NEW YORK (AP) — When Superstorm Sandy left Denise Erickson’s home with a collapsed foundation, a loan from the Small Business Administration looked like the best deal in town. She got more than $150,000 from the SBA to help fix her family’s Bellmore home, but the loan has left her with a $651 monthly payment and… Read the rest of this entry »
N.J. Congressman: Sandy funds still needed for infrastructure, businesses (via NJ.com)
FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP – While public officials welcomed the news that the latest round of Hurricane Sandy recovery money will cover the New Jersey’s unmet need for housing funds, one congressman says that the funding does not go far enough. U.S. Rep…
By Art Gallagher, [email protected]
The Obama Administration is considering holding a contest for areas impacted by disasters other than Superstorm Sandy. The “winners” would get between $1 billion and $2 billion of the remaining $3.6 billion is Sandy relief dollars being doled out by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), according to a story first reported by the Wall Street Journal
The Record reports that New Jersey Congressmen Bill Pascrell Jr., D-Paterson; Albio Sires, D-West New York; and Frank Pallone, D-Long Branch, and Sen. Bob Menendez are urging HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan not to divert federal aid to projects in other parts of the country. Members of the New York Congressional Delegation are making similar pleas.
Bookerism of the Day
Where’s Senator Cory Booker? He’s proselytizing on twitter.
Sires told The Record that the entire New Jersey delegation could join together in opposition to a nationwide contest for the money. That would be great! Sires should lead the Democrats in the delegation in ending the partisanship that has been dominating the discourse over Sandy recovery and sign the letter to Donovan and Michael Boots, the Acting Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality that Congressman Chris Smith invited him, and all members of the delegation to sign requesting a meeting to hash out the multitude of issues New Jersey residents are having with the HUD relief process.
Posted: April 24th, 2014 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Chris Smith, Cory Booker, Hurricane Sandy, Superstorm Sandy | Tags: Bookerism of the day, Chris Smith, Congressman Albio Sires, Congressman Chris Smith, Cory Booker, Frank Pallone, HUD, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, Michael Boots, Obama Administration, Superstorm Sandy, White House | 1 Comment »By Art Gallagher, [email protected]
When disaster hits, natural or man made, Americans put aside their differences and come together to handle the emergency.
We saw it with 9-11. Most recently in New Jersey we saw it with Superstorm Sandy.
Once the emergency is over and the federal money is flowing, the politics…partisanship and patronage starts. We saw it with 9-11. We’re living it with Sandy.
Posted: April 13th, 2014 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: 2014 Congressional Races, 2014 Elections, 2014 U.S. Senate race, 2016 Presidential Politics, 2017 NJ Gubernatorial Politics, Bob Menendez, Chris Christie, Chris Smith, Christie Administration, Congress, Cory Booker, Democrats, Department of Community Affairs, Department of Homland Security, Frank Pallone, George W Bush, Housing, Hurricane Sandy, Jennifer Beck, Jersey Shore, NJ Democrats, NJ State Legislature, RREM, Superstorm Sandy | Tags: Congressman Chris Smith, Congressman Frank Pallone, Disaster Recovery, Disaster Relief, HUD, New Jersey Congressional Delegation, RREM, Senate President Steve Sweeney, Senator Jennifer Beck, Shaun Donovan, Superstorm Sandy | Comments Off on The Politics Of Disaster ReliefSix state Senators representing Monmouth and Oceans Counties have written to New Jersey’s U.S. Senators and Members of Congress asking for help in correcting inequities and inefficiencies in the federal government’s response to Superstorm Sanday.
In a letter dated March 31, Senators Jennifer Beck and Joe Kyrillos of Monmouth County, Robert Singer, Christopher Connors and James Holzapfel of Ocean County and Sam Thompson of Middlesex raised six issues concerning Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), the Small Business Administration (SBA), FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program and the Rehabilitation, Reconstruction, Elevation and Mitigation(RREM) grant program.
With all those agencies and initials, how could anything be going wrong?
Posted: April 3rd, 2014 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: FEMA, RREM, Superstorm Sandy | Tags: Christopher Connors, FEMA, HUD, James Holzapfel, Jennifer Beck, Joe Kryillos, NFIP, Robert Singer, RREM, Sam Thompson, Sandy recovery, Superstorm Sandy | 1 Comment »Sweeney: RCAs “put poor white folk and poor black folk out of town”
Hornik: “No one in Trenton can honestly say that COAH is working”
Senate President Sweeney rejected out of hand an idea brought forth by Marlboro Mayor Jonathon Hornik this week that could potentially release $184 million in dormant funds for the benefit of Superstrom Sandy victims.
Hornik called for the reinstatement of Regional Contribution Agreements (RCA), in order to unlock $184 million in COAH funds to help residents impacted by Superstorm Sandy rebuild their homes in an OpEd piece published on MMM and PolitickerNJ.
RCAs were a practice that was in place to build affordable housing in New Jersey from 1985 through 2008 under the Fair Housing Act, whereby communities that had raised affordable housing funds through development could transfer those funds, and their obligation to build affordable housing within their own community, to other communities with an immediate need. The legislature and Governor Corzine outlawed RCAs in 2008.
Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon issued a statement commending Hornik and said,”When the Democrat leadership in Trenton killed the RCA program it was bad, short sighted policy that many of us knew would come back to bite us. Its flaws are now magnified by the plight of Sandy victims as many towns struggle with the economic burdening of rebuilding.”
Posted: March 21st, 2014 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: COAH, Declan O'Scanlon, Jon Hornik, Superstorm Sandy | Tags: Declan O'Scanlon, HUD, Jon Hornik, Keansburg, RCA, Regional Contribution Agreements, RREM, Seante President Steve Sweeney, Steve Sweeney, Superstorm Sandy | 4 Comments »
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.
Posted: March 21st, 2014 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: FEMA, Frank Pallone, Keansburg, RREM, Stephen Sweeney, Superstorm Sandy | Tags: Chris Chirsite, Frank Pallone, HUD, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, Sandy Bill of Rights, Steve Sweeney | 2 Comments »
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.…
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.…
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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