LETTER: MacArthur continues to work against his own constituents by Michael Downey Brick
Rep. Tom MacArthur, R-N.J., was the only New Jersey representative to vote for so-called tax reform. His vote was a vote against me and my family. I’m a lifelong resident of Brick and a homeowner. As a working-class New Jerseyan I see his support for this bill as personal attack on us. I consider myself blessed. I can do what matters most — look out for my family. I work shift work in retail and live paycheck to paycheck. I have an unpredictable schedule each week. But no matter what, I have been able to maintain my home and help support my disabled brother who lives with me and is on Medicaid. This callous bill will make daily living more difficult, with an increase in taxes on many working and middle-class families, the cap of the state and local tax deduction, and the inevitable cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. But it probably will not hurt MacArthur, a millionaire who made his fortune in the world of insurance whose wealth is said to exceed $37 million. Time and again, MacArthur chooses to work against his own constituents and allies himself with the multibillion dollar corporations. Time will show that he is on the wrong side of history. We should all be ready to defend programs people like my brother and others count on such as Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare.
0 Comments
Survey tries to document lingering problems for Sandy survivors by Michelle Brunetti Post
Thousands of New Jersey families still struggle to repair or lift their homes or businesses four years after Hurricane Sandy, but there is little data on the problems they face and how they are handling them. That’s especially true for the almost 7,000 families who applied for help from a state-administered federal grant program and were turned down — sometimes mistakenly. Two nonprofit groups are trying to fill in the blanks by conducting a survey called the Sandy Truth Project. Volunteer Lawyers for Justice and the New Jersey Organizing Project created the survey with help from Rutgers University researchers. They are asking people who suffered damages from Sandy to fill out a survey at newjerseyop.org/sandy-truth-project.html or call 973-645-1955 for a printed copy. The effort launched in October when Stockton University student volunteers went door-to-door in Atlantic City asking people survey questions, said Jessica Limbacher, a staff attorney who leads VLJ’s Disaster Legal Response Program. It was a week before the fourth anniversary of the storm, she said. The state Department of Community Affairs has administered the $1.1 billion federal grant program for rebuilding and repairs called the Rehabilitation, Reconstruction, Elevation and Mitigation program. About 40,000 primary homes were damaged by the storm, and the owners of about 15,000 of those applied for help from RREM. The program accepted 7,600. Of those, only 4,300 had completed their repairs and construction after four years. Another 1,400 had returned to their homes anyway, living there while reconstruction continued. Almost 7,000 homeowners who sought help didn’t get it, some after being inaccurately told they didn’t qualify. Limbacher said the survey will try to find out what happened to that large contingent of people who faced significant damages but were left out of the assistance programs. “We have about 250 surveys completed. Our goal is 500, so we’re about halfway there,” said Limbacher. “We are planning to wait a few more months to collect some more surveys.” VLJ is a Newark based nonprofit that has been helping Sandy survivors with free legal advice and representation since right after the October 2012 storm, she said. It has a roster of about 2,000 lawyers willing to help, she said. “They have been great. The problem now is, as you get farther out from the storm, the legal issues get more and more complicated,” said Limbacher. “It’s more difficult to find someone with the expertise and time and resources to take on a complex legal case.” NJOP is a nonpartisan advocacy group founded by Sandy survivors in 2014 to help families go home and afford to stay there, and says is working to pass state legislation to prevent foreclosures on Sandy families and to hold contractors accountable. Analysis will start once a large enough sample size has been collected, but from paging through those already received, Limbacher said, one issue jumped out at her: The number of people who say they still need help with mental-health issues four years after the natural disaster. “There were a lot of great mental-health resources a year or two after Sandy, but now all the funding has run out,” Limbacher said. “People are saying they wish there were more resources now.” The survey seeks to identify the main barriers to recovery and to push for solutions, Limbacher said. It asks about issues such as problems with the state grant program and contractor disputes, as well the storm’s impact on finances and physical and mental health. “We believe that having statistics will be a powerful tool in advocating for changes on behalf of Sandy victims,” Limbacher said. Joe Mangino, co-founder of NJOP, said his group is seeing new problems emerge as the recovery drags on, “while the financial and health strains on families are evident.” Forum in Atlantic City addresses environmental equity, post-Sandy problem by Erin Serpico
ATLANTIC CITY — It’s been five years since Hurricane Sandy, but local officials and environmental advocates haven’t stopped discussing the storm and its consequences. At a climate change and energy town hall Saturday, local experts drew attention to environmental equity and how to prevent communities from falling through the cracks. The forum, “How Climate Change & Dirty Energy Impact Our Communities,” was sponsored by Food & Water Watch, ReThink Energy NJ, the Pinelands Preservation Alliance and the National Institute for Healthy Human Spaces. The afternoon forum addressed concepts such as climate change, flood prevention and ways to mitigate storm repercussions in the area — and it all drew back to Atlantic City. Carol Ruffu, president of the Chelsea Neighborhood Association who came to the forum to discuss the fight to prevent the Municipal Utilities Authority from being privatized, said construction was completed last month on her Chelsea Heights home that was damaged during Sandy. “I know the frustrations that are out there,” she said. And several Jersey Shore residents are still waiting to get back into their homes after the storm, said Priscilla Robinson, an organizer with the New Jersey Organizing Project. This forum was really to “ensure that we’re prepared for the next storm,” she said, adding people have had trouble moving back in, health and financial consequences from the damage, and frustrations with recovery aid. “People have depleted everything just trying to rebuild their homes,” she said. Roy Jones, executive director of the National Institute for Healthy Human Spaces, discussed how Atlantic City and the region surrounding it must protect itself from future storms. “Even when there’s no storm, there’s flooding,” he said. Jones cited the prevalence of flooding in Atlantic City as an example, and brought up potential solutions to overflowing bays and storm damage prevention. He cited sea level rise and a lack of storm barriers around parts of South Jersey coastal islands. With the right push for funding, he said, communities can properly raise roads, bridges and homes and flood-proof homes and businesses. “Unless we do something today, Atlantic City could basically become a river,” he said. The forum also addressed environmental equity around the state with keynote speaker Nicky Sheats, director of the Center for the Urban Environment at Thomas Edison State University. He spoke on environmental justice and the need to protect all neighborhoods from pollution. He showed the relationships between pollution and minority communities, and pollution and poverty. “If you live in New Jersey, the amount of pollution in your neighborhood is connected to race and income: the amount in your pocket, and the color of your skin,” he said. |
AuthorWe're South Jersey and the Shore standing together for community solutions. CategoriesArchives
January 2020
Categories |