Probably towns like Lakewood and parts west...

FEMA maps were updated here in Springfield, Missouri, a few years back. Same thing, homes with nearly impossible odds of flooding pulled into it and homeowners for the first time in 35 years asked to buy insurance. Now many homes in our area were turned back to the banks on foreclosures due to owners walking away and others have been pulled off the market because no one wants to purchase them with this rip off high priced flood insurance attached. Hang in there and fight!!!

In the end Sandy didn't destroy the Shore,it was the Government.

Key point: The cost of protecting thousands of properties by raising the dunes is far less than raising all those properties. No one's precious "view" is more important than my personal safety and my home. I'd pay $1000 a year to the town, county or state for DUNES and beach replenishment to prevent flooding -- rather than paying $60,000 to raise my house or paying $30,000 a year for an insurance policy that won't even pay off when I need it.

Will our politicians adopt a plan like that to save the Shore from mass abandonment? Will they use eminent domain to build dunes that (heaven forbid) spoil their rich campaign donors' ocean views? Will we, the people, rise up against this overkill by FEMA that has been aided and abetted by Christie's hasty OK of high elevations and high premiums?

"Stop FEMA Now" grassroots uprising!
Meet 'n' greet this Saturday 2/9/12, 3-4 pm
Belly Busters, 708 Fischer Blvd, Toms River NJ

Let's get together and discuss and strategize how to rectify FEMA overkill (flawed maps, ridiculously high elevation mandates and usurious annual insurance premiums will BANKRUPT the Shore and make it a ghost town (except for the wealthy).

How about a class-action lawsuit? Petitions to White House, federal and/or state legislators? Letter-writing and email campaigns to news media? Rallies on steps of Statehouse and Congress?

"United we stand, divided we drown in debt!"

PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION AND SHARE WITH EVERYONE YOU KNOW !!

Save Our New Jersey Communities https://www.change.org/petitions/governor-chris-christie-reverse-the-decision-to-adopt-the-current-fema-map-height-requirements?utm_campaign=friend_inviter_chat&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&utm_term=permissions_dialog_false#supporters

Governor Chris Christie: Reverse the decision to adopt the current FEMA map height requirements
www.change.org

The adopted height requirements will force many families out of their homes. It ...

George, I need your help. I went to the Announcement of Upcoming Things where the Patch would give us free exposure about your meeting idea for this Saturday. I typed it all up and hit a problem in that I don't want to use my own email address and I don't have access to a phone. I wrote the copy up and would be glad to send it to you or anyone who could respond to inquiries. The meeting really ought to be advertised in as many nearby Patch outlets as possible and I sure hope the restaurant knows what may be coming. I'll look for an answer here. Many thanks.

http://patch.com/E-ttDh
Big FEMA protest rally Sat. 2/9/13 from 3-4 pm on Fischer Blvd. in Toms River, for everyone who's mad about the crazy home-elevation requirements and the exorbitant annual flood insurance premiums to come soon. Be there. Don't just complain. Let's take action. Make ouir voices heard in Trenton and Washington!

Not only will so many people leave the shore, you will have part timers buying up these homes. Either they will use these homes as weekend/homes, or they will rent to just anyone. So, with part timers, you won't have spending down the shore as you have now (which WILL affect businesses)....AND/OR....they will turn full time neighborhoods into year round rentals....there goes the neighborhood because most renters don't care about the home or the neighborhood.

"Screwed again by living in NJ."

There's nothing holding you back from leaving but the breeze...

Replying to CR. He is either a politician with a soft job or has a job by being related to one. For your info, I am in the process of getting out now, to leave this state to someone like you to deal with all of the corruption. You seem to enjoy it.

A slick way for the rich to take from the poor.They will buy up all the homes you are forced out of.

And exactly whom do you sell a home here to cool breeze?

CR.....cold and heartless. I wonder if you would reply like that if it were you mother or brother. ....than again, based on your response to knarfie, you probably wouldn't give a damn. This is impacting people's lives. We're talk about people who had NO real damage to their homes and who are NOT on the barrier island.

"We are considering moving on and out of this State"

Adios, amigo!

foggyworld

It's NOT the Governor, it's the Obama administration. It's FEMA. If Christie didn't accept the new FEMA maps then NO MONEY would be coming to NJ You are directing your anger at the WRONG person. You should be upset with the jerk in the oval office.

SB
i feel for all of you but these new FEMA flood plain regulations are hitting everyone around the whole country. I live in Michigan and not even in a flood zone and just the other day received a letter saying that I am now. The government is going to force more and more people out of their homes with these over priced flood insurance rates. FEMA is making us all bend over and take it up the a##. Where does it all end?

I can't understand HOW the governor would expect people to enforce V zones or A zones for people who have NEVER had any real damage to their homes. To make people pay upwards of $100K is CRIMINAL!!! The shore will only be for the wealthy.....thank you Governor. We pray these zones are remedied.

I am not asking for a penny and haven't taken one so far. We built our house to outer banks NC and coastal Florida ocean standards which required us to be on 10' pilings. We did that voluntarily and paid for it and it worked just as planned during Sandy. Our home was and is dry and functioning just fine.

No red sticker here and we stayed here during the storm and are still here. We had prepared ahead of time to live without electricity, water, plumbing and heat were OK.

I don't want any money but I do think this new standard of 14' belongs on the ocean front properties and not on this house which is in a corner of the bay where the water level is around 3.5' between tides.

Obviously none of these government agencies have money but they can push us out and in Christie's world, sell our properties to wealthy builders. In Obama's vision, every house and business on every coast in the nation will be torn down eventually and returned to the wild. Sounds great but NJ's second largest income producer is the Tourism business which isn't located in downtown Newark.

Both men want the same thing but for very different reasons. I want my neighbors to come back on a fair and reasonable basis and I want that for myself. I don't see why thousands of American families have to forfeit their homes to fulfill any politician's dreams.

FEMA and the EPA are run by appointees of the jerk in the oval office. Place blame where blame belongs at the feet of the a$$ you worship...OBAMA..

FEMA and the EPA are run by appointees of the jerk in the oval office

You mean the jerk that pulls the strings of the jerk in the Oval Office??
Yes, Jarrett is indeed a jerk.

Remember, she's the jerk that runs the show so the emperor can go on vacations and golf outings, while the clowns in NJ that voted for him/them complain about FEMA money that's going into the fuel tanks of AF1 for those "well-earned" vaca's!

The big guy doesn't make the FEMA maps, and they were done before the storm. I checked the law, Biggert-Waters Act of 2012. You can blame him for adopting them too soon, but FEMA will make them law within a year anyway and eventually we will have to comply. Supposedly, the faster the municipality adopts the regs, the faster you get the ICC and grant money to raise the house, rather than waiting till summer 2014 - that's what he's thinking. I hope it's true. If it is, adopting them ASAP makes sense. I was just raised to a V and I don't think I will be lowered even if FEMA makes some changes, so I'd just as soon get this over with. The only ones who might be hurt are those who have a decent chance of getting their zone changed, and that will involve a long fight with FEMA. why should everyone else have to wait for the inevitable?

Interesting SSP Jim. When the Berkeley boys on stuck us on the island with 90% tax increase just 3 short years ago, I don't recall you clamoring about the coastal accessments affecting your house and mine, while you were serving on the BOE. The very first thing is to get the tax assessor to lower our LAND and IMPROVEMENT ASSESSMENTS, specifically land, now that our property is virtually worthless when we don't raise our homes, will be unable to sell, resulting in major step back on the assessments. Bingo. Went by a school bus today picking up one kid, yup. One kid. Only stop on the whole island. Come on now, that is ridiculous. Could joining Seaside Park be far behind?

For many of us, this is not an option because we have mortgages that require having flood insurance. Speaking of which - you'd think the banks would be speaking out against this situation since it will adversely effect their business with all the foreclosure in this area's future.

Because we are mandated to carry flood insurance by the banks that hold our mortgage.

You have to have it if you have a mortgage

Fight the V zone designation. You can fight it with your town engineer. They have the last say over FEMA. FEMA creates the maps but the towns are the ones who adopt them so they're the one's who can make any changes to that map. Discuss it with them before dealing with FEMA. That's what FEMA map dept told me.

Because if you have a mortgage, you are required by law to carry flood insurance. Until Sandy, apparently many people just didn't pay for flood insurance but we did and are not filing a claim.

So for the years left on our mortgage if we do not disassemble and rework our house, we will have to pay $7000 annually for flood insurance.

Understand that that designation of V was intended to be used only for worst case ocean front and gulf front properties. Our back yard is a very shallow part of the bay which averages between tides at around 3'

We won't obviously be able to sell our house when people find out the flood insurance situation so the true value of our house at the moment is probably zero.

There are about 3 of my neighbors who will be caught up n the same situation and if reason doesn't surface soon, we will have to hire an attorney to represent us all. More money down the tubes.

And the governor was able to resist taking on Obamacare full blast and he can do the same thing here. I honestly think he wants to offload his own responsibilities for this horror show onto Fema which is used to being the bad guy, so he can move it off his desk and run for one and yet another political opportunity for him.

Our congressman amazingly have tried to reach the Governor to explain the many injustices that are going to take place if that map is adopted but it doesn't look hopeful at the moment.

I voted for the Governor: he just lost me.

I think maybe if I held a mortgage I would just walk away - Cut my losses and walk. I'm not sure, but the thought of leaving the banksters to straighten this mess out is an appealing one. With the home devaluations I would think many people will be placed in a zero equity situtation so why throw good money after bad? I understand this is all more easily said than done. But what if they make a map and noone complies? What are they gonna do get blood from a stone? This puts all of us at the shore in a horrible mess, even those relatively unscathed by Sandy. We will never forget that awful storm and FEMA is making sure of it.

I have been in touch with the expensive engineering consulting firm the town hired with our tax dollars and I got nowhere. They kicked it back to the Town Engineer who is also on our payroll but he hasn't contacted me so I will try again tomorrow. I have also sent copies of all of this correspondence to the Town Council President who sadly found that his own house was badly damaged. No doubt he, too, will be in a V zone because his neighborhood looks like ours. Houses on pilings made it: those built on the ground were hit with two feet of water. That last group may receive grant money to raise their houses onto pilings but we already have them and the tie down straps on every pieces of wood in the house would have to be cut in order to rearrange the house in a way Fema would be happy.

Those tie down straps will definitely show up in the new building codes and while they are easy to install when you are building a new house, it would be almost impossible to cut them and then redo them. Many of them are attached up higher than the middle of say an 8' 2 x 4, so parts of walls would have to be knocked out to get to them because they are nailed into the framing.

We are on 10' pilings which means a lot of stairs but to go to 14' pilings would almost require an elevator to make the house salable later on. Folks retiring wouldn't want to climb the mountain proposed.

We are being forced out and it's beyond painful to deal with.

Problem is flood insurance is controlled by FEMA as are the maps. If he doesn't adopt the new maps and we don't rebuild to the ABE's then we can't qualify for flood insurance. He has no choice. Its up to us to fight to change our zones or lower our new ABE before the final maps come out.

It's a bigger decision than that. In order to stop paying our property taxes, we would also have to stop paying our mortgage and of course our flood insurance.

And a word of caution to those taking out SBA LOANS. If you do that the government automatically has the right to put a lien on your property if you miss a payment. A bank can't do it that easily so the current four year foreclosure process would become a very swift method of ridding the town of the middle class.

And should you manage to do the unlikely and sell your house, Obama has now put taxes on the profits you make on the sale over a certain amount. It's just a no win situation but the my anger at the Governor is he who isn't stupid doesn't seem to understand the game that is being played. He's too focused on himself and seems to be oblivious to the manipulation of New Jersey residents by both Fema and the Epa who want to clear all US coastlines of homes and businesses.

NJ can't afford that loss but he doesn't seem to see that and he certainly isn't aware of the grief in the communities that have been hit. He's too busy becoming a star. David Letterman and Donuts, State Dinners at the White House, and lovely seats at the Superbowl .... while several of my neighbors don't even know if Fema will extend their Section 8 housing for two more weeks.

It smacks of Obama-itis.

Mary Ann I am so sorry to hear of your situation. Sounds like a familiar situation many of us are in. We are all between a rock and a hard place.....and it does not seem right at all.

I too, am so sorry Mary Ann.

If you bought 20+ years ago, presumably your mortgage is paid off and there is no need for flood insurance if you want to assume the risk. Chritie's adoption of the maps only affect those who need to build right away - once the ":final" maps come out in 2014 you'll know your zone and elevation.

Don't blame FEMA - they are doing what a bipartisan bill in Congress (and signed by Obama) told them to do - stop subsidizing people in flood-prone areas.

I saw yes. Investors are already buying up properties on the beach at great prices. People are choosing not to rebuild and just demolish and sell the lot.

Zillow.com shows a devaluation in the last few months to my property. Not sure if it is Sandy related but the timing jibes.

You make a good case, Foggy. We have been approved for the SBA loan, but are waiting to see what the flood insurance that we been paying for all these years is going to finally send us. Before we borrow anything, we have to figure out what options we have - if any all. How are these descrepancies in the FEMA flood maps justified? Everything about this is so unfair and could have been easily avoided.

"The most amazing part of the FEMA maps is that parts of the barrier islands (rich and famous or infamous) are going to be placed in the low cost flood insurance zone A."
You can't be that fooggy is you read the map. Me and the neighbors are on the barrier island and in the V zone. These rich and famous people are supporting you and your children in the schools,soccer and baseball fields, community centers of which there are zero on the island. Perhaps removing those cars without plates and those 4 boats in your yard would help your property value, and you can start paying us back for the kids we don't have in school, while we pay 3 times theproperty taxes with no services. Zippo. Rich and famous. I never have been called that after working 2 jobs for over 26 years. But, joining Seaside Park is not far behind, and then you will pay your fair share. You might want to start by cleaning up those clamming shacks and removing the cars and boats.

No big Christie lover here, but I believe perhaps the size and scope of this dismantling of the middle class is way beyond the ageis of a gubenatorial leadership. This is the new world order IMO. It sux.

For those of you who are talking about SBA loans please be aware you will not qualify for one unless your home is rented out. Thats the little kicker that FEMA fails to tell you about. I found this out from the FEMA representative at Home Depot. It is a fact.

And Pat, when you rebuild, Ortley will rush in and raise your property taxes to reflect all of the improvements made and new houses are taxed at a higher rate than depreciated older houses.

They have us coming and going and it breaks my heart but I don't see any sort of fair or decent resolution coming to those of us who have lived here for years and paid our taxes and done all the right things. Do realize that the houses that were wiped out were mainly built at ground level and they were on the day Sandy hit and are today in complete compliance with current building codes.

It's the politicians who refused to upgrade those codes to include the possibility of a serious storm who are in good part responsible for this mess. Builders have been making huge campaign donations for years and as a result they have been able to keep their costs low because they saw to it that pilings and the rest of the hurricane prevention measures just never made it to the building codes.

We are therefore being asked to pay for the sins of others. I don't know of one house near me that was out of compliance.

That true but the owners of those beach houses must continue to pay their mortgages, taxes and now flood insurance so if they let their offspring camp out in their other home they are foolish not to charge them rent.

Exactly!

Let's clear up a few points regarding FEMA, Obama, and the Biggart-Waters act. I think that we all agree that a house built below flood levels shoud pay a higher premium. We also understand that people in Iowa are not interested in subsidizing insurance for people in New Jersey, given that they will be charged a beach fee to access the beaches. Obama is simply looking at this issue from a National not New Jersey perspective.

The only issue that I have with Bigget Waters is that it includes an increase on vacation home owners, even if you meet the base level standards - you must live in your home 80% of the year to avoid an increase. Not sure about the logic on this provision.

There is blame to go all around and Governor Christie could do things differently and has chosen what will prove to be the most difficult producer of hardship this State has ever seen.

He is adamant he says and is determined to let one of the worst managed federal agencies take over all the problems associated with the turmoil going on. The Governors of the other states certainly are not dumping their constituents and tossing them to the inept and barely funded, FEMA but they aren't running for President.

He's also supporting friends of friends who will make it easy for out of state folks to come in from Florida to do the remaining clean up for millions and millions of dollars. We are living with 9.25% unemployment and most of the jobs that will come from that clean up will not require Master's degrees. A more compassionate man would have marshaled the troops and scooped up any healthy person on the unemployment roles and given him or her a real job.

That would have given them resume credentials and relieved the taxpayer burden for our carrying the unemployment benefits which are now up to 99 months.

The Garden state is withering and will be left to a handful of one percenters and to the many who are in need of free or subsidized housing, food stamps, higher education and medical care.

We the middle class are being strongly encouraged to leave. One problem with law school is there isn't a heavy emphasis on math so no one seems to have questioned how the tax dollars we take to other states when we leave are going to be of much benefit to those who are privileged enough to stay.

If we all refuse to pay (sic) their game they have no power over us.

I'd go further than Romney. Why do we put up with the block grant concept or sending premium flood insurance to the feds who are planning to return next to nothing other than loan applications from the SBA - another agency which wasn't set up to do what it is about to. Not that many decades ago towns and states made decisions on how they wanted to spend their own taxes dollars.

We in NJ have two amazing Senators who along with those who came before them have been content for NJ to send $1.68 in return for $1.00 returned mainly through block grants. We are close to the very bottom of States that receive anything back that is even close to what they send.

What has happened is a huge federal government of administrators and paper pushers have been given jobs that pay 138% more than similar jobs in corporate America and really this nation got along fine without them for most of its history.

FDR started many make work jobs during the depression and they truly were needed but after his run and really starting big time with Lyndon Johnson, those administrators expanded like rabbits in heat and now are costing us more and more money which obviously we can't afford.

That whole gang of people you mentioned have run this thing in a way that I bet second graders might match. But they all have agendas of their own and the Governor I think is looking for an approach similar to Obama's Let's Blame George Bush routine.

The Governor wants to move up and to do that he thinks he can and should distance himself from taking any responsibility for this massive failure. So bad maps or good, he seems to just want it off his desk. Then we will hear him go at Fema non stop as he tries to paint them as the guilty parties.

The problem with that is we all just saw Obama pull that one and this go round we are better educated.

Hello "Squandered", you make a strong argument here, but how do we get FEMA to disclose this information to the general public? It is doubtful that the people analyzing FEMA's data included any alternative, more cost effective flood protection methods in their findings before assigning these V-zones to the back bay areas. If they had, FEMA would have lost all that potential income to the NFIP! Forget the inconsistancies where V and A are assigned or not. I cannot believe our governor is just letting this happen without question! We all need to march into Trenton to have our voice heard. Then, maybe with some media attention, our Govenor will have to rethink his adoption of the ABFE's without question and maybe FEMA will have to re-evaluate their data and consider necessary changes. (Yeah - what color is the sky in that world? It is nice to dream though.)

Best post I've seen yet!

..Youth - that is far too cogent an argument for our elected "leaders" to follow. I love the analogy about fixing a design defect in an airliner by requiring every passenger to buy their own parachute. That's essentially what they are doing with this new insurance premium requirements.

I think this policy amounts to an unconstitutional "takings" by the federal government (by unconventional means). They are essentially stealing my property value by changing long established rules without compensating me for the change.

Noise in Berkeley Township. Before the storm, the Mayor was threatening to raise our already artificially high taxes because in his mind it is up to those who are left to fill the money gap left by the foreclosed. He never once suggested we might need fewer civil "servants" if the population was decreasing.

Then right after the storm he had a new reason for us to pay higher property taxes: Sandy.

The only way this town will ever get it finances in order is if we start from square one and decide together exactly just how many civil servants we NEED to do the normal chores of running a town. We don't need Mayor's concerts or two people in the Tax office if the majority of their work is farmed out to outsiders who do the appraisals. And do we need a full time person running a program to help neighborhood groups pick up trash? And we have a town switchboard operator in the era of direct dial phones.

There is more than one way to kill a cat as the saying goes.

Many of these folks are nice people but sometimes less is better and it may be time to check out the actual need for each slot to see if we just might cut back. Lord knows the rest of us are.

Chief.........you are so right. The silence though speaks volumes.....NO ONE CARES but they go one here and complain and bitch but in the end no one does anything about it. They vote in the same idiots, they accept the same BS, they wont speak up because maybe someone won't like them......on and on

Take your elevation certificate and bring it to your town engineer and fight it with the town. They can change your zone.

Bingo!

Well Red Ocean County may not be well represented. Who the hell has $3800 sitting around these days? And if you had it, would you really want to break bread with his new friends?

I am very aware of what you are saying but hey look on January 15th, paychecks went down & on January 27th we got hit with new taxes and the game to empty our pockets completely is going full speed. April 15th will bring some new surprises for those who love hope and change.

Maybe all insurance, including health insurance, ought to be returned to the private sector where there actually is competition which government ought to encourage. I don't think we can realistically expect given our shoddy building codes to continue to receive subsidized flood insurance (better known as an SBA LOAN form). Frankly, I don't think in this house we would buy flood insurance after watching our neighbors get insultingly low figures presented to them. It's cheaper to go to Home Depot and do some work yourself. A good deal of what was needed right after the storm involved heavy duty scrubbing of everything to get rid of the mold that is now thriving in the affected areas.

Our main goal ought to be to survive the next 1400 days or so and just pray that the next go round more voters will do some investigating on their own before they decide that "cool" is a requirement for a vote.

And I am here to tell you that behind OFEMA is the EPA with an agenda that Governor Christie I don't believe understands. That's really what's wrong here and Christie is showing the stubborn streak we see coming out of that oval office.

It's man to man combat. All we can do is duck - or hide.

The truth is folks are not hanging on in way too many cases. In our small neighborhood I have seen three break downs so far and there will be many more when the denial phase is over.

The heartbreak of seeing your friends and neighbors become destitute overnight is keeping me awake night after night. Beyond their homes and material possessions, their human dignity has been taken away from them by that very red tape that we were told would not surface. It has and it is choking people to the point where many are fighting just to breathe.

Elie Wiesel, a holocaust survivor and Nobel Prize winner, has said over and over, "Indifference is the biggest sin of all." So yes, we do have to fight and it's probably time to get a proper website and get off Facebook which is wired into most gummint offices. As tough as things are for us, they are much worse for so many and we have to find ways to stand up for them - more than for ourselves even.

Yes, I've been saying this for the past week. I spoke last week with Bonnie Flynn in Stafford twp and she told me to bring my elevation certificate to her and she will review it along with the town engineer. I am not happy about my zone change, especially given the fact that I am in the last lagoon in the V zone. Granted, i don't have a mortgage, and I technically don't need flood insurance, but it will be my luck that something will happen the minute i drop it. I would also add, that flood insurance is not going to be $30,000 a year as the rumor mill would have it. She stated to me that the most it would be is probably anywhere from $6,000-$9,000, not that those figures are cheap. However, at this point I don't know who to believe. There is so much that isn't true and I am just going to take my certificate to the town and fight it. If i have to obtain a lawyer, I will. I don't have the money for one, but I'm sure there are alot of up and coming law students that just graduated who want to make a name for themselves. I did receive 50% damage, but at this stage of the game I will hold off raising anything. I'm not secure in the fact that these maps are advisory and that there are so many experts already questioning the scientific and technical validity of these maps.

$9,000 a year premiums is not "sky-rocketing"?

@George. Yes George, and I did say that. But, the point I was trying to get across was that I think that there is misleading information that the rates are going to skyrocket to $30,000 a year, which she told me is incorrect. However, by no means is $9,000 a year affordable for anyone unless your a millionaire. Thats like taking on another mortgage payment. Anyway you look at it, none of it is affordable.

Here's one more thought ,I could only imagine the rage and inpatients people will have with Fema and insurance companies after they have been paying these new impending rates and Fema drags their feet once again when there's a chance we will all have to file claims again

I just went to sign the petition and found that only seven - 7 - people have signed it. This is OUR problem because if we can't get information out to the many people involved, we will be dead in the water. Please send this on to everyone you know who would provide us a signature pathway so we can finally get some attention to this serious issue.

Floodgate I appreciate the support unfortunately once the petition is created you can't edit it. You only are allowed to have so many words so I tried to put as much as I could into it. I think if it gets enough signatures it will get the point across to look into the full story - We need to fight

Well, Numero Uno needs to win his re-election campaign & unfortunately for him many of his supporters live in this region. He needs us to push his own career onward and upward but if he thinks permitting FEMA to abuse their rating system in a ploy to raise more money for themselves is going to get him an Ocean County vote, he is in for a huge surprise.

Barnegat Bay is a very shallow bay and at its deepest point it is only 10' down. It is abusing the Fema rating system that the Governor is supporting that will throw all of the V houses out of business. The insurance rates for that level which is the worst of them all, will force all but the one percenters out of here. There will no longer be a tourism business.

He won't get re-elected as Governor never mind make it to 1600 Pennsylvania if his legacy is one that indicates that his poor decision making brought the second most profitable industry in this State down.

The party is over for us and really in big letters, for him even more.

All that talk up front about his childhood developed love of this area and the need to preserve it will go up in flames if he does not retreat on the V issue. No one on Barnegat Bay qualifies for that black mark because the barrier islands do in fact serve a purpose and protect us.

And Bay waves even during the storm looked nothing like what happened on the receiving end of the ocean's.

Bureaucrats sat in an office and looked at Google aerial pictures. Voila! Done quick and OKd quick by Christie, who is moving on to his next California fundraiser for the presidential nomination.

I've just started to read about the history of the rating system and at this point it's clear to me that the intent of rating an area a V was to only be applied to very high risk ocean and gulf front properties. Fema is overreaching here and they will be on the receiving end of zillions of lawsuits as will the State and possibly the Governor.

And to put us in that situation where we need to hire attorneys to defend ourselves against the Christie supported abuse of Fema's power is so wasteful and destructive given that most of us have very full plates loaded with problems to deal with.

It isn't the codes or regulations that are going to trigger the out of proportion flood insurance premiums: it's the Fema ratings that the insurance regulators use to decide what they can charge for a given year. And a V is the absolute pits that will bring down the houses given that Black Mark.

Maybe. But Obama and his EPA want everyone and everything removed from all the coasts of this nation - not to build golf courses but to return it all to the wild. Christie and Obama have similar plans but they do not share the same vision for the future of this area.

Weather patterns are not here to stay. Change, however, is. In the 1600's in Britain the Thames River froze over and the Brits went to town using that new cold weather and ice to advance sport and fun making.

Connecticut in the 1800's had a summer or two that felt to them as if winter was about to be the year round state of things.

Weather patterns are affected by so many things that as they play off one another change will happen. But no where is it written that this hot spell is here to stay. We are at the very end of an eleven year cycle that the sun goes through periodically where solar flares escalate like crazy and we and other pieces of turf in the universe are affected. Now that cycle is supposed to end this year and it will be interesting to see if our weather doesn't revert back a bit the way it has for eons.

We are not the center of the universe and it's good to keep that in mind.

Faith, if you haven't already done so, you need to get on your insurance agency because they will get on them. Thats what I did. You should at least ask for an up front advance so that you can get started with repairs, they are supposed to do that for you. Keep on their backs. Call him directly. I called mine, and when I didn't get results I called the insurance agency, who then contacted CNC, who then contacted him. He wasn't happy, but you know what, I don't give a crap, because I don't want to be played and thats what i felt was taken place. Call them every day.

The final rules are not out yet and if the disabled are not taken into account, all hell will break loose. Ramps help and in extreme height situations there are outdoor lifts that could go that high. But that would scream out for grant money in this particular political climate. Do keep a close watch on it and be sure your town fathers are aware of your concern so that they keep it in mind as they begin to write new building codes.

There now are endless streams of federal laws that no longer make it optional for anything to obstruct the movement of wheelchair users and as with the piling grants those who need special help I do believe will get it both from the State and the Federal governments. But stay alert.

In our area I know of only one person who had minimal claims who has heard that within a month he will receive their offer so to speak.

Normally insurance companies only have 30 days to respond but in the case of a large emergency, all bets are off. It would be helpful though if the Governor and the legislature put penalties in place for those who are not meeting reasonable deadlines. Money talks.

Uh, you do realize there are county owned properties that towns have no control/responsiblity for.....don't you?

The sin of that debris removal contract is that we have so many young people around here who can't find jobs. Even if we had to pay a higher than Florida rate, the unemployment checks would go way down and compensate us overall by offsetting the difference - if there even would have been one.

The freeholders that participated in this should never receive votes from any of us again because it was a double whammy. Home grown folks I guarantee you would have done much better work than any people brought in. Those freeholders at the moment look like freeloaders.

Search under FEMA. I started the petition

"Stop FEMA Now" grassroots uprising!
Meet 'n' greet this Saturday 2/9/12, 3-4 pm
Belly Busters, 708 Fischer Blvd, Toms River NJ

What's the problem? Government too big? Waste bothering you? He's just redistributing YOUR wealth...wake up

Marlin I started a White House Petition please sign and pass along
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/reevaluate-new-fema-advisory-base-flood-elevation-maps-help-us-rebuild-not-shore-not-push-us-out/tZYxj3V5

@ Sue, where is Belly Busters on Fischer? Say in relation to the FEMA center. Seriously, how far is it from Rte. 37? Do you know a cross street/s?

http://patch.com/E-ttDh
Copy and paste that link to the rally description... Click on the map on the right, slide it so you can see the Fischer Blvd. area close-up, and you'll see exactly where it is. The snow will be plowed by 3 pm.

The whole state is not suffering. Only those that live in flood plains. The goovernment is trying to give you a hint that you need to move 5 miles inland.

Saturday, February 7th

Belly Busters
708 Fischer Boulevard
Toms River, NJ

@Paul Heyman, forty percent of N J is in a flood plain, and many of these people do own property (homes and businesses) "inland". You can't possibly think that this Government sham isn't going to affect you? Just wait. As to your suggestion that doesn't makes sense anyway, it is by far the most asinine comment that I have ever seen on this message board, and that is saying something. You are at the top of your game.

That would be amazing if we could get rid of everyone in NJ!!!! Just leave me here then we can live 5 miles from the beach and not have to worry about parking or traffic.

What exactly is it that is happening?

@paul. Mark is a writer for the StarLedger and he does a lot of human interest stories that appear on the front page. I figured that this needs exposure and the StarLedger has a large presence in NJ as far as readership. We spoke for quite some time and he told me that he is also speaking to some other people as well to include other families into the story. I made a point of stressing the fact that people are pissed off about these maps and the change in their flood zone. I told him that we wouldn't even be discussing this if it weren't for those changes to the flood zones. I explained this is what has everyone up in arms. I told him about the cause and effect of what will happen if people are forced to raise. I explained to him the cost and that Christie is completely out of touch with this important fact. I also told him people will walk away from their homes, I see it happening already. I also told him that Christie said he wasn't going to be the Governor to allow the shore to be abandoned under his watch. So hopefully he gets our point across. I'm hoping it comes out ion the front page for Sunday's paper.

If you need help from a public adjuster I can give you the name of a guy that is helping me. Don't let the insurance companies bully you because thats just what they want to do. They want to attack you at your weakest. Fight them.

@foggyworld, I helped out a neighbor by letting the insurance adjusters in while they could not be there, I witnessed the adjusters fill out the forms that included the serial number and model numbers you referred to. They were snapping pictures with their phones of everything. Your neighbor had bad adjusters and that the insurance company knows this and allows it is horrific. It just gets worse and worse , a new nightmare story every day.

@sam it wasn't intentional to exclude those whose flood zone has not changed,but the majority of the complaints that I am hearing are from people who have gone from an A to a V zone. I just want to fight the complete craziness of the zoning changes. No matter which way you look at it, they are just completely wrong. I don't think there are anymore sites as far as I know.

"Stop FEMA Now" rally TODAY!

It's being called a grassroots uprising...

Meet 'n' greet Saturday 2/9/12, 3-4 pm
Belly Busters Restaurant, 708 Fischer Blvd, Toms River NJ 08753

Disgruntled Jersey Shore property owners will strategize how to rectify FEMA overkill in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy.

They say the government has made rebuilding extremely hard and prohibitively expensive for thousands of flooded residents.

"Flawed maps, ridiculously high elevation mandates and exorbitant annual insurance premiums will BANKRUPT the Shore and make it a ghost town - except for the wealthy"

"How about a class-action lawsuit? Petitions to White House, federal and/or state legislators? Letter-writing and email campaigns to news media? Rallies on steps of Statehouse and Congress? How about mass property tax appeals, because our homes are worth less than half of pre-flood values?

"Our 2 US Senators and state legislators are starting to notice our outrage and helplessness against FEMA, the insurance companies and do-nothing bureaucrats and politicians. Let's build on that momentum, and get results to really save the Shore from this 'disaster after the disaster.'

"United we stand, divided we drown in debt." Visit Facebook.com/StopFemaNow

Biggert -Waters put the kabosh on pre-firm and post-firm. In essence, these properties have been ungrandfathered. Stupid? Yes. Is it happening? Yes.

Just wit to you file your taxes in 2014! If you don't have a health insurance ID card, you get a $300 fine.

Back on topic...this whole FEMA map thing is nothing but UN Agenda 21 at work. Read or re-read Orwell's 1984...this is what they are aiming for!

medicare ring a bell?

What time is Mitt showing up?

Yeah, and it seems that he's really pissed off his many constituents.