Information Matters: Getting The Real Story Of Sandy Recovery, Preparing For The Next One

Frustrated with your community’s recovery from Superstorm Sandy?  Your own recovery?  Wish the press was doing a better job reporting the nightmare of dealing with insurance companies and government red tape?  Are you concerned about preparedness for the next storm? Wish you could do something about it and have your voice heard by a wider audience?

This half day seminar on Saturday morning is for you.

Citizens Campaign, WHYY/Newsworks, and the Penn Project for Civic Engagement are hosting a Citizen Journalist training on Saturday:

WHEN

October 05, 2013 at 9am – 1pm

Skilled professionals will be teaching the basics of journalism, from fact finding to newswriting and photojournalism.  Breakout sessions will include:

• Fact Finding & Reporting: collecting the facts and information to get the story
• Capturing the Perfect Shot: Video & Photo Journalism
• How to Conduct a Study with Engaging Techniques:  how to conduct your own “study circles” with your neighbors on important issues
• News Writing 101: crafting effective hard news stories & opinion pieces; interviewing skills

The event is free and includes a light breakfast at 8:30 and lunch.

Pre-registration is required.  You can do that here.

Community Sponsors: Ocean County College, WHYY/Newsworks, Jersey Shore Hurricane News, Creative NJ, Clean Ocean Action, Sustainable Jersey and the New Jersey Recovery Fund.

Can’t make it this Saturday?  There is another event on November 2 at Monmouth University.

• Tweet

Homeowners Hit By Sandy Get More Time to Appeal Settlements

Homeowners Hit By Sandy Get More Time to Appeal Settlements (via NJSpotlight)

Sandy survivors still battling over their flood insurance claims will now have more time to appeal their settlements. In a bulletin issued yesterday FEMA announced it will extend for another six months the period for Sandy-impacted homeowners to file…

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Hurricane Sandy insurance complaints lead to N.J. enforcement actions against adjusters

Hurricane Sandy insurance complaints lead to N.J. enforcement actions against adjusters (via NJ.com)

Nearly a year after Hurricane Sandy slammed into New Jersey, the state’s insurance regulator has quietly fined a handful of industry professionals over their work following the Oct. 29 superstorm. So far, the Department of Banking and Insurance hasn…

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Legal Clinic For Sandy Survivors on Thursday Afternoon

The Monmouth County Superstorm Sandy Fraud Task Force and Volunteer Lawyers for Justice will be holding a legal clinic to assist Sandy survivors on Thursday afternoon, September 19, from 2pm -4:30pm at the Bayshore Activity Center, 719 Port Monmouth Ave, Port Monmouth, according to Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni.

Representatives of the Prosecutor’s Office, the Monmouth County Department of Consumer Affairs,  FBI, IRS, New Jersey Division of Taxation, Department of Homeland Security and other agencies will be on hand to provide information and assistance to anyone in need.

Attorneys from the Disaster Legal Response Program launched by Volunteer Lawyers for Justice will also be available to consult with people and provide free legal advice. Those requiring further assistance may be referred to volunteer outside counsel (financial eligibility requirements apply).

The hotline for the Monmouth County Superstorm Sandy Fraud Task Force is (855) SANDY-39. Volunteer Lawyers for Justice may be reached at (855) 301-2525.

• Tweet

A Second Highlands House Collapses

49 Second Street, Highlands. Click for larger view.

For the second time in less than a month, a home being lifted above the floodplain has collapsed in the borough of Highlands.

At 9:43 this evening the Highlands Police Department received a call that the house at 49 Second Street had collapsed.

The Highlands Fire Department  and eight volunteer members of the Highlands First Aid Squad are on the scene.  There were no injuries reported.  Gas and electric utilities were shut off.  The utility companies have not been notified and neighboring homes have not been evacuated.

The home had already been lifted.  A resident on the scene told MMM that the cause of the collapse is believed to be wind.

On August 23, a house being lifted onto its temporary cribbing collapsed in the borough.  The contractor on the scene of the August

49 Second St, Highlands on July 26. Photo courtesy of Kerry McEntee Gowan via facebook

23rd incident said it was an accident.

There was no contractor on the scene in Highlands tonight.  A lawn sign for Jerome Homes House Lifting was on the Second Street property.

• Tweet

FEMA OK’s $1.6 million to Sea Girt for Superstorm Sandy Repairs

FREEHOLD, N.J. – The Borough of Sea Girt in Monmouth County received a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which has awarded more than $1.6 million to help pay for costs that resulted from Superstorm Sandy, U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04) said today.

The grant will provide $1,616,817 in Federal funding to Sea Girt to pay for 90 percent of over $1,796,000 in repair costs incurred by Superstorm Sandy. 

Reconstruction will take shape in two phases, after the completion of preliminary work of removing about 6,666 cubic yards of sand by municipal workers, and demolition of the damaged boardwalk by Frank Lurch Demolition. Demolition includes the removal of damaged but intact piles, girders, stringers, plastic decking, railings, and light fixtures. Salvageable decking, light fixtures and railings will be turned over to the town to be reused in the first phase of reconstruction. Sea Girt has contracted with Wallace Contracting, Inc. to complete Phase I, which is 833 linear feet of boardwalk, reusing 896 salvaged deck boards, 320 salvaged timber stringers and 900 feet of salvaged railing. Boardwalk steps and one handicap ramp will be installed, construction includes replacing 50 new, timber piles, 38 new double girder timber pile caps, 360 new timber stringers, 1,030 new lengths of composite boardwalk decking, and 980 feet of new pipe handrail.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Sea Bright Takes Hurricane Sandy as an Opportunity to Reinvent Itself

Sea Bright Takes Hurricane Sandy as an Opportunity to Reinvent Itself (via NJSpotlight)

When Sandy came ashore last October, Sea Bright’s downtown was severely flooded, with more than a thousand homes and businesses damaged or destroyed and the streets filled with mountains of sand and debris. Ten months later, as the repairs continue…

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Christie: We’ve had a good summer. There’s more work to do

Governor Christie: Part of what I want I’m going to be doing this week, is to get out and around the state with two messages. First, is that for those folks who didn’t believe that we could have a summer in 2013 here in New Jersey, through all the hard work of people at local, state, and federal government, individual citizens, we’ve been able to have a really good summer on the Jersey Shore especially here in the southern part of the state. But secondly, to also remind people that because we had a good summer from a business perspective in many parts of the state, doesn’t mean for a second that we’re forgetting the people whose lives are still turned upside down by this storm. There are still thousands of people who are not back in their homes, people who are still trying to grapple with the damage and the loss from Sandy, and we’re continuing everyday through the grant programs that we have to help those folks. And I won’t rest until all those people are able to make their own decision about whether they want to get back in their home or whether they want to move on to something else. And we have to be able to do both at the same time everybody. If we waited for everyone to have their lives return to normal before we started to market our state and help these businesses, these businesses around us wouldn’t be open. People wouldn’t come. If we haven’t had this tourism campaign that we’ve had, if we hadn’t done the things that we needed to do to let people know that we can walk and chew gum at the same time. You know we can promote our businesses, and promote the good things that we’ve done while also acknowledging that there’s more work to do.

• Tweet

School Supplies Needed

The RAINE Foundation & ImmediateCare of Hazlet are asking for school supply donations to help the families effected by Hurricane Sandy.

The supplies needed will be for children in kindergarten through high school. Paper, pens, crayons, pencils, folders, and notebooks are a few of the examples of what is needed.

Please drop-off donations at Immediate Care Medical Walk-In of Hazlet in Airport Plaza Shopping Center – 732.264.5500

• Tweet

Jimmy Carter Coming To Union Beach To Volunteer In Re-building

Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Roslyn will be part of the crew of volunteers fixing up 13 homes and building two new ones in Union Beach on October 12, according to a story first reported on Holmdel-Hazlet Patch.

“We’re ecstatic the Carters are coming,” said Ray Gabler, the director of operations for Habit for Humanity Monmouth County, based in Long Branch. “This is bringing attention to Sandy victims of low and moderate income all along the Jersey shore. We’re really excited.”

The goal is to repair 13 homes and construct two new ones in the Raritan Bay borough of Union Beach, where 270 homes have been demolished since Sandy. The small town was battered by winds and swamped by surging tidal water in the Oct. 29 storm.

Habitat for Humanity has identified the homes destined for repair, and is finalizing plans with two families for new construction. The new homes are being made possible by funding from the Carter’s organization, and Wells Fargo, said Gabler.

Union Beach Mayor Paul J. Smith has been keeping the news close to his vest for months, he said, and Secret Service officers have already visited. Smith said he is thrilled to welcome Jimmy Carter, 88, and Rosalynn Carter, 86. “I think it’s a big boost,” he said. “We still have some people hurting, but we have had so many beautiful volunteers come forward.”

In addition to Union Beach, Habitat for Humanity is also helping residents of Keansburg, Port Monmouth, Belford, Highlands, Atlantic Highlands and Sea Bright rebuild their Superstorm Sandy ravaged homes.  The organization is accepting applications from both homeowners needing help and volunteers at their website.

Volunteers can contact the Laura Lella-Smith, the Development Coordinator for Habitat for Humanity in Monmouth County at  [email protected]  or call the office at (732) 728-0441.

• Tweet