high flood insurance premiums are not uncommon in south florida, my sister lived on hibiscus island miami beach 12 years ago,, and her flood insurance was 14,000 per year, property taxes of 13000 per year...... and she wasnt in one of the 10 million dollar homes either....

that s why when i moved down to ocean cty i stayed inland, save $$ on flood ins, and not have to face the devastion of a storm......glad i did.....

@Cherry Quay resident. 1) Why bring the current president into this? Obama or any president before him has limited influence on what happens in a state.

2) Gov Christie early on in the aftermath of Sandy's damage stated that some hard decisions needed to be made as to whether all the houses destroyed would be permitted to rebuild. From a point of nature, all of the houses, structures, etc., build on the NJ barrier islands shouldn't be there to begin with. That factor is square one on any decision made on restricting some rebuilding and where future building can take place.

3) FEMA is working on new restrictions and requirements for both damaged house and future building. Also, as to flood insurance rates, the premiums currently being paid are far below what they should be for the frequency of storms that cause major flood damages and the costs to repair that damage or to rebuild as needed. (This is not just in NJ, but all across the country where flood insurance is required or carried even if not required). Unfortunately, flood insurance rates will need to rise to meet the actual exposure to the flood insurance program. If this means policy premiums must increase by 100%, 200%, etc., etc., then that is the cold hard fact. That said, I doubt that your unsubstantiated prediction of this forcing half the people of shore communities to move is even close to accurate.

I can't believe how he has some so fooled.

Ross, I'll just bet you were a Corzone guy.

Ok, I'll play.....what has he actually done as far as Sandy recovery?

Other than photo ops....

He provided leadership, organized responses, liased with the federal government and provided pressure where it was needed. What did you want him to do, dig out your driveway himself?
You think your boy Corzine would have done better? Pfft.

Provided leadership? Ya, Ok. State OEM did the brunt of action along with and through county OEM's. Best thing Christie did for that was stay out of the way.

Organized responses? Ha.

Pressured Fed Govt? You mean he badmouthed them for not approving a bill that has funding for Alaska, the Smithsonian, and other B.S. that is unrelated to Sandy aid?

My boy Corzine? Even bigger laugh. I'll let you in on a secret...I voted for Christie. He has not impressed me with his storm effectiveness.

Yea, I figured you'd try picking that apart, but I thought you'd at least provide something to refute my comments. I should have known better.

I did refute your claims. He did not provide leadership, the OEM's took the lead and did it very well. He did no response organization, again that was OEM.

He did put pressure on for a pork loaded bill to be passed. I'd rather he put pressure on to remove the pork and then pass the bill.

The best thing he can do is continue to stay out of the way and let the experts continue to get the work done.

I'm really not attacking what he did or didn't do. I just don't get what people are congratulating him for. "Your doing a Great Job Brownie"

So which is it? Bitter teacher? Angry DPW worker?

No. He's trying to now be bipartisan. He's gearing up for his next election. He's trying for the Democrat and Independent votes. He's a politician.

What EXACTLY has he done?
Hows JOhn Boner

Agree with Beth and Ross!

What has he actually done?

For starters, he put his foot down with the scumbag public unions, they have plagued the state long enough. Time for the state to regain a little bit of control...

Now... that is what I have said and some apparently did not like it.

Now... You hit the nail on the head.

I'll ask again....what has he actually done?

What have YOU actually done, A Resident?
Christie tried hard to reduce loss of life with some very straight talk asking people to evacuate early & . Christie was out doing his job as the sun rose that morning despite being ill. Christie set aside partisan politics to get help for New Jersey. Christie understood the value of the people in Belmar taking charge of their own recovery & serving as a symbol of the resiliency of the Jersey Shore. He was there as the first piling was driven, showing his support, & he will be there when it officially opens on Memorial Day to commemorate Belmar's rise from the flood waters.
I have loaded box trailers, as volunteers like me salvaged school things. I kept other warm & fed. I hauled firewood to the elderly. I continue to volunteer.
I would much rather see a "do'er" like Christie, rather than a whiner.

Hahaha... I agree.

Bear - I couldn't agree with you more! Some people are so critical but they couldn't handle the scrutiny and negative attacks that public officials deal with. Thank Goodness that there are still honest people out there willing to endure it.

Shut up. People have the right to voice their opinion. You have to be corrupted and a liar to run for public office. Give it a rest Bear!

what exactly has he done?

All due respect!

He has dropped the ball on many issues and blamed others in the process. Hopefully everyone will remember his first year of destruction. His second year of traveling for loser Mitt. Now his third year his state gets hit with the worse destruction and he has to work a little. THATS HIS JOB PEOPLE!

Rick Ricky,

Hopefully everyone will remember him for his resistance to the union thugs that use it's members as leverage for their own agendas. How much do the NJEA execs make every year? Yeah.... Exactly.

If you are a liar and corrupted than go for it.

Im sorry but did I miss what exactly Christie had done?

Yes at 9.6 it is higher than the manipulated national number of 7.8 which is a result of 3 million people leaving the workforce year over year. So what are your ideas to create jobs in NJ given our high property taxes, high income tax, high sales tax, high insurance costs and high regulation?

yuuuup

Rick/Ricky, let me guess, you are part of one of the unions Christie stood up to that was cripling this state?

Resident, The answer is NO, I don't work for any Union. I just don't believe in anything Christie says or what he claim he did for NJ like so many think he has done. My taxes went up, so his fake 2% cap did not work. I think he double talks so much and in the end everyone will find out he was full of hot air and baloney like all the rest.

Rick/Ricky, His fake cap as you call it of 2% is very real. For towns to go over the 2% the town needs to justify and have it voted on by the residents of that town. So if your town went over that, then atleast you had a say by voting and not having it rammed down your throat like in the past. I would be interested in your list of lies he has told.TIA

NJ and NYC ALREADY have the most stringent control laws in the world - this place is practically nazi germany. NY also. This poor man was beaten and robbed so he bought a gun to protect himself. He DID protect himself with it - 3 hours later when they were done eating donuts the police show up and see him with it on the surveillance tape and have the audacity to arrest him for it.

This is the problem - the police arrest citizens that are doing their job for them and mentally deranged and autistic people like lanza, loughner and cho are allowed to roam free and do as they please because we dont want to take away their rights! The citizens of this country are actually looking like the crazy ones for letting these liberals get away with this for so many years.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/linen_king_charged_with_owning_illegal_5kSKd9voXZTGXQKogNbREM

John J. Harris, autism is not a mental illness. Please take some time to educate yourself on the issue. Those who have been diagnosed with autism are far more likely to be bullied than to ever be violent.

Karen baby no one said that autism is a mental illness. It is a fact though that most people that are actually autistic are quite violent. They lack the empathy or emotions to function in our society and need to be put away rather than mainstreamed so that society at large is protected.

John, you are wrong about autism. I know several people who have children who have been classified as autistic and those children -- including my niece -- are not violent. None of them. Not sure where you are getting your information, but it is incorrect.

John, who was it that diagnosed Lanza as autistic? Please cite a source on that. I know that's asking more of you than major media outlets asked of their reporters, but it would be nice to have some facts regarding the condition of this young man.

That I have seen, his mother is the only one to have made a diagnosis. And she was, to be charitable, not all there herself.

I did not say that lanza was autistic. I did not say that Lanza was not autistic. It is clear that he and the others were mentally deranged.

John - I guess I was responding to:

"...and mentally deranged and autistic people like lanza..."

His mother was the only one who ever said he was autistic. In a bar. A few times. To other patrons who were subsequently interviewed on day 1.

She made it up as an excuse. She used this fantasy-based self-diagnosis to justify her inaction (and she had ample financial resources to get him help) and the uber-irresponsible gun hobby she shared with him.

Her lasting legacy, in addition to the victims of Sandy Hook, was to smear people with autism. Aided, of course, by the laziest of lazy media reporting.

I guess you were lanza's medical doctor?

You only need to look at the millions of dollars being wasted on special education in NJ and elsewhere - that special interest groups push for - not to mention the negative effect on the kids that do not have paretns that rush out to get them diagnosed as "autistic"and start collecting the entitlements - in schools to see the legacy of "autism"

The bottom line, Mr. Harris, is you have no facts to back up your claim that those with autism are more violent because it's simply not true. You just keep trying to change what you said to fit your anger. Your anger doesn't make your claims any more accurate.

Actually karen the bottom line is that you have nothing to back up your line. What? What? Ahh the sound of silence. You are clearly emotionally involved since you have a family member that is "Autistic" Your anecdotal accounts of one person and of what you hear from others are not proof of anything. The first thing you hear from the family of these mentally deranged people after they open fir is oh geee adam or jarod were never violent before. Then the reports from the investigators come out that reveal the real truth. They have no ability to show emotion and no empathy they are stone cold killers. I wonder if karen always tries to argue with people that dont agree with her by calling them angry. I never changed what I said I simply corrected people who do not have very good reading comprehension and did not understand what I stated. Hopefully cowboy joe biden will have the president issue an executive order to lock up these dangerous people.

When I asked my father why didn't the people fight back when Hitler and Stalin were killing and murdering all the various people, He said "With what, pitchforks?"

The autistic have double the rate of violent schizophrenia than other groups. This information is easy to access on mental health websites, Karen. Autism is characterized by a lack of ability to properly form connections to the world & most importantly to other people. That commonly manifests as lack of empathy. Empathy is one of the traits that keeps us from being sociopaths.
By allowing families to cling to illusions of normalcy by attempting to get them to function in the public schools chaos (mainstreaming) we may be wounding them in ways they cannot verbalize, thus setting the scene for their mental breakdowns. There needs to be more compassion in diagnosis & placement. It is plain we took a wrong turn & Newtown was the price we paid.

Well said Joyce...well said indeed...and thank you for your service to our great country.

hypocrite

Well said.

You think we have all the entitlements because of CTW and the Republicans? I'll grant you, we've not had the great governor we needed in the last several years, but we have one now.

NJarhead. Christine Todd Wittman is not paying taxes on her fake farms. As a governor she stole all the money from the public pension system that had plenty of money in. They went bust because of her. Her great plan backfired, she borrowed money and then invested the rest and lost it. It was all over the radio and news but not to many were paying attention during that time. So yes, I think the entitlements were also caused by CTW and Republicans during that time. Sorry, no offense I just don't believe in Christie's bull like you! My taxes have gone up since his 2%, all his hot air about doing something and he backed off. No, I am not a Union Worker, personally I feel he should have dismantled the unions and start them up again in a more realistic plan that would have worked. But he caved like all the rest.

Rick, I was suffering myself under Corzine. Especially as a commuter. Thankfully I found a job right here in Monmouth County., but if you ask anyone who drives up north to work each day, the tolls are killing them. Corzine allocated that money already and Christie was unable to reverse it. I know he's made some tough decisions, some unpopular ones, but there's no question in my mind that he's trying to get us back to a better position overall. What's the saying? "It's a *poop* sandwich and we all have to take a bite."

The New Jersey pension fiasco began with Democratic Governor Jim Florio in the 1992 pension reform act, which was essentially an accounting gimmick. Each and every governor since has underfunded the state pension system. So, to heap all the blame on any one individual would be incorrect. That contracts have been handed out to public sector employees without funding in place is fiscally irresponsible. the legislature in New Jersey is largely responsible for this as well as the strong arm tactics of the so many not needed unions. Governor Christie recognizes that reform is necessary to instill economic sobriety to the New Jersey economy and has shown a willingness to compromise. The legislature quite simply has not. They ride the wave of the union block to buy their seats with the taxpayer dime. Unless significant changes are made to the Civil Service system and the State Pension System is corrected to a defined contribution system, the state will never prosper again. Educate yourself @George Clark, rather then regurgitating the same old union based ballyhoo. As for your name calling and mudslinging, may I suggest that it is extremely puerile and only exceeded by either your inability or unwillingness to learn.

Flood insurance should not be provided by the state. If no company is willing to take the risk and write policies than people are rolling the dice and if they afford to fix the damage they should not get a handout from the taxpayers.

I think your mixing up NFIP under FEMA and disaster relief under the same agency. FEMA has provided monies to residents who might not have had insurance coverage under the NFIP. It's my understanding that the recent $9.1B voted by Congress was for disaster relief. The other question: is the other $50.9B appropriation to be voted on, going to be used to rectify or make whole to the owners of residential and commercial property that was damaged. From all the pork in that bill, I don't think so?

Sure, Those with money who can afford it, pays more. They don't want to pay more in anything. That is what the fights are all about.

Your right! But now that same federal agency with it's advisory elevations could effect the multi-billion dollar housing market on the Jersey shore, and from one local government posting(Toms River)...they don't seem to know what there talking about?

Mister Mike ,your right But isn't this what our country has come to reward poor choices punish the responsibly .College loans debt forgiveness ,home loans debt forgiveness even today savers are punished by the saving rate of .001% ..means testing SS is a form of punishment for saving .I understand that sometimes events put people in jeopardy of losing homes ,but there are no guarantees in life except that people feel Uncle Sam should be their guarantee

@Mister Mike, in early December Obama introduce a bill for SandyAid in the amount of approximately 60 billion dollars. The Senate passed the bill right after Christmas. The House was too busy playing political football with the fiscal cliff negotiations to consider the bill and the speaker wanted to table the bill until a new congress was sworn in. He partially caved under pressure and approximately 9.7 billion portion passed the house and was subsequently signed by the Predident . The remaining 50billion and change will likely be considered on January 15th, dependent upon whether or not our illustrious leaders are lying or playing games.

Yes: He increased from 6% to 7% But people like you missed it I guess, And the sole purpose was to aid seniors, who you may not be one.

@bernie sorry you must be confused. most liberals are. The sales tax went from 6 to 7% way back in 2006 under the crooked Gov named Corzine who then stole the money and spent it.

Don't believe me. Believe in the power of google.

New York-WABC, September 28, 2006) (WABC) -- Get ready New Jersey, as of Sunday the state's increased sales tax is expanding to more items, including downloads and tattoos.

As part of a sales tax increase, from 6 percent to 7 percent, which was approved in July, the state's tax will be extended to various items.

New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine proposed the increase to help close a projected $4.5 billion budget deficit, but the increase was opposed by many state Democrats in the state legislature. That dispute led to a shutdown of the state's government, which was later resolved.

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=business_week&id=4608733

So can I count on you to support eliminating pensions so we can provide seniors with tax relief?

NJ sales tax increased from 6% to 7% on July 15, 2006. Time flies when you're having fun. (Bernie - CC took office on January 19, 2010.)

@MisterMike, Corzine didn't really steal the money, he gave it away to gain union votes in his quest to be re-elected. Fortunately for New Jerseyans, it was just another one of his failures. Not so fortunate for those doing business with or employed by MF Global.

libel? thanks mister mike esq. How about the millions corzine stole from MF Global?

http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/14/news/companies/corzine-mf-global/index.html

...that link doesn't work. No such byline there!