Today, let’s talk about what I have decided to call time-bomb bonds: securities that blow up in the issuer’s face years or decades after being sold to investors.
The case in point: $1.14 billion of pension bonds that my home state of New Jersey sold in 1997, securities that I came across while working with Cezary Podkul of ProPublica for anarticle about New Jersey’s finances that was published Saturday by The Washington Post. (Sloan/Washington Post)
APRIL 20, 2015, 4:46 PM LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015, 4:47 PM
BY JOHN C. ENSSLIN
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
The new Bergen County Justice Center – the biggest public works project in the county’s history – will cost more than the original $147 million price tag, County Executive James Tedesco said.
The new Department of Public Works facility in Paramus, part of the overall project, will wind up costing more than anticipated when the bonds to pay for it were approved by the freeholders in a unanimous vote in April 2014, he said.
Tedesco said he does not yet know how much more money will be needed. The county will have to borrow more or cut back on renovation of the historic 103-year-old court house in Hackensack, the final phase of the project.
The first two phases include a new six-story Justice Center on Court Street that will house the County Prosecutor’s office, the Sheriff’s Office and the Probation Department; and a five-story parking deck and new DPW garage on River Street in Hackensack.
The garage on River Street is largely completed. The last slab of pre-cast concrete for the parking deck on Court Street was installed last week, and the new Justice Center building is under construction and should be completed by November 2016.
The DPW complex in Paramus – which features bays where 30,000-pound vehicles can be lifted – originally was set to be completed this spring. That opening has been pushed to later this summer, Tedesco said.
Carl Hiaasen: It was a bro-mance, not corruption
BY CARL HIAASEN
Miami HeraldApril 20, 2015
Sen. Robert Menendez says he’s angry because federal prosecutors “don’t know the difference between friendship and corruption.”
The New Jersey Democrat is upset about being indicted on fraud and bribery charges for allegedly using his political clout to benefit his longtime pal, Dr. Salomon Melgen of West Palm Beach, Fla.
Melgen was also charged in the bribery case, and has separately been indicted for epic Medicare fraud. Like Menendez, Melgen says he has committed no crimes.
Except for the super-sized favors they did for each other, the friendship between the powerful U.S. senator and the multimillionaire eye surgeon really isn’t so different from any ordinary bro-romance.
If your best buddy needed a few bucks, you’d be there for him, right?
When Menendez last ran for re-election, Melgen donated $700,000 to a political action committee that gave $582,000 to the senator’s campaign – a heartfelt gesture with absolutely no strings attached, according to the doctor and the senator.
And when the government forced Melgen to return almost $9 million that he’d overbilled Medicare for eye procedures, it was nothing but personal devotion that motivated Menendez to start sending emails and making calls, trying to get the money back for his favorite ophthalmologist.
Read more here: https://www.bradenton.com/2015/04/20/5755527/carl-hiaasen-it-was-a-bro-mance.html#storylink=cpy
Marauding coyote caught in Norwood; two dens found near school
APRIL 20, 2015, 5:05 AM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2015, 6:31 AM
BY DEENA YELLIN AND STEFANIE DAZIO
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD
Print
NORWOOD — A strangely aggressive — and possibly rabid — coyote that had bitten a resident’s leg Sunday night and later attacked a police cruiser was captured Monday evening and sent to a state laboratory for testing, borough police reported.
Delivering the news on their Facebook page, police also issued an additional caution: They said two coyote dens had been found near the Norwood Public School and that traps would be placed near the dens.
“The aggressive Summit Street coyote was just captured and is [en] route to the State Lab for testing,” a police statement issued about 8:40 p.m. stated. “Unfortunately, two dens have been found near the school and it is unknown if our Summit Street problem has been solved.”
State wildlife staff members had set traps in the borough’s Fox Hill area to catch — and potentially kill — the coyote.
At one point during the search Monday evening, borough police reported that the coyote had just attacked the tires of a police car on Villa Court and then had escaped capture. “Please be careful,” statement warned. “This is in the area of the NORWOOD PUBLIC SCHOOL!!!”
To resident inquiries after the coyote’s capture, police advised that school children not be allowed outside activities while investigators made sure the dens were clear. But in late evening, other residents reported on the department’s Facebook page that they had seen two other coyotes in the area.
New Jersey Democrats join court battle over Christie’s pension funding cuts
APRIL 20, 2015, 5:24 PM LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015, 5:25 PM
BY SALVADOR RIZZO
STATE HOUSE BUREAU |
THE RECORD
Democratic leaders in the state Legislature joined the court battle over Governor Christie’s funding cuts to the New Jersey pension system on Monday, arguing in a legal brief that public workers have the law on their side as they seek an extra $1.57 billion than Christie authorized this year.
Christie, a Republican, signed a major overhaul of the state pension laws in 2011. Among other provisions, the law gave public workers stronger contracts with rights to full contributions from the state’s yearly budget to their pension funds, which are underfunded by $37 billion.
Three years after signing the law, Christie now argues it is unconstitutional. He has cut $2.4 billion from New Jersey’s legally required pension contributions, paying $1.38 billion instead of $3.8 billion over the last two years in a last-resort effort to balance the budget. The latest cut is under review by the New Jersey Supreme Court, which has scheduled a hearing May 6.
Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto, both Democrats, submitted a five-page brief rebutting the central plank of Christie’s legal strategy. The 2011 pension overhaul is, in fact, constitutional, the lawmakers argue.
Public comment encouraged at locations across the system
April 20, 2015
NEWARK, NJ —Throughout the past five years, NJ TRANSIT held the line on fare increases while maintaining high quality services and implementing new customer amenities including MyTix, Departurevision, and MyBus Now.
However, costs such as contract services – Access Link, the organization’s paratransit service, Hudson-Bergen Light Rail and private carriers – and healthcare and benefits, general liability insurance, workers’ compensation and pensions have steadily risen. As a result, NJ TRANSIT has been left with a significant budget gap.
Although NJ TRANSIT has identified more than $40 million in reductions in overtime, fuel savings, energy and vehicle parts efficiencies, the agency still faces an approximate $60 million budget gap for the 2016 fiscal year. To close the gap, fare and service adjustments are being proposed.
NJ TRANSIT will hold nine scheduled public hearings and one information session beginning Saturday, May 16, 2015 to allow the public the opportunity to learn more about the proposed fare increases and service changes and offer comments before the plan is considered by the Board of Directors on July 8, 2015.
The proposed service and fare changes would take effect in September 2015 and on October 1, 2015, respectively. The proposed fare adjustment would be an average of 9 percent for the majority of NJ TRANSIT customers.
Beginning on Monday, April 20th, customers may log on to www.njtransit.com for additional information regarding the budget and service adjustment plan.
To ensure an inclusive public comment process, NJ TRANSIT has scheduled nine public hearings and one information session at locations across the state from May 16 through May 21. The hearings and information session will be held in the evenings and on Saturday to encourage participation.
In addition to appearing in person, members of the public also may submit comments via mail to: PUBLIC HEARING OFFICE – FARE PROPOSAL COMMENTS, ONE PENN PLAZA EAST, NEWARK, NJ 07105; online at www.njtransit.com or dropped off at Customer Service Offices. The online public comment period will be extended until 11:59 p.m., Thursday, May 21.
NEW BRUNSWICK (INFORMATION SESSION)
New Brunswick Public Library – Carl T. Valenti Community Rm.,
60 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ
Monday, May 18, 2015 5:30 – 8:30 p.m.
ATLANTIC CITY
Atlantic City Rail Terminal – Lobby
One Atlantic City Expressway, Atlantic City, NJ
FREEHOLD
Monmouth County Agricultural Building
4000 Kozloski Road, Freehold, NJ
Tuesday, May 19, 2015 5:30 – 8:30 p.m.
SECAUCUS
Frank R. Lautenberg Station at Secaucus Junction
County Road & County Avenue, Secaucus, NJ
CAMDEN
Camden City Hall – Council Chambers (2nd Fl.)
520 Market Street, Camden, NJ
Wednesday, May 20, 2015 5:30 – 8:30 p.m.
NEWARK
NJ TRANSIT Headquarters – Board Room
One Penn Plaza East, Newark, NJ
HACKENSACK
Learning Center, 4th Floor
One Bergen County Plaza, Hackensack, NJ
Thursday, May 21, 2015 5:30 – 8:30 p.m.
TRENTON
Trenton Transit Center
72 South Clinton Avenue, Trenton, NJ
MORRISTOWN
Morristown Town Hall – Senior Community Center (3rd Fl.)
200 South Street, Morristown, NJ
PATERSON
Paterson Museum – Thomas Rogers Building
2 Market Street, Paterson NJ
file photo Boyd Loving
April 21,2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Road Warrior Reported in 2014 reported safer on the road but deadlier on foot
Ridgewood NJ, In Ridgewood ,there seemed to be far less accidents involving pedestrians and automobiles this past year? I do not know the numbers .
So we asked Ridgewood Police Chief John Ward if we did have decrease what in your mind was particularly effective in mitigating pedestrian incidents. If we had an increase what policy can the Village , the Schools or the Ridgewood PD do to increase awareness of public safety and make our streets safer ?
The Chief took time out to respond , “We did have a decrease in pedestrian related accidents in 2014. I can say we have experienced a significant decrease in the level of injury to pedestrians. That being said in December (2014) we did have several but again still well below last year. As far as why, I can say we have increased our efforts in the areas of education and enforcement as well as the efforts in the area of engineering to enhance safety. As you know there are too many variables to attribute a causal nexus between our efforts and the reductions in pedestrian crashes , but one could argue that there appears to be a correlation.
While according to the Record there has been an increase state wide , the Chiefs efforts in Village suggest that simply “awareness ” from both drivers , walkers and cyclist may be the key .
N.J. pedestrian deaths rise; police look for reasons
APRIL 21, 2015 LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2015, 6:47 AM
BY JOHN CICHOWSKI
RECORD COLUMNIST |
THE RECORD
Sad to say, each time you read your favorite newspaper, there’s a good chance you’ll learn about someone like Anila Lluka or Lisa Borsellino or Donna Marie Wine, whose lives were cut short at the rate of one every other day in New Jersey — twice a month in Bergen County.
These deaths happen so routinely that we often barely recognize their significance because the victims were doing something as common as crossing River Street in Hackensack, where Borsellino was struck down last October, or Paramus Road in Paramus, where Lluka was killed last November.
Tragically, such passings have become much more frequent lately, according to updated figures recently released by the New Jersey State Police fatal accident unit.
Pedestrian deaths totaled 169 statewide last year, including that of Ms. Wine, a beautician who was standing with others on Grand Avenue at an outdoor market in Hawthorne last August when a truck plowed into her. In Bergen, walking deaths peaked at 24 last year. Victims included Stephen Petruzzello, a 22-year-old Cliffside Park police officer who was run down crossing Walker Street two days after Christmas while on the job with his partner.
With Bergen now accounting for more pedestrian fatalities by far than any other county in the state, traffic cops in many of its 70 municipalities have begun digging into their files to find better ways to prevent such deaths.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/pedestrian-deaths-rise-police-look-for-reasons-1.1313666
Please join us tomorrow night for the next Planning Board Meeting Available
Tuesday, April 21 at Village Hall (not the HS)
Deliberations to begin at approximately 8:45 to 9 pm.
(The meeting starts at 7:30 pm, but the discussion on High Density Housing is not the first item on the agenda)
Agenda: The Planning Board will continue deliberating and Village Planner, Blais Brancheau, will provide some detail regarding issues put forth by Planning Board members last month. We are hoping Blais addresses concerns raised by several Planning Board members — concerns also shared by CBR.
To refresh your memory, below is a reprint of our reap from the 3/17/15 Planning Board Meeting:
CBR’s recap of 3/17/15 Planning Board Meeting
CBR Note:
The first condition of this amendment, aside from density and height issues, is changing the usage in the zones from commercial to residential. Keep in mind that when the planning board members state that they support the usage change, that does not necessarily indicate that they approve the densities that are proposed. Changing the zoning in an area of our CBD from commercial to residential is a big step in itself, as presumably once residential is built, there is no turning back to commercial usage on that site.
Once usage is addressed, the next issue is how much residential do you allow? Currently, most residential properties in the CBD have commercial usage on the first floor. Under this amendment, commercial usage on the first floor is no longer required. Allowing housing in our downtown at density higher than the 12 units per acre that is currently permitted makes sense, and anything over 12 units an acre constitutes “higher density.” Considering that the average density that currently exists in our downtown now is actually 22-24 units per acre, CBR would be quite comfortable with setting 22 or 24 units per acre as the new limit for density. We feel that doubling those numbers is too much, and that 35-40 units an acre and beyond would significantly alter the character of our Village. It is very important that our planning board finds the right balance in this amendment.
CBR ReCap:
We took notes on each of the Planning Board member’s comments and would like to share them here. Our notes are not direct quotes.
Absent from this meeting was Nancy Bigos. She has yet to weigh in.
Charles Nalbantian, the Chairman of the Planning Board, agrees that the usage (housing rather than commercial) is good, but said the “devil is in the details.” He expressed reservations about the height and RSIS (state mandated parking requirements), and indicated that he is not sure yet about the density.
Richard Joel, the Vice Chairman of the Planning Board, agrees with the usage (housing in our CBD) and believes it will promote the general welfare. He feels that we need to develop these under-utilized sites and there is a need for a variety of housing. He said that he doesn’t know what the right balance between height and density should be.
Kevin Riley, supports the use of housing in our downtown but is concerned with height and density. He said he would like to see the density reduced from what is currently put forth in the amendment.
Wendy Dockray, thinks concept of multifamily housing is a good one but has her “yellow flags” or reservations. She is not sure this is actually what seniors are looking for in terms of space and affordability. She is concerned that the height and scale will negatively impact the historical character of Ridgewood. She said going from 12 units per acre to 40-50 is a “huge jump” and she is not sure if building 40 – 50 units an acre is necessary or appropriate to achieve housing. She is also concerned with the fiscal impact and noted that our schools are “at capacity.”
David Thurston, supports the amendment AS IS. He doesn’t want to “play chicken” with developers by giving them less than what they want. He said this is his business and if the Planning Board comes back with less than the amendment, it may not be “economically sound” for the developers. He is in favor of the 40 – 50 units in our CBD and is worried about what our town will look like in 40 years if we don’t allow the developers to build.
Councilwoman Susan Knudsen, not in favor of the amendment as it is written. She is concerned with the density, height, impact of adding more pedestrians that will impede traffic, open space and the changing character of Ridgewood. She said the she would like to see developers move forward with something, but would like to see a balance.
Mayor Paul Aronsohn, feels this is an opportunity for Ridgewood. He feels like we have enough information to make a decision and we should move forward soon. He said that people who don’t want their big houses could move to these apartments, but we need to strike the right balance. His stated that his issues are 1) density, 2) amenities (he would like to find a way to incentivize the developers to build high end apartments), 3) housing for special needs residents, 4) parking (he wondered if developers not providing sufficient parking could be forced to pay money into a fund to use for public parking), and 5) can separate amendments be crafted to address each zone individually?
Michele Peters, concerned about the density. Not in favor of the current amendment. She questioned whether the parking that was being considered as part of the proposals in the redevelopment zone on N. Walnut would alleviate some of the parking deficit in Ridgewood, but was told the deficit is beyond what could be added in the redevelopment zone.
Isabella Altano, (1st alternate on PB) wants to see more consideration given to the impacts. She feels we need a lower density. She asked about the potential costs to our infrastructure, if projected school enrollment could be provided that included approval of 400+ new apartments and what could be done to address our open space deficiency.
Khidir Abdalla, (2nd alternate on PB) said that we shouldn’t be afraid of change and supports the amendment. He is not concerned with the density and scale and feels that this type of housing fits in well to an URBAN downtown. He feels we need increased density in order to get pedestrian traffic that is needed to revitalize our downtown.
Thank you for your continued support.
Citizensfora BetterRidgewood
[email protected]
Pricing yourself out of the market is not so smart
J.D. Tuccille|Apr. 20, 2015 2:04 pm
The Momentum Machines website is low-key right now, but that may have something to do with high-profile arguments in the press and protests in the streets demanding that fast-food chains pay workers $15 an hour to do the job the company’s robots are designed to fill. Even before those placard-wielders decided to raise their costs in terms of dollars and grief, the San Francisco-based start-up announced that they were obsolete.
Momentum Machines’ old, boastier website claimed:
Fast food doesn’t have to have a negative connotation anymore. With our technology, a restaurant can offer gourmet quality burgers at fast food prices.
Our alpha machine replaces all of the hamburger line cooks in a restaurant.
It does everything employees can do except better:
*it slices toppings like tomatoes and pickles only immediately before it places the slice onto your burger, giving you the freshest burger possible.
*our next revision will offer custom meat grinds for every single customer. Want a patty with 1/3 pork and 2/3 bison ground after you place your order? No problem.
*Also, our next revision will use gourmet cooking techniques never before used in a fast food restaurant, giving the patty the perfect char but keeping in all the juices.
*it’s more consistent, more sanitary, and can produce ~360 hamburgers per hour.
The labor savings allow a restaurant to spend approximately twice as much on high quality ingredients and the gourmet cooking techniques make the ingredients taste that much better.
https://reason.com/blog/2015/04/20/will-minimum-wage-protesters-order-fries
Stephen Moore / @StephenMoore / April 19, 2015
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren recently appeared on one of the late night talk shows, beating the class warfare drum and arguing for billions of dollars in new social programs paid for with higher taxes on millionaires and billionaires. In recent years, though, blue states such as California, Illinois, Delaware, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland and Minnesota adopted this very strategy, and they raised taxes on their wealthy residents. How did it work out? Almost all of these states lag behind the national average in growth of jobs and incomes.
So, if income redistribution policies are the solution to shrinking the gap between rich and poor, why do they fail so miserably in the states?
Day after day, the middle class keeps leaving California. The wealthy areas such as San Francisco and the Silicon Valley boom. Yet the state has nearly the highest poverty rate in the nation.
The blue states that try to lift up the poor with high taxes, high welfare benefits, high minimum wages and other Robin Hood policies tend to be the places where the rich end up the richest and the poor the poorest.
California is the prototypical example. It has the highest tax rates of any state. It has very generous welfare benefits. Many of its cities have a high minimum wage. But day after day, the middle class keeps leaving. The wealthy areas such as San Francisco and the Silicon Valley boom. Yet the state has nearly the highest poverty rate in the nation. The Golden State, alas, has become the inequality state.
In a new report called “Rich States, Poor States” that I write each year for the American Legislative Exchange Council with Arthur Laffer and Jonathan Williams, we find that five of the highest-tax blue states in the nation—California, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Illinois—lost some 4 million more U.S. residents than entered these states over the last decade. Meanwhile, the big low-tax red states—Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Arizona and Georgia—gained about this many new residents.
So much for liberal policies creating a workers paradise.
One liberal economic think tank—the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy—recently issued a report on the states with the most and least “regressive” tax systems. The conclusion was that states should raise their income taxes on the rich to be more “fair.” Except it turns out that people are leaving the states that the think tank ranks as fair, and they are moving to the states the think tank ranks as economically backward.
The least “regressive” tax states had average population growth from 2003 to 2013 that lagged below the national trend. The 10 most highly “regressive” tax states, including nine with no state income tax, had population growth on average 4 percent above the U.S. average. Why was that? Because states without income taxes have twice the job growth of states with high tax rates. Unlike the experts at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, most Americans think that fairness means having a job.
Ohio University economist Richard Vedder and I compared the income gap in states with higher tax rates, higher minimum wages and more welfare benefits with states on the other side of the policy spectrum. There was no evidence that states with these liberal policies had helped the poor much and, in many cases, these states recorded more income inequality than other states as measured by the left’s favorite statistic called the Gini Coefficient.
The 19 states with minimum wages above the $7.25 per hour federal minimum do not have lower income inequality. States with a super minimum wage—such as Connecticut ($9.15), California ($9.00), New York ($8.75), and Vermont ($9.15)—have significantly wider gaps between rich and poor than states without a super minimum wage.
States are supposed to be laboratories of democracy, right? These laboratories are providing us with concrete evidence that Robin Hood policies don’t help make the poor richer, they make most people poorer. In other words, the blue states have tried the Elizabeth Warren “progressive” agenda and people are voting with their feet by fleeing in droves. The kinds of income redistribution policies that Warren and others endorse can only work by building a Berlin Wall so no one can leave—though I hope I’m not giving them any ideas.
Originally published in The Washington Times
By Larry Higgs | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Email the author
on April 20, 2015 at 7:31 AM, updated April 20, 2015 at 8:53 AM
While NJ Transit riders are looking at a possible fare hike, one group of commuters will be spared a similar increase in the coming fiscal year.
Drivers will not see an increase in the fees they pay to register a motor vehicle, renew their driver’s license or conduct other transactions this year, state Motor Vehicle Commission officials said. This is also the year the MVC starts shopping for a company to run the states inspection stations.
“The last increase was in 2009 and some have decreased since then. The internet transaction fee has gone down,” said Raymond Martinez, MVC chief administrator, who has overseen the agency since 2010. “Some fees are done by statute, some are by regulation. We have not increased any fees since I got here.”
https://www.nj.com/traffic/index.ssf/2015/04/mvc_wont_increase_drivers_fees_but_shops_for_compa.html
By Adam Clark | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on April 19, 2015 at 7:30 AM, updated April 19, 2015 at 9:21 AM
The A-H fiction section at Union High School’s library offers about 3,000 titles, according to the school librarian.
There are classics, such as Agatha Christie’s crime novels, and popular teen books like the coming of age tale “The Perks of Being a Wallflower.”
But during March and early April, when the library was used for the computerized Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) testing, most of those books were off-limits to the school’s students, librarian Doris D’Elia said.
“About half of my fiction section is blocked because of the way they put my tables in and the wiring they installed for a temporary lab for PARCC,” D’Elia said. “We can’t even get to the books.”
PARCC, standardized math and English tests for New Jersey students in grades 3-11, has drawn the ire of some parents and teachers for a variety of reasons, including concern about the validity of the tests.
But there’s an underlying problem with PARCC regardless of its effectiveness, those parents and teachers say — in the weeks it took schools to administer the tests, students’ daily learning was continually interrupted in some schools.
Libraries were closed, schedules flipped upside down and teachers pulled from regular assignments, educators said. Some mixed-grade high school classes were missing different groups of students each day or week, forcing teachers to alter lesson plans.
https://www.nj.com/education/2015/04/parcc_testing_takes_toll_on_daily_learning.html
April 17, 2015 – 7:03 PM
Commentators on two different Arabic television programs claimed that President Barack Obama is pushing a nuclear deal with Iran because his father, Barack Obama Sr., was a Shiite Muslim, and President Obama apparently wants the Shia-run government of Iran to be victorious in the region.
The commentators made their remarks on the UK channel Al-Hiwar TV on March 25 and on 4Shbab TV in Saudi Arabia on April 10; the segments were recorded and translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute TV Monitor Project (MEMRI).
“There is one thing we must not forget,” said Syrian writer Muhydin Lazikani on Hiwar TV. “I am not peddling some theory, and I am not being racist. But Barack Hussein Obama is the son of a Shiite Kenyan father.”
“He spent much of his childhood in Mombasa, south Kenya,” said Lazikani. “I visited this very area, and I can tell you that it is mostly Shiite. All the childhood memories of the man who rules the White House are Shiite memories.”
“This is why the Iranian issue is so important to him and why he is so anxious for Iran to emerge victorious, and for Syria and all the countries of the Arab Gulf to be shattered,” said Lazikani.
President Obama’s father, Barack Hussein Obama Sr. (1936-1982), was born in Nyang’oma Kogelo, which is in the southwest region of Kenya. His own father, Hussein Onyango Obama (1895-1979), had converted from Christianity to Islam. Barack Obama Sr. was raised a Muslim but his son, President Obama, said at the February 2009 National Prayer Breakfast, “I had a father who was born a Muslim but became an atheist.”
Josh Siegel / @SiegelScribe / April 20, 2015
EAST ROCKAWAY, N.Y.—For Frances Healy, a 90-year-old widow known as “Muzzy,” home is just a tease.
Muzzy lives so close to her gutted, molded home—an unhealed victim of a hurricane that hit nearly two-and-half years ago—that she can see it.
But she can’t live in it.
From her vantage point through a window in the trailer here in East Rockaway on Long Island in New York, she can see a home that, from the outside, looks the same before it met Hurricane Sandy.
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It’s the same home that Muzzy and her late husband, Jimmy, built in 1947, transforming it from a “dump” to “heaven on Earth.”
But from the window of the trailer where she now lives, or from anywhere, what she can’t see is a way back into the home.
“It’s heartbreaking because there’s so many memories there,” said Muzzy, whose quiet, cracking voice belies a feistiness that showed itself when she playfully heckled a Daily Signal filmmaker for being too slow to get his equipment ready.
“We raised 10 children in this house,” Muzzy said. “We had so many memories in this house.”
This wasn’t supposed to be so hard—recovery.
“I know what I’m getting into living on the water,” says @krainsbo.
People who live on the water know the risks and insure themselves against them.
“I know what I’m getting into living on the water,” says Kathleen Besedin, whose dream home in Baldwin Harbour, N.Y., was severely damaged in Hurricane Sandy.
“I am not a stupid person. I know it can flood and that’s why I did everything right.”
When Hurricane Sandy barreled toward the East Coast in the fall of 2012, many, like Muzzy, who had to be dragged away by her family, didn’t think they’d even have to leave their homes.
No one could have expected how devastating Hurricane Sandy turned out to be: 117 deaths, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and more than $60 billion in damage, second only to Hurricane Katrina.
And no one could have guessed how the mechanisms set up to protect homeowners, and to refurbish them against future storms, would fail.
Responding to accusations that damage assessment reports were fraudulently changed to minimize claims, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has agreed to review every flood insurance claim filed by homeowners affected by Hurricane Sandy.
Those actions came in the wake of law enforcement inquiries and reports by the New York Times and CBS News program “60 Minutes” on widespread fraud by engineering companies supervised by FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program.
During a visit last month to Long Island, among the areas hardest hit by the storm, homeowners also spoke of problems related to a New York’s grant recovery program set up to fill the funding gaps left by their flood insurance and other forms of aid.
Launched in April 2013, New York Rising uses $4.4 billion in federal funding allocated to the state to help people rebuild their homes.
New York Rising is similar to other grant programs in New York city and New Jersey.
The programs were set up carefully.
After Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, widespread corruption and fraudulent claims marred the recovery.
To avoid similar problems in New York, the state created a program with a complicated application process.
Though New York Rising has distributed more than $600 million for home repairs so far, some homeowners complain the program has moved too slowly, plagued by heavy-handed bureaucracy, excessive paperwork and constantly changing policies.
“Thank God for the grant program,” said Mary Shaw, a resident of Long Beach, N.Y., who decided to knock her home down and is waiting on money from New York Rising to rebuild.
“But it is a waiting game. It’s been longer than we ever expected to wait for help. You don’t want to complain. It’s a grant program. I just wish it were run better.”
Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., represents a district in eastern Long Island. He works with New York Rising to make sure the program is helping people come home.
“It would be foolish not to revisit lessons learned to get it right the next time,” says @RepLeeZeldin.
“I think expectations from the get go—some people just assumed, as soon as Congress passed money, they would see a check, they would barely have to put in paperwork,” Zeldin told The Daily Signal.
“As far as efficiency goes, some of the policies … unnecessarily lingered too long. If another storm, God forbid, happened, it would be reckless, it would be foolish, not to revisit those lessons learned to get it right the next time.”
New York Rising officials say the program is working as well as could be expected.
They say they’re beholden to stringent guidelines required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the federal agency that governs the distribution of grant money.
And they say they’ve made changes to the program in order to meet evolving homeowner needs.
For example, New York Rising recently adjusted its award payment formula for some people who are reconstructing their homes.
Instead of paying 50 percent of repairs upfront, and the other half upon completion of repairs, New York Rising will pay 50 percent at the outset, 25 percent after a “substantial” amount of work has been finished and the final 25 percent upon completion.
“I don’t want to sound like a bureaucrat, but I do think that there’s a responsibility here and a management of expectations,” said Barbara Brancaccio, a New York Rising spokeswoman, in an interview with The Daily Signal.
“It’s the responsible monitoring of taxpayer dollars. You want to protect the funds. When you make changes like this, it’s to get more money to the homeowner, not to make it more difficult. It’s very hard when you’re in the situation to see the big picture. We work very hard to get as much money as absolutely possible into the hands of the people who need it.”
A walk through a Lindenhurst neighborhood shows how recovery does not look the same for everybody.
Ellen Huggins, the secretary of Adopt a House, a nonprofit founded to help rebuild Long Island communities after Hurricane Sandy, is leading the tour.
Huggins was fortunate enough to rebuild her home.
But visible through her front window is a grassy patch of land where a home once stood.
As part of New York Rising, residents have the option to participate in a buyout program, allowing the state to purchase the damaged property to raze the home and return the area to nature.
The state has bought about 1,200 properties as of mid-March.
Another home near Huggins’, a couple streets away, has seen no work. It looks, as if frozen in time, the same as it did after the storm—like a skeleton.
The walls of the back of the home have been blown off, to where you can see inside.
A swivel chair, probably an item that belonged to a former office space, and a trash basket, lay strewn in the melting snow.
“We want the neighborhood back,” says Ellen Huggins of @AdoptAHouse.
“My neighbors are gone,” Huggins said. “There are people who just left. There are people who are still struggling. And we want them to come back. We want the neighborhood back. I want my neighbors back. We’d like to see [New York Rising] be successful. We’d like to see the program achieve the goals it is setting out to achieve. We’d like it to assist people: to elevate, to reconstruct, to rebuild, to be safer —so that the neighborhood can continue to thrive.”
Muzzy won’t leave her neighborhood. It’s where she goes to church. It’s where her husband, Jimmy, hand-made the furniture that came to decorate her home, and then, be destroyed—erasing one of their enduring links.
“She’s lived in this town since she was 2. It’s where she wants to die,” says Kate Hughes, Muzzy’s daughter.
For Muzzy, home, so close but so far, is where the heartache is.
Asked where she wants to live, she points through the trailer window, “In that house.”
BY MARK TAPSCOTT | APRIL 19, 2015 | 5:00 AM
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is drawing a populist bead on lavish Wall Street pay packages as she revs up her march to the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, but in some respects the fat-per-speech fee she can charge puts her far ahead of the top 10 highest-paid American CEOs.
“I think it’s fair to say that if you look across the country, the deck is stacked in favor of those already at the top. There’s something wrong when CEOs make 300 times more than the American worker…,” Clinton said during her first campaign swing last week at an Iowa community college.
Bashing Wall Streeters is part of Clinton’s strategy of remaking her image to appear more sympathetic to middle class voters, while also appealing to left-wing Democrats who are attracted to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and the even more radical supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont socialist who talks of seeking the 2016 nomination.
