Sweeney and Pallone confirm that Feds are the problem with Sandy relief

Keansburg Deputy Mayor Jimmy Cocuzza, Senate President Steve Sweeney and Congressman Frank Pallone at Sweeney’s Town Hall Meeting in Keansburg, March 20, 2014

Senate President Steve Sweeney and Congressman Frank Pallone tried to feign non-partisanship yesterday at Sweeney’s Town Hall Meeting in Keansburg, the most recent leg on Sweeney’s Sandy Bill of Rights tour. “This is not about politics, or party,” Sweeney said as Pallone nodded “it’s about taking care of the people who need help and getting them the information they need.”

Sweeney’s bill seems to make perfect sense.  It requires plain language explanations of disaster assistance programs and gives applicants the right to know where they are in the process, where they are on waiting lists, and how to appeal.  The bill was cleared with amendments by the Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee, 4-0 with one abstention, Sen. Jennifer Beck, on Monday.

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Hornik: COAH funds should be used to help Sandy Victims

By Mayor Jonathan Hornik, Marlboro Township

Forgotten among the latest round of finger-pointing and investigations regarding the use of Superstorm Sandy funds are displaced low and moderate-income homeowners and renters who need help. This immediate and pressing need, combined with resources available from communities like Marlboro Township, in the form of affordable housing trust funds, present a unique opportunity for regional cooperation. Now all we need is some action in Trenton.

The funds, collected from developer fees, now totaling at least $180 million state-wide (and which the State has been trying to take for its own budget problems), are to be used to meet the need for affordable housing under the Supreme Court’s Mt. Laurel rulings. Those cases decreed that every town has an obligation to provide for its region’s need for affordable housing. We have long argued that the doctrine should be meaningfully applied – let’s build the housing where the need is the greatest.

Yet to this day the planners in Trenton wrangle over rules to determine how towns must address their affordable housing, going on 15 years now, when it should be painfully obvious that the need for our community (and our region) is staring us in the face. Current state laws prohibit Marlboro from helping those communities who are in desperate need for housing assistance after Sandy.  There is no mechanism for Marlboro to spend its trust funds for the benefit of, for example, Union Beach or the Highlands, because there are no rules that allow us to do so. We can’t fulfill a fundamental tenet of Mt. Laurel, and help our neighbors because the authority to do so isn’t there. And why not?

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Sweeney’s ‘Sandy Bill of Rights’ tour to continue in Keansburg

Sweeney’s ‘Sandy Bill of Rights’ tour to continue in Keansburg (via NJ.com)

TRENTON — As Hurricane Sandy victims continue to complain about New Jersey’s recovery efforts, state Senate President Stephen Sweeney will continue this week to push legislation he says is designed to help them. Sweeney (D-Gloucester) plans to make…

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Hurricane Sandy victims make do in trailers as they wait to rebuild

Hurricane Sandy victims make do in trailers as they wait to rebuild (via NJ.com)

Tina Napalo lived in a bungalow-style house on Fourth Street in Union Beach for more than 20 years. “I didn’t have everything,” said the 40-year-old mother of four, but, “it took me a long time to get what I had.” Then Hurricane Sandy hit.…

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Menendez Rebuts Christie Over Blame for Stalled Sandy Relief Aid

Menendez Rebuts Christie Over Blame for Stalled Sandy Relief Aid (via NJSpotlight)

Who is to blame for the slow pace of New Jersey’s recovery from superstorm Sandy? Gov. Chris Christie blames federal red tape and regulations for holding up the distribution of aid money to storm victims in New Jersey. But New Jersey’s senior U.S.…

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Christie broke no rules in awarding no-bid Sandy contract, audit finds

Christie broke no rules in awarding no-bid Sandy contract, audit finds (via NJ.com)

TRENTON — A federal audit released today concludes that Gov. Chris Christie’s administration did not violate any rules in awarding a no-bid contract to a politically connected company to haul away debris left by Hurricane Sandy. But the audit by the…

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As Sandy housing aid deadline nears, lawmakers request extension

As Sandy housing aid deadline nears, lawmakers request extension (via NJ.com)

Roughly 1,000 New Jersey households still displaced because of Hurricane Sandy rely on the federal government to help pay for temporary housing. But that program is scheduled to end on April 30. So U.S. Sens. Robert Menendez and Cory Booker announced…

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Sandy Fraud Task Force Bayshore Office Is Closed

The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Superstorm Sandy Task Fraud Task Force office at the Bayshore Activity Center in Middletown closed last Thursday, February 27, Acting Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced on Monday.

The Task Force Command Center had been set up in Bayshore Waterfront Park, Port Monmouth, in February of 2012 to protect Sandy survivors from unscrupulous contractors and predators looking to defraud residents in the process of rebuilding their homes.   Residents who continue to need such assistance are encouraged to visit the Task Force’s website, SandyFraud.com, or call the Task Force hotline at 855-SANDY-39  (855-726-3939).

Acting Prosecutor Gramiccioni urges everyone to keep in mind the following list of “red flag” situations when dealing with a Home Improvement Contractors:

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Toms River Crowd Gives Christie A Standing Ovation

Sharon from Toms River asks the last question at Governor Chris Christie’s Town Hall Meeting in Toms River. March 4, 2014

After Governor Chris Christie gave his customary warning to the last questioner at Town Hall meetings…don’t ask a stupid question or the crowd will turn on you…he called on Sharon from Toms River.

While the announced topic of the Town Hall was Sandy Recovery, Christie told the crowd of over 550 jammed in to the club house of a senior citizens’ community that they were welcome to ask him about anything.

Sharon brought up ObamaCare and the crowd started to boo.  “What can we do?” Sharon asked after expressing her healthcare concerns to the governor over the boos.

“Elect a new president,” Christie said a matter-a-factually.  The crowd erupted spontaneously. 550 senior citizens jumped out for their seats as if they had bed bugs and cheered Christie’s answer for a good minute, maybe two.

Christie said his answer was not a matter of partisanship, him being Republican and President Obama being a Democrat, but a matter of what works and what doesn’t work. The governor noted that Obama keeps delaying the implementation of parts of ObamaCare, “because they are not working.”

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Chris Christie signs order to speed razing of Sandy-damaged homes

Chris Christie signs order to speed razing of Sandy-damaged homes (via NJ.com)

Calling Hurricane Sandy-damaged homes that have not yet been torn down an “ongoing emergency,” Gov. Chris Christie signed an executive order aimed at speeding up the process of razing unsafe properties. The order puts the New Jersey Department of…

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