan emphasized that funds are available in the program for renters and the rebuilding of rental housing.
Only those residents and business who have registered with FEMA by 11:59 on May 1 will be eligible for CDB grants, Christie said.
Anyone who has not yet registered with FEMA should do so immediately by calling 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) or by visiting FEMA’s website at http://www.disasterassistance.gov/
A Monmouth University Poll released this morning indicates that 73% of New Jersey residents are satisfied, (31% very satisfied and 42% somewhat satisfied) with the state’s effort to recover from Superstorm Sandy.
78% say they have fully recovered or were not impacted by Sandy. 67% of those from the areas hardest hit by the storm say they have fully recovered. 15% of those in the hardest hit areas say they have barely recovered or have not recovered at all.
Governor Chris Christie will be back on Monmouth County on Monday morning.
At 7 am, the governor is scheduled to appear on MSNBC’s Morning Joe Show which will be broadcast live from the Five Ave Pavilion in Asbury Park.
At 11am, Christie and U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan are scheduled to visit businesses and greet patrons along Bay Avenue in Highlands, starting from The Memoria Project in Veterans’ Park. At 11:45, he will hold a press conference at Moby’s, 2 South Bay Ave.
Christie is expected to announce federal approval of $1.8 billion in relief funds for housing, infrastructure and business recovery activities, according to a report in The Star Ledger.
At his press conference in Long Branch on April 18, the governor said he was waiting on federal funds for a grant program that would award up $500,000 to businesses and $150,000 to homeowners.
The Monmouth County Department of Consumers Affairs has resolved $1.6 million in disputes since Superstorm Sandy, Freeholder Lillian Burry reported last night, according to NJ.com.
For the entire year of 2012, the department resolved only a little over $1 million in disputes.
Burry said the Department has taken a proactive approach to combatting fraud, answering calls related to price gouging, used cars sold with flood damage, fake charities and illegitimate contractors.
Earlier this year, the Department repeated warnings to consumers of home improvement and repair schemes in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.
William Nagle of Sea Bright got a certificate of occupancy for his Center Street apartment on December 29th, yet continued to charge FEMA for 68 nights of hotel stays from January 14 through March 23, according to charges filed by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.
and is donating a signed copy as a door prize for the conference. She was sent to Japan by the U.S. State Department in March of this year to deliver her message of Resiliency and Words of Hope to the survivors of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami of the second anniversary of that catastrophic event.
