Community Corner

Christie Administration Reflects on Sandy Recovery Progress and Challenges

Top state officials look back at 'one hell of a year' of working to rebuild homes and rebuild lives

by Scott Gurian, NJSpotlight.com

When Sandy made landfall last October, displacing 120,000 from their homes, NJ Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Richard Constable said his department took immediate action to provide shelters and assist towns with their budgetary problems. State Department of Transportation Commissioner Jim Simpson called all hands on deck to repair roads and make them passable in what he said was record time. And Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin said the DEP worked long hours to remove millions of cubic yards of debris and begin securing easements from coastal property owners to rebuild beaches.

“It’s been one hell of a year for all of us,” said Martin, summing up the feeling in the room from his fellow panelists at the Atlantic City Convention Center yesterday.

Martin, Simpson, Constable and Board of Public Utilities Commissioner Mary-Anna Holden spoke at the annual conference of the New Jersey League of Municipalities, attended by more than 18,000 elected officials and exhibitors from throughout the state. The panel was a chance for members of Governor Chris Christie’s cabinet who rarely make public comments about the Sandy process to share the administration’s perspective on where the recovery stands, one year later, and what challenges remain for their agencies.

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NJ Spotlight is an issue-driven news website that provides critical insight to New Jersey’s communities and businesses. It is non-partisan, independent, policy-centered and community-minded.

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