Gov. Chris Christie is adamant about his decision to adopt the Federal Emergency Management’s (FEMA) advisory flood maps. And while that decision will have a significant, and costly, impact on many of New Jersey’s shore towns, it’s a necessary step to ensure their survival, he said. Speaking at a mobile cabinet meeting in Union Beach nearly two weeks after announcing his decision to rebuild using the advisory flood maps as a guide, Christie said it was a difficult choice, but one he had to make. Even amidst opposition as shore towns and residents voice their objections to the maps and their …

It's hard to see the improvement at Casino Pier following its destruction at the hands of Hurricane Sandy. But, it's what you don't see that let's you know work is being done. The Seaside Heights attraction is nearly empty. All of the amusements and rides that remained on the pier following Sandy have been taken down, piece-by-piece, and carted away, some to storage, some to the scrap yard. The log flume, half of it having fallen into the ocean, is gone. The Wild Mouse rollercoaster has been taken down and hauled away. The buildings that housed concessions and games have been torn down. A few…

The Community Foundation of New Jersey recently announced a funding resource aimed at supporting the needs of the state’s communities and non-profit organizations leading in recovery following Hurricane Sandy. Called the New Jersey Recovery Fund, the foundation and its more than $5 million in pledged support from national and regional organizations recently revealed the fund’s application guidelines and its focus on aiding forward-thinking groups and communities throughout the state. The fund focuses on five areas, according to NJ News Commons, a Montclair State University communication …

A contract that could pay a politically connected company up to $100 million to clean up after Hurricane Sandy and other natural disasters has come under scrutiny, the Star-Ledger is reporting. Those paid by Florida-based AshBritt include George Gilmore, the  Republican chairman of Ocean County; Maggie Moran, a former top aide to Gov. Jon Corzine whose husband is the mayor of Belmar; and Kris Kolluri, a New Jersey lobbyist and former head of the state Department of Transportation under Corzine, according to the newspaper. Gilmore confirmed to the newspaper that he was hired by AshBritt, but …

In just three months since Hurricane Sandy struck the East Coast, the U.S. Small Business Administration has approved more than $1.1 billion in disaster loans to residents and business owners affected by the storm. According to a release from the SBA, approximately 16,700 individuals have received loans, making Sandy the country's third largest disaster in terms of loaned dollars. Currently, Sandy sits behind 2005's Hurricane Katrina and its $10.8 billion in SBA loans, and 1994's Northridge, Calif., earthquake, which totaled $4 billion in loans. Sandy, however, could supplant those disaster …

A few feet past the welcome sign, the boardwalk, what’s left of it, is still cordoned off. In the opposite direction, in front of the rows of shops with their metal gates pulled down and locked, shielding the view of damaged insides, heavy machines rumbled along, redistributing sand along the beach.  Things are moving in the right direction.  They’ve got a responsibility, said Toby Wolf, Jenkinson's Marketing Director, standing in front of a shark tank at Jenkison’s Aquarium. Wolf said that as New Jersey’s shore towns make their recovery following Hurricane Sandy, the business community needs…

  Residents up and down the Jersey Shore have noticed a disturbing trend during the three months since Superstorm Sandy pummeled the coastline - more flooding after relatively minor storms. Hopefully, things will improve in the next few months as a massive debris cleanup of Barnegat Bay and waterways from Raritan Bay all the way down to the bottom of the state gets underway, Ocean County Administrator Carl W. Block said tonight. "The target is to have 75 percent of the debris out by June," he said. "While it's an ambitious target, they are trying to make sure there's a summer season." Block …

Wednesday, three grants totalling more than $9.2 million were approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to help cover the cost of public assistance and debris removal related to Hurricane Sandy. The funding will be used to reimburse a significant percentage of costs incurred by Belmar and Marlboro Township as well as the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management.  According to a release from Sen. Frank Lautenberg's office Wednesday afternoon, Belmar will receive $4,062,468 for emergency debris removal to clear roadways for emergency vehicles in the aftermath of Sandy. The …

Former Ocean County Director of Human Services Faith Liguori touched many recently with her letter to the editor "Homeless in Seaside Park." Now Toms River videographer Sandra Levine - who is working on a documentary about Superstorm Sandy - has put Faith's words in film.

More than $780 million in disaster assistance has been approved to speed recovery in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy - and some of the chief beneficiaries are some big, and small, Jersey Shore communities. It's not yet clear how the money will be spent - and how the additional $60 billion aid package, which the U.S. Senate gave its seal of approval Monday evening, will be dispersed. In the Jersey Shore counties of Monmouth, Ocean, Atlantic and Cape May counties, for instance, Middletown tops the list of funding recipients so far (see chart below), according to the state Office of Emergency …

The Christie Administration has alerted residents displaced by Hurricane Sandy that the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Transitional Sheltering Assistance Program has been extended for an additional 14 days, to the end of Feb. 8. The extension means eligible people can receive TSA assistance through Feb. 8 with a check-out date of February 9, 2013. “I want to thank FEMA for extending the Transitional Sheltering Assistance Program so that New Jerseyans displaced by Sandy can continue to stay in participating hotels and motels, especially during this bitter winter weather,” said Gov. …

State officials announced the partial reopening of Island Beach State Park Friday, and and members of the press received an inside tour from park employees. Ray Bukowski, the park manager, said before the tour began that employees worked to remove tons of sand from the park's roads after Superstorm Sandy struck, and also pitched in to help the local South Seaside Park community recover as well. "One of the first things we did, as a park service, was to recognize that we're a part of this community," said Bukowski. "We still have people who work here who are out of their homes." Bukowski said …

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the US Small Business Association (SBA) have extended the deadline for victims of Hurricane Sandy to apply for aid. It is now March 1.   The deadline was extended one month at the request of FEMA and the state of New Jersey, said spokesman Mark Jamison of the SBA's Office of Disaster Assistance. "We encourage people to apply," said Jamison, whose agency is offering signature-only loans under $14,000 to homeowners and renters. "SBA loans are not based on a person's current financial situation," he said. For amounts above that threshold, he …

New Jersey will adopt the Federal Emergency Management's (FEMA) Advisory Base Flood Elevation maps, clearing the way for residents and business owners along the Jersey Shore to rebuild better and stronger, Gov. Chris Christie announced during a press conference in Seaside Heights Thursday afternoon. The move comes as residents along the shore wait to find out not if they'll have to raise their homes following Hurricane Sandy, but just how high.  "If we wait, all we're doing is delaying New Jersey's recovery," Christie said, adding: "I think this is what we need to do to build a 21st century …

New Jersey residents who are now unemployed as a result of Hurricane Sandy are reminded that they have until Feb. 4 to file an application for Disaster Unemployment Assistance, or DUA, Gov. Chris Christie's office announced recently. The unemployment funding was made available through the Federal Emergency Management Agency through the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development immediately after the late October storm to affected individuals who did not qualify for regular unemployment insurance. The DUA covers self-employed individuals and hourly workers and is available to those …

His wife leaves the room to tend to their youngest. Jim Racanelli talks about being a man, about the responsibility of providing emotional and financial stability for his family. His icy-blue eyes are stern and unblinking, but when he talks his voice wobbles a bit, like the legs of a man shouldering a burden that’s suddenly grown too large to carry. Driven from his home by Hurricane Sandy, Racanelli stands among the ruin. The walls of his Toms River home are stripped up to his waist, electrical lines like exposed nerves. The foundation is cracked, the house and its upside down mortgage …

Joseph Garon, of Burlington, NJ, visited the LBI Trailer Park on Monday, in the hopes that he'd run into some friends who, like he, were preparing to have their trailers either moved or scrapped. Garon was among dozens of residents who were recently notified by property owner Bob Muroff that he'd have to have his trailer off the site by Feb. 15. In a letter to residents, Muroff said he is closing the park, because of the high costs associated with rebuilding the park after Sandy. The Holgate section of LBI, where the park is located, was one of the most severely damaged of all the island …

Gov. Chris Christie will make what some believe is a "major announcement" on hurricane flood map regulations Thursday. Christie will appear at 3 p.m. at the Seaside Heights Fire Department at the Main Fire Bay at 116 Sherman Avenue in Seaside Heights. Christie chose a town that has seen the worst of the wind and flooding damage as a result of the October superstorm. But the new flooding map designs have become the biggest source of contention for long-term homeowners who are fearing that they'll either have to put their houses on stilts, or move out entirely. For instance, the Point Pleasant …

Surf fisherman often trudged through the sand on Two-Bit Road at Island Beach State Park to make their way around the towering dunes, on their way to the beach and the waves. But there is little in the way of a cut now, since Superstorm Sandy swamped the park on Oct. 29. And in many sections of Island Beach, the carefully cultivated, cherished dunes - strengthened by beach grass and protected by snow fence - are no more. "There's a lot more devastation at this end of the beach," said Area Supervisor Ray Bukowski, as he steered his Ford F-250 down the nearly deserted beach in the park's …

Saturday was my birthday, and for a lifelong Ocean County kid like myself, the best birthday gift I could have ever imagined was a day at the beach. Having been born in January, however, that has always been an odd - if not impossible - feat. My family has hosted more than its share of "lite" birthday parties with fewer relatives and friends invited, thanks to snow, ice, or whatever treacherous meteorological phenomenon graced us with its presence Jan. 19. But this year, things were different. My father woke me up about 8 a.m., and with a shovel and tow strap in the trunk of my Land Rover LR2…