Christie In Keansburg On Tuesday To Announce New Sandy Relief Funding

Governor Chris Christie , Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Richard Constable and Department of Environment Protection Commissioner Robert Martin will be in Keansburg to speak about  the $1.4 billion “Second Round” of Superstorm Sandy Relief Funding on Tuesday, February 4 at 3PM.

The event will take place at the New Point Comfort Fire Company, 192 Carr Ave.  Doors open at 2:30.

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Christie Administration Reflects on Sandy Recovery Progress and Challenges

Christie Administration Reflects on Sandy Recovery Progress and Challenges (via NJSpotlight)

When Sandy made landfall last October, displacing 120,000 from their homes, NJ Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Richard Constable said his department took immediate action to provide shelters and assist towns with their budgetary problems…

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Christie: The Jersey Shore Is Open For Business

Governor Christie meeting with business owners at McLoone’s Pier House in Long Branch, April 18, 2013. Photo by Art Gallagher

After meeting with business owners in Long Branch yesterday, Governor Chris Christie told the press that the businesses’ biggest frustration is the amount of phone calls they get asking if they are open.  “They’re happy that at least the phone is ringing,” said Christie, emphasizing that the perception that the Shore is not open has to be impacted.

Christie said that there would be a multi-media ad campaign launch by the Economic Development Authority next month to promote Jersey Shore Tourism.  It has not been determined if Christie will appear in the aid. “I haven’t been asked. If I’m asked and I think it is appropriate I will consider it,” the governor said in response to a reporter who asked if he would appear in the state funded ad during the gubernatorial campaign season.

The governor said that EDA would be announcing a working capital grant program for businesses impacted by Superstorm Sandy in May and that the Department of Community Affairs will be administering a grant program for homeowners who can apply for up to $150,000 in federal money, over and above what they have already received from FEMA and their insurance companies to rebuild their homes.

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Local Finance Board Faults Marlboro Ethics Board’s Investigation Into Councilwoman Marder’s Conflict

The New Jersey Local Finance Board (LFB), a part of the Department of Community Affairs found fault in the Marlboro Ethic Board’s (MTEB) investigation into conflict of interest charges file against Councilwoman Randi Marder.  LBF remanded the matter back to MTEB for “additional investigation and application of the appropriate legal standard.”

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Christie Administration Issues Generator Safety Advisory Ahead of Hurricane Sandy

State Fire Officials Warn of Electrocution Risk from “Backfeeding” of Power Lines

Trenton, NJ – New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) Commissioner Richard E. Constable, III today issued a warning to residents regarding the potential dangers of portable generators and “backfeeding” during power outages. An increase in the use of generators is expected with the arrival of Hurricane Sandy in the coming days, raising the importance of educating New Jerseyans on their proper and safe use.

Portable generators, widely used when power lines are down, can prove fatal to homeowners, utility workers and even your neighbors when used improperly. A generator connected to a home’s wiring or plugged into a regular household outlet can cause ‘backfeeding’ along power lines and electrocute anyone who comes in contact with them – even if the line seems dead.

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Don’t let up on demanding fiscal accountability in cities

Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon called for fiscal accountability in Newark this week.  You wouldn’t have known that unless you read The Star Ledger.   The Asbury Park Press, the newspaper/pay site that covers O’Scanlon’s Monmouth County district missed it.

At issue is the $24 million in state aid that Newark is “due” this year, after the state taxpayers kicked in $32 million to Newark’s budget last year, in the face of blatant waste on the part of Mayor Cory Booker and the city council.

Booker squandered $3.7 million in legal and consulting fees in a fight with the New Jersey Devils hockey team over revenue sharing.  Booker lost the fight, which even The Star Ledger says was a waste and should have been settled, and vowed to spend more—O’Scanlon says $1 million more, The Ledger says $100 thousand more—in appealing the ruling that favored The Devils.  As the ruling stands, Newark owes the Devils $600 thousand.

Newark’s city council is disgrace.  A “gaggle of blowhards,” Ledger editor Tom Moran calls them, who “awards itself the highest salaries in the state, along with a free car.”   Newark’s city council is paid six times more than Jersey City’s city council, according to Moran.  $3.45 million in salaries paid to the Newark city council in 2011.

Also at issue is that the overpaid council has yet to pass their budget that was due in February.  Yet, they want the $24 million from Jersey taxpayers.

According to The Ledger, O’Scanlon said, 

“Cory Booker is fighting an expensive personal vendetta with one hand while he has the other hand out expecting state aid”

and

“As the ranking Republican member of the Assembly Budget Committee, I cannot, in good conscience, imagine handing Newark another $24 million when the mayor is continuing to rack up legal fees and costs for litigation that could have been settled months ago,” O’Scanlon said. “The state should not be in the habit of bailing out towns and cities that are unwilling to help themselves.”

Moran, The Ledger’s editorial page editor, responded to O’Scanlon’s rebuke of Booker, with a racially charged column under his own byline, From a perch in the suburbs, a cheap shot at cities.

As if $24 million, or $32 million, or $3.7 million or $3.45 million is cheap.

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