1/13/15
Ocean County Sandy Survivors at Governor’s Address Tell Christie to ‘Finish the Job’ of Rebuilding Local Activists Get Their Word Out to National News Media in Trenton By JON COEN | The Sandpaper It’s one of the lasting images from Superstorm Sandy – as iconic as the Jet Star roller coaster fallen to the sea, or flooded subways in Lower Manhattan. It was Chris Christie greeting President Obama on the tarmac of Atlantic City International Airport the day after the storm. It’s possible that this highly publicized visual carried Obama to his second presidential victory a few weeks later. Some say it helped Christie’s 2013 Republican landslide against Barbara Buono in our blue state. But that isn’t the first image of Chris Christie that comes to mind for many New Jersey residents today, especially not from coastal communities that are still recovering from the ordeal. The images that many have in their heads were on display at the State House, prior to the governor’s State of the State address. Lisa Stevens of Little Egg Harbor Township held two signs. One was a picture of herself in her own home, amid a dragged-out state of rebuilding. The other was a reference to Christie’s often found spot in the Dallas Cowboys’ owners box, reading, “If We Were Cowboys, Would You Cheer For Us?” Stevens is not happy with his record of late. “This isn’t how I planned to spend my retirement,” said the 54-year-old in front of the State House at midday on Tuesday. Stevens was born and raised in New Jersey, went to college in New Jersey, and worked for the state until retiring a few months before Sandy put 20 inches of water in her home. The initial aftermath was a blur of FEMA, insurance adjusters and contractors. After partially rebuilding, she applied to the Rehabilitation, Reconstruction, Elevation and Mitigation program, only to call several months in and find that they had lost her paperwork. Once that was remedied, she was given three options and chose Pathway C, which would let the state handle the raising and rebuilding of her house. “I trusted that they were going to get it done – and that option claimed I would be completed in 90 days. Two years later, and I barely have any idea when it will be done,” she explained. The protest was dubbed “The People’s State of the State,” sponsored by a coalition of New Jersey nonprofits that feel life for New Jersey families isn’t what Christie would claim. It served to bring awareness to everything from affordable housing to underfunded education and failing infrastructure, strategically held before Christie gave his State of the State at 2 p.m. And if the objective was to get the message out, it was successful, as local activists were interviewed by CNN, FOX News and CNBC. Stevens, along with Paul Rueda of Barnegat and Hank DePasquale of Brant Beach, with Sandi Mackay, Christine Biedebach and Joe Mangino of Beach Haven West and others from Ocean and Monmouth counties, represented our area as part of New Jersey Organizing Project’s “Finish the Job” campaign. NJOP’s Director is fourth-generation Cedar Bonnet Island resident Amanda Devecka-Rinear and they are demanding accountability from the state government in delivering the $1.1 billion in federal grant money that was allotted to rebuild and elevate homes. Only $709 million of that $1.1 billion has been awarded, and of that, only $323.2 million has gotten into the hands of those who qualified. They all have different stories. Mackay lost her husband to a stroke a few months after the storm. Mangino turned his volunteer gutting army into a lasting local presence with the nonprofit START. The weather didn’t stop 80-year-old DePasquale from holding his sign. And Rueda, a contractor with John Paul Builders, has heard countless heartbreaking tales of families trying to rebuild. “Some of these people are older and don’t think they’ll live long enough to see their homes completed,” he explained. Christie won fans when he went to Washington, D.C., to passionately lobby for money to rebuild New Jersey and New York in late 2012. But his critics say he has slipped since then. According to New Jersey’s Department of Community Affairs, of the 40,500 permanent residences that were either destroyed or damaged, only 328 have been completely rebuilt. Twenty-six months later, some of those who dealt with flooded homes are now struggling with paying rents and storage fees on top of taxes, mortgages and insurance while they wait. The RREM program is the most recent in a series of bureaucratic quagmires these families have found themselves in. Not Sitting Down Or Shutting Up Jim Keady of Spring Lake, who owns the Lighthouse Tavern in Waretown, is a key part of NJOP. He was the activist whom the governor told to “sit down and shut up!” at a Belmar press conference on the two-year anniversary of the storm. Not only did the incident put the ease at which Christie could be drawn into a shouting rage into the national spotlight in the early days of his 2016 presidential bid, but it also highlighted the harrowing ordeal that many Sandy survivors are going through. Keady stood with people from all over the shore area on Tuesday, holding his own sign that read “I’ll Sit Down and Shut Up When You Stand Up For Sandy Victims.” Many in New Jersey are wondering why Christie is spending so much time traveling to such places as New Hampshire, Iowa and most notably Texas, when the suffering is being so prolonged in his own state. “I think Sandy is in Christie’s rearview mirror,” said Stevens. “He talked a good game, but rebuilding doesn’t just mean 5 miles of boardwalk in Seaside Heights.Our bay is really where the storm made the left turn. He came to Little Egg Harbor on the first anniversary of Hurricane Sandy; that was the first time he had been in our area. And as he spoke, I thought, ‘Why don’t I believe him?’ It was because there was an election that month. He did what he had to do to get reelected.” One of Christie’s aims at Keady (and the Finish the Job campaign) was that they only show up when the cameras are on. But the NJOP has actually spent time talking to other elected officials in New Jersey. Devecka-Rinear, Mackay, Keady, Stevens and Mangino spent more than two hours with Sen. Robert Menendez’s adviser and chief of staff in Newark last week. Divecka-Rinear claims they were very receptive, and the group will continue to reach out to elected officials. Tuesday on the capitol building steps, all the activists from a coalition called Better New Jersey talked about unsafe bridges, poor healthcare facilities, lost jobs, underfunded schools, and gutted state employee pensions. They held signs and sang one song in the bitter cold shadow of the State House. “Christie’s corrupt!” was shouted from the crowd. When Christie actually gave his State of the State address inside, he concentrated heavily on low property taxes, success in tackling the drug epidemic, and the major improvements in the city of Camden. He made several mentions of his interactions with folks in other states. He only mentioned “the shore” as one of the state’s assets along with proximity to a large market and highly educated work force. “We have grown our economy, and more people are working, supporting their families and knowing the power of going to work every day in New Jersey today than one year ago. We have done this by holding the line on government spending and government employment. We also extended the successful cap on a key driver of property tax growth. And we passed real criminal justice reform in New Jersey,” stated Christie. But Superstorm Sandy and her survivors were not part of his checklist. “I think it’s unbelievable,” said Keady, who was present at the State House for the address, “given the fact that there are 40,000 New Jersey families who were impacted by Hurricane Sandy, and in the RREM program there are 14,800 families that are still looking to rebuild; only 323 of them are back in their homes. It’s an absolute embarrassment and disrespect to the citizens of New Jersey that the words ‘Hurricane Sandy’ were not mentioned once in the governor’s comments today.”
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1/13/15
Reactions to Christie's 2015 State of the State speech Brent Johnson | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com Video features NJOP’s Lisa Stevens and Photo Gallery Features NJOP TRENTON — Here is a look at what state lawmakers, officials, and business leaders are saying in the wake of Gov. Chris Christie's 2015 State of the State address today: Ian Sams Democratic National Committee spokesman "Today, Chris Christie called for a 'New Jersey renewal.' After five years with Christie as governor, lord knows New Jersey needs one. The highest property taxes in the country, employment lagging the nation, a record eight credit downgrades — that's the real state of the state under Christie, and it's the record he'll have to run a presidential campaign on. What's worse, instead of tackling these issues, Christie's taking off tomorrow for South Carolina before jetting to Iowa on Friday. Simply put, it's clear what Christie's priorities are: boosting his national ambition at the expense of the people he was elected to serve." State Assemblyman John Wisniewski D-Middlesex "The thing I found most stunning is the governor talking about all the things that bring people to New Jersey. And he said our ‘world class’ transportation network. This is a day after NJ.com carried a story about the closure of a bridge in Morris County because there isn’t enough state money to fix it. I wasn’t sure if a word got dropped off and he meant to say 'third world class.'" State Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr. R-Union "He talked about real feelings, real people’s situations, real people’s dreams on education, conflicts and concerns that they address on a daily basis regarding family members impacted by addition, but also affordability, you’re a couple paychecks away from having some real issues if your employer moves out of state. All those things." State Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick R-Union "He's reaching out to the majority party saying, 'Hey, let's get moving on the agenda before we lose any further businesses, such as Mercedes Benz.' I like his passion for the human spirit and for human being." Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno On Mercedes moving out of New Jersey: "We worked tirelessly to keep them. But the numbers just didn't work for Mercedes Benz to keep them here." "Five years ago, we wouldn't have known they were leaving. Now we are fighting to get a seat at the table. We are making ourselves competitive again. We can't win every one but we are going to fight for every one." Hetty Rosenstein State director of the Communications Workers of America On Christie's remarks about the public-worker pension system: "He talked about the pensioners and people who devoted their entire lives to public service, and he referred to their retirement security as a beast — an insatiable beast." "We are prepared for a very difficult struggle." Gordon MacInnes President, New Jersey Policy Perspective "The governor had the chance to accurately acknowledge the state of our state. Unfortunately, he passed on the opportunity. "Yes, some jobs have been created since the Great Recession, but not enough to bring back the middle class or lend a hand to striving working families. With only half the jobs lost in the recession restored, revenues have shrunk and with them the chance to contend with two highly visible and very large problems: pensions and transportation. He mentioned pensions and promised to solve a long-term problem during 2015. But the pending bankruptcy of the Transportation Trust Fund he ignored altogether." Jeff Tittel Director, New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club "I thought his speech played well, especially with the mayors of Newark, Ohio and Trenton, Iowa. And that he’s actually fixing the (Transportation Trust Fund), which now is his Traveling Trust Fund. He’s also concerned about the environment. Especially the political environment in South Carolina and New Hampshire." David Pringle Campaign director, Clean Water Action "It's notable but not surprising he didn't talk about the environment. He can't run on his environmental record so he's running from it. It's not too late. He can still fix it. We want to help." Laurie Ehlbeck Director, New Jersey chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business On Christie's vow to veto any income tax increase: "The Governor highlighted what our members have been saying for years, that increasing taxes and making it more difficult and expensive to do business in New Jersey will only result in businesses leaving our state," Ehlbeck said. "I hope that the legislature will take the Governors words to heart and come together to cut taxes and make growing a small business in New Jersey a more prosperous venture. 1/13/15 Ahead of State of State, competing narratives on Christie's tenure
Andrew Seidman and Maddie Hanna | Philly.com and The Inquirer As Gov. Christie prepared to deliver his State of the State address today, his detractors offered their own message about how New Jersey has fared in the past five years. About five dozen protesters gathered outside the Statehouse, holding signs declaring “The state of OUR state is a mess” and “Our Pain, Christie’s Gain.” “Despite all of his rhetoric about being fiscally responsible, a straight shooter, Gov. Chris Christie has repeatedly taken actions that have failed New Jersey and its working families,” said Analilia Mejia, director of New Jersey Working Families. “The state of our state: Can a brother get a job in New Jersey? Can I get hired?” said Gerard Burns, 47, of Paterson, who is unemployed. He noted that job growth in the Garden State has lagged the nation and the region. “Our message to the governor is we will not sit down and shut up,” said Jim Keady, the recipient of Christie’s infamous admonition during a Sandy anniversary event in Belmar. Also Tuesday morning, the Democratic National Committee released a video, titled “A Record We Can Celebrate,” contrasting clips of Christie’s celebratory reelection night in November with news clips documenting New Jersey’s credit downgrades and lackluster job growth. The DNC frequently criticizes Christie, a Republican considering running for president in 2016. The state has recovered less than half of the 258,000 jobs it lost during the recession from 2008 to 2011, according to Rutgers economist Nancy Mantell. The national economy, meantime, had recovered all its jobs lost during the recession by May 2014. Christie has “always put New Jersey first, or at least second,” the narrator says, referring to the governor’s busy out-of-state travel schedule. And in a sign of souring public opinion of Christie, a Fairleigh Dickinson PublicMind poll released Tuesday showed more registered voters in the Garden State disapproved of the governor (47 percent) than approved of his performance (39 percent). “This is the first time Governor Christie faces a public with numbers like these in regard to his leadership,” said Krista Jenkins, a political scientist who directs the poll. The governor’s office painted a rosier picture of his tenure. In advance of the speech, Christie’s office released a video with clips of events the governor attended this year, with emphasis on the his frequent visits to Camden and partnerships with state Democrats. The video opens with Christie shaking hands with minority children in a Camden school cafeteria, then segues into the governor’s remarks from his inaugural address last January: “The ways we divide each other, by race, by class, by ethnicity, by wealth and yes by political party, is neither permanent, nor necessary.” Christie is later shown addressing the Camden High football team at a game, and alongside Camden’s mayor, Dana Redd. The video also features Christie with former Gov. Jim McGreevey, with whom the Republican governor has partnered this year on efforts to combat drug addiction, and with state lawmakers at an event last January in Union City, where Christie, in front of an audience of primarily Hispanic students, touted a new law to allow undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates at New Jersey colleges. |
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January 2020
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