Hes a Lawyer all his friends are lawyers, Its not hard to figure out he has made a lot of work for his buddys he knew what he was doing!

He had no choice...funds from the Feds to help with rebuilding would not be released unless this was agreed to. He had one hand tied behind his back and a gun to his head. Know what you are talking about before you speak.

Exactly.

GB Shore - Cuomo and the other involved governors are active participants in the rebuilding of their Sandy damaged areas. They did NOT roll over to Fema and yet those states are getting money we on the ground don't see in NJ.

@Local4Life - Please google "idiot" - I am sure your picture will pop up.

Exactly right, Local4Life. His priority has been boardwalks, not homes. Tens of thousands can't afford FEMA's extra-high elevation mandates and exorbitant annual premiums ($50,000 to $150,000 per home and as much as $30,000 per year, forever) based on erroneous maps and zones. There will be mass abandonments and foreclosures along the Shore.

Get the facts, get answers to your questions, Sunday 12 noon to 2 PM at the Brick Munic. Bldg. (all towns' residents welcome), 401 Chambersbridge Rd.

Mayor and others will speak about the hardships caused by the misguided 2012 Biggert-Waters Act that empowers FEMA to bail out its Katrina debt with OUR money. Congress must amend it. Together, our voices will be heard from Trenton to Washington!

= StopFemaNow.com = Facebook.com/StopFemaNow =
Bring a friend to the meeting Sunday. "We're mad and we're not going to take it any more!"

The Governor signed a blank check that relieved him of any responsibility and as a result he is now a non-player in the destiny of the NJ Shore. He ought to be treated accordingly. He has thrown the middle class to the lions at FEMA.

I don't think the Governor or those lower on the political totem pole give a damn for the middle class. We are at the point now where our town fathers are weighing the benefits of going along with the Fema plan to push the middle class out versus the Blue Acres proposal. If the Fema plan wins, we for the most part will be forced out and those on high believe we will be replaced by the wealthier who will provide skinny McMansions that will throw off higher taxes. So they are weighing the benefit of getting rid of the middle class that way versus taking money from the Blue Acres program that would give towns money and the residents who will be forced out will get only a token payment for the loss of their homes.

It's evil.

No politician in sight truly wants the middle class to stick around. We no longer can handle much more taxation so we have become disposable. That's the painful, hard truth of what is now so obvious to most.

You are so true in stating that there is conflicting information generated by all parties overseeing the rebuild effort of homeowners with no light at the end of the tunnel. The working class (middle class) always has to carry the weight of the higher and lower income classes because that's just the way it is and if we think that they are going out of their way to help us we are living in a pipe dream.

please reach out via email to saveourcommunity2013@gmail.com and request to be added to our email list which will keep you in the loop of the local on goings as well as any meetings in which to be attended to !

Could someone research the sunshine laws in NJ as well as the citizens right to see all of the paperwork and minutes of meetings. Then we need to start tracking every single penny.

We also need a list of the very few people who will be granted variances from the rules smacked down on most. And politicians and civil servants who own property in places given variances must be publicized.

What you say may be true, but it's business as usual and no different from any other legislation ever passed, including relief packages for other disasters.

if what you say is true, then it sounds like the property assesments and thus property taxes need to go WAY DOWN for property by the water !!!

I don't believe that you are a water front property owner with flood insurance. If you truly were you would know that we have been paying for years and after waiting more than 4 months have chance of getting a fraction of the cost in replacement. The people that self insured were the smart ones. In addition to exorbitant insurance premiums we have paid well more than our share of taxes.

You sir are a pretender.

@Dave Sikorski, I agree with the following summation by you that the government has made BAD choices and doesn't want to pay for them ,nor do I want you to. Like it or not,we will both have to unless amendments are made:

"Still, people like to blame the Government when they make a bad choice. If you choose to take a risk, please don't blame anyone other than yourself if the consequences are less than ideal."

It's not a question of blaming the government for the heck of it. We have before us a bunch of representatives that are just not representing We the People and in fact by their ineptitude or because of personal agendas, seem to be intentionally voting with only themselves in mind.

Stuff happens and it doesn't need our representatives making it impossible at every turn for people to repair, rebuild and return. There is a taint of corruption wafting in the air and that is what people are rightfully concerned about.

Are you a weatherman? I live in the Good Luck Point area which until Sandy had houses built here in 1934. This sort of Franken storm is certainly not the norm and with the 25' sand dunes put in place and maintained we most likely would not have seen the flooding we did in the Back Bay.

Reasonable additions to our chronically tailored cheap building codes demanded by the campaign donor builders will change and should over a reasonable period of time strengthen this area.

We seem to be at the end of a cycle of solar flares and once the Bay is dredged we just could be looking at a more peaceful period. But yes, the dunes and the Bay need and never have received proper maintenance and maybe now they will.

I don't think you have paid for my house which came through dry and should a fire break out in your home, I am more than willing to see you get all the help you need because I view you as a neighbor. And I am sure you have homeowner's insurance and I have that and flood insurance as well and I'm sure my taxes are higher than yours and will be forever. There is a thing called kicking people when they are down and you are doing just that, sadly.

Our government gives away billions of dollars every year to other countries (some of whom can't stand America). Having said that, this government should be able to finance and build an infrastructure to prevent or minimize flooding in certain areas. Elevating homes will NOT eliminate the problem. Flooding will still exist and migrate. Elevating homes will only reduce FEMA funding in the next storm 25 years from now. Flooding doesn't ONLY impact homeowners in select areas....It impacts other infrastructures. Our government should be focusing on long term strategies and FEMA should NOT be looking to line their pockets from NJ middle class people who have worked for many years to sustain what they own. It would truly be a CRIME for this government and State to force people to foot the bill to accommodate proposed flood zones. People WILL bail and property values along the coast WILL plummet if these zones go through. And, as I've said before, this will have a trickle affect on many people who are "safe" from these proposed flood zones....watch.

Dave, I'm behind you on this one. You do know that you paid for Katrina, right !
We also paid for the 2009 flood in Atlanta, GA. Not as bad as SSS but everything under water. Check the internet.

Chief, taxes and assesments will go down. Ours did. The town engineer was at our home twice and recommended a 30% drop in our taxes. We saw the p/w. But as soon as you rebuild, everything will go back up.

This Governor has the knack of telling audiences what they want to hear .... and then leaving and doing just the opposite.

He gave FEMA powers that none of the other Governors involved did and he did it, it would seem, to have more time to work on his two upcoming political campaigns. And by dumping his power and more importantly his responsibilities onto FEMA, he set them up to be the fall guy.

Now where was the Governor's mind when he opted out personally and left all of us in the hands of a proven, failed federal government agency. They are unable to help people anywhere in this land because they are stuffed with employees and contractors who are not the best and the brightest and are given pounds of paper rules so they who are in the field have zip authority to adjust the obvious errors in their rulebook. We would have been better off without them and it is time to question why we have to send our tax money to a monster sized federal government that trickles it back via a corrupt political chain that turns a full tap into drips that arrive at the feet of those in need.

This is truly government without representation.

The Outer Banks of NC has had no problem building BEAUTIFUL homes up on pilings, with second and third story living for decades. Perhaps those rebuilding should be looking up NC architects. Yes, the stairs are a workout, but they also have things called 'elevators' and stair tamers (that you can use to haul items to the upper floors right from outside). http://www.florezandflorez.com/

JulieG....you don't seem to get it.....It is the overall cost of having to elevate (and still have to pay flood insurance) that is the key issue here. Many people would be financially ruined or severely impacted....the middle class!! It is an astronomical cost to elevate homes. It also involves plumbing, electric, masonry work, etc. You make it sound so easy; perhaps your financial status is conducive for such expenses, however, for most of us, it is NOT.

Varano fan --

Could you explain to us just how Gilmore bought Amato's election? And does Mr. Gilmore reside in Berkeley township? That's important because NJ State law says town attorneys should live in the town they represent and this area has a track record of never hiring a local and reaching out instead for politically connected men who have politically connected law firms out of town. Varano did the very same thing and Shehan also represented other near by towns which could easily have put him in a conflict of interest situation.

And is Gilmore representing only Berkeley township or is he representing other communities as well? And is he collecting money for any other party in the Ashbritt rip off?

The NJ law needs to be enforced and the politicians in a one party town should never be allowed to weasel out of the law. Maybe it's time to start focusing on the representation we are getting. Is it possible to recall politicians?

And maybe we should start asking ourselves as voters how much money we are willing to pay a town attorney.

i have to believe in something so will wait til dredging done and see and hope the zones will change

Wrong! The governor is an accessory to the crime FEMA is perpetrating. His knee-jerk adoption of the erroneous maps and zones has left us wondering how (and if -- and if we can afford to) to rebuild -- 5 months after Sandy.

Congress must fix the 2012 Biggert-Waters Act that empowers FEMA to bail out its Katrina debt with OUR money. Most of us can't afford $50,000 to $150,000 to elevate homes or pay as much as $30,000 a year for insurance. It won't happen!

What will happen is mass abandonments and foreclosures, and the rest of NJ will pay more taxes to compensate for them.

Confused? Angry? Feeling hopeless? Come to the info session and protest rally SUNDAY, March 24th, 12 noon to 2 PM, Brick Municipal Building, 401 Chambersbridge Rd. All towns' property owners are welcome.

Get the facts at StopFemaNow.com and Facebook.com/StopFemaNow (Please "like" what you read.) Save our Shore homes and communities!

I totally agree the problem has to be solved in Washington, but who is Congress and FEMA going to listen to more: two guys with pseudonyms on a shore newspaper website or Governor Grizzly Bear? Having the Governor out front against the maps, rather than quietly backing them by adopting them as a NJ standard, sends a real important message, but we need our Senators and Representatives to start and keep beating the same drum.

And the $30k premiums, while nonsense in one sense, are, sadly, real. FEMA has published the rates. A single-story slab home in a V zone at -5 BFE will pay $30k. While this is an extreme case, the average shore owner of a house that was built at the BFE at the time it was built can now expect premiums that approximate their property taxes, which, if not $30k, is enough to do the damage everyone is afraid of.

The crisis is real. While it is a little unfair to dump the flak on the Governor so he'll unload it on Washington, that's how the process works. That's part of the job, and the Governor understands this. It's why he has town halls.

GB Shore....why don't YOU help in starting it. You seem quite ambitious. Jeeez.....

@DDJA I already have. I understand that people are tired and frustrated. What makes no sense to me is their bashing of the Governor when the real problem lays in Washington. I am tired of folks just lashing out without facts...some, not all. A lot of the comments are false, erroneous and misguided. Also, there's no place for personal attacks on the Governor. That is childish. So if you don't like my commentary, I'd say it was a comment like the others in that you have NO IDEA what I have already done. So if you also want to make stupid comments, channel that and join those of us are are taking the fight to Washington. So, what have YOU done? See? I ask, I don't make an assumption like you did. Jeez is right...

We're trying to avoid the NEED for a bailout. The house-raising expenses people are looking for relief from are not to avoid floods, but flood insurance premiums. We'd MUCH rather have sensible maps and premiums and adequate dunes than $50K bailouts. That's what StopFEMANow and SaveOurCommunity2013 are all about.

Biggert-Waters maps and Katrina bail-out produces 500%+ premium increases. At least at the Jersey shore, pre-B-W actuarial premiums pretty much did cover our risks AND the subsidies for pre-FIRM homes, and Sandy proves this. Sandy was worse than the 100 year bench mark used to set premiums. The average Sandy claim is under $50k. A $1500 pre-BW map premium (and many were paying more than that) would cover TWO Sandys in 67 years. We were paying our way. An $8000 premium pays for two 100 year events every 12 years. That's paying SOMEONE ELSE'S way.

A heavy-handed application of a flawed statute has produced game-changing sized premium increases not rooted in reality that fundamentally change assumptions on which individuals made family investments and that collectively threaten communities. OF COURSE we are going to complain. And have every right to.

Give up your house, Richard Beem, so a homeless flood victim can live in it. That's "the cost of doing business" as you so glibly say.

Our homes were approved by towns years ago, and we've paid mortgages and insurance premiums for years. They're mostly modest bungalows and middle-class houses, not oceanfront mansions.

FEMA decimated our property values with its bureaucracy-gone-wild scheme. It did more damage to the Shore than Sandy did. Christie is waking up to the hard reality of what it will do to the state's economy. It's time to fix that insane bail-out law. It's time to StopFemaNow(.com)

So true.

This may or may not happen again. Nobody really knows for sure. Don't get caught up with all the global warming voo-doo. Remember in the 70's they were predicting global cooling and there was going to be another ice age. What happened with that? Logical decisions need to be made. Where do you want people to move to? Tornado alley, flood prone North Dakota, earthquake California? Every place has something sometime. The news media loves to scare people to death.

It will never end Barbara.

I'll say it again: the Waters-Biggert Flood Act was the first salvo toward "deficit reduction" That's why the Tea Party Republicans supported and voted for it. . .

He would look like a fool.

WOW............that was awesome.

The truth.

Ray, our friends have Selective and the ins. co. was great to them. They called the day of the storm and rec'd. their check 30 days after sandy. As of today, they rec'd the largest claim check within our circle.

Cartman-

Your friends were obviously inland or non-restricted areas as I don't know of many inspections that occurred within 30 days of Sandy in our area. In fact, residents couldn't visit their homes without sitting in a line of traffic that allowed approved residents in between 8 - 3. (Exception - the politically connected - check out you tube.)

same here; Selective was prompt and paid well.

Cartman-My comment was more about the Dept. of Banking and Insurance.

do you have anything substantial to back yourself up?

Previously in another thread here on the patch I commented that personal opinions and the argument of "we know better because we live here" is a not going to take you too far.

If that is going to be the main point of your collective argument without scientific evidence or facts along w/ qualified professionals (and not people who do this as a hobby) to back you up you'll be fighting a losing battle.

The gov'ts facts, figures, maps, theories and professionals will "of course" be the best of the best w/ years of qualified experience to "back them up". The argument of "we live here, we know better" will not carry much weight. They will bring "proof" the sea level is rising, will continue to rise through the years and future storm scenarios will be played out through well made power point presentations w/ high tech graphics and scientific conjecture all of which will have the FEMA and other Gov't reps convinced this is written in stone for the future.

Your counterpoint arguments will need to be equally prepared, currently relevant and as high tech and hopefully the reps will be equally interested in your presentation as that of FEMA. Personal opinions and observations by unqualified residents will have little impact if any. Cold hard documented facts will be your only weapon, if you're lucky. I certainly hope your group has some real credible experts coming to assist you in this fight

@clamdigger, the modeling with respect to wave activity is not complete. Every municipality SHOULD be supplying FEMA with the best available engineering if they want to salvage their rapidly diminishing tax base

to proud;

YES you are correct and the governor and his cabinet should be sitting down with the most qualified private sector experts they can find to assist all the towns/counties/residents involved, but in the long run I see this becoming a huge responsibility of the residents involved to act on their own within their neighborhood (pooling their resources) as a "sub-group" gathering all necessary information (and backing it up/copying so it doesn't get "lost") and passing it along to the next level so all of it can be processed accordingly to substantiate the feeling of "We live here, We know better".

I believe the residents who have decades of living in their respective neighborhoods know (deep down) what their areas are subjected to and what the risks really are but a gov't entity is not just going to take the word of the people as fact.

personally I'd like to see everyone who has paid into their insurance get their money as well as for the gov't come up w/ a reasonable solution so something like this never happens again. There needs to be some sort of middle ground, safer than it was, but not to the extreme they are hinting toward unless you are "on the water".

I'm a firm believer in live and let live but if you choose to live on an earthquake fault, you shouldn't be surprised at the cost of an ins. premium or expect considerable compensation if there is a quake just because you "love the area" or "the view".

Good luck.

@ clamdigger, prior to the release of the preliminary maps expected in August, municipalities that are NFIP participants will be provided with a work map to identify "obstructions" to wave activity within their boundaries. It is to the benefit of the municipalities and their residents to provide FEMA with "solid" information that can be included in the overland wave propagation component of the forthcoming maps. The "advisory" maps (ABFE) are void in this regard. Without correct information, the maps will be inaccurate and could result in huge increases in flood insurance in a vast portion of our region. Thae impact of that will severely damage an already battered economy, and that will affect EVERYONE, not just those in the flood plain (SFHA).. Correct mapping that includes obstructions in ALL communities and a continuous dune system on the barrier islands may be the only saving grace, unless, of course, residents are content with waiting twenty, thirty, or fifty years for the "shore" to gentrify or re-gentrify, as it were.

Professional engineers have shown that the std. ASCE formula for wave heights was not correctly applied or calculated in NJ.

Just as with the exorbitant annual insurance premiums, FEMA's "overkill" is meant to bail it out of its Katrina debt with private-sector money (NJ homeowners' money).

The unintended impact of the 2012 Biggert-Waters Act will be mass abandonments and foreclosures, because few can afford $50,000 to $150,000 to raise a house or $30,000 yearly insurance costs. Congress must amend the misguided law that empowered FEMA to sock it to 20% of the US (Ohio River Valley, Missouri, etc. and all coasts). The facts are on our side, the side of common sense and fairness. StopFemaNow.com