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Flood Victims to Protest Tonight

Residents who experienced Hurricane Sandy's storm surge will be marching on Town Hall in time for tonight's council meeting

 


Homeowners who live in the flood-prone areas of Woodbridge aren't taking what they believe to be neglect from elected officials lying down.

About sixty showed up at a meeting at the First Presbyterian Church last week to talk about their homes, devastated by the storm surge from Hurricane Sandy.

They're forming action committes around issues that contribute to the flooding, they want flood mitigation, both short and long term, and they're creating Facebook pages to add to Woodbridge Flood Zone, the new website leader Monique Coleman created.

And they aren't just talking about it. They're meeting at the Reo Diner before next Tuesday's council meeting, and they'll be marching down Main Street to Town Hall, with protest signs and teeshirts that say such things as "Flood Victim."

One of the conclusions the group came to at their meeting was that putting pressure on elected officials - and not taking 'no' for an answer - is a priority. Coleman said there's a lack of visibility, both in and outside Woodbridge, to the fact that flooding is a severe issue in some parts of the township.

The march to Town Hall and attendance at council meetings by group members is one way they're hoping to raise their profile with town fathers.

Two officials went to the meeting: Woodbridge Councilman Kyle Anderson and State Senator Joseph Vitale, who represents the district and has offices down the street from Town Hall.

Vitale, Coleman said, encouraged the group "to keep organizing" and formulate specific goals. 

The state senator said he's "at our disposal, and he will help bring in federal officials, such as Congressman [Frank] Pallone and Senator [Robert] Menendez." Anderson also told the group that he'd "do whatever he could on a local level" to help.

"There seems to be a common goal of working proactively towards securing short and long-term flood solutions," Coleman said to the group in an email.

Other issues Coleman and the group are targeting are the link between commercial development and flooding; soil contamination in the wetland areas; the Blue Acres program, which does home buyouts; and increasing tax rates without relief for flood residents.

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About this column: News and essential information about Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey. Related Topics: Blue Acres, First Presbyterian Church, Hurricane Sandy, Kyle Anderson, Monique Coleman, Woodbridge Flood Zone, and joseph vitale

Tom Maras

8:55 am on Friday, March 15, 2013

It is truly amazing how politician, especially those with elections looming over their heads or political embarrassments they want the public to forget, come out, like toothpaste, when they get squeezed!

Where were they for the years before and after IRENE? And what happened after this Channel 12 TV-op by Kyle Anderson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nuubzu9lQEw The guy can't even take care of a speeding ticket, without getting arrested, so what can anyone expect from him went it comes to their welfare?

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floodvictim2

4:52 pm on Monday, March 25, 2013

THis story is about us victims and our cry for help. Why do you use this opportunity to attack a Councilman who has tried to help us?

Tom Maras

10:34 am on Friday, March 15, 2013

What do politicians and a tube of toothpaste have in common? Squeeze them and they'll come out!
Remember this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nuubzu9lQEw
So aside from doing long overdue clean-up along the Woodbridge River and Suckers Creek, what did Joe Vitale, Mac, Charley Kenny Kyle Anderson, Michele Charmello or Jimmy Carroll really do to protect residents in flood prone parts of the township? Surely, Hurricane Sandy provides some insights.
Do Pallone and Menendez even know where Woodbridge is located, let alone that it was flooded? Our district's former Congressman, Leonard Lance, sure did, and showed McCormac, after Irene, how a truly concerned elected official responses to the needs of the people who elected them!

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Evelyn York

2:40 pm on Friday, March 15, 2013

So agreed...promises and then they put the blame on all others...I have been fighting for 22 years!!! Time for the whole thownship to know about the "forgotten Township Brothers and Sisters"...time for EVERYONE to come out and fight for the forgotten Residents of the Township!!

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I have spoken

11:11 pm on Friday, March 15, 2013

Pallone and Menendez....the men who lost a military base on their watch. They did nothing to prevent it. Sorry to say, this flood isn't even a blip on their radar.

Good luck and do the smart thing at election time....GET RID OF MAC and crew.

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Robert

11:13 am on Tuesday, March 19, 2013

I agree with you Tom but my question is why do these people keep getting voted in time after time after time?

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floodvictim2

4:55 pm on Monday, March 25, 2013

What exactly did Lance do? Was he in town? Did he get us money for relief? Did he get any projects approved? Seems to me that Lance and Ferguson were our Congressmen for the last 16 years and nothing was done. Pallone has been in for maybe three months and you suddenly want him to have accomplished something? Do us a favor. Stay out of our issue. All you do is make things political. I don't care who helps us as long as we get help. You making this about politics does none of us any good. I cant recall anything Lance or Ferguson doing anything.

George

9:00 am on Tuesday, March 19, 2013

FEMA expanded flood zones, so now almost 20% of the US is under the thumb of that fat bureaucracy. FEMA is making tens of thousands of property owners pay to super-elevate their homes and/or pay exorbitant annual insurance costs (based on erroneous FEMA maps and calculations).

Why should NJ bail out FEMA's bureaucracy from its Katrina debt? We need common-sense solutions, not FEMA's over-reaching mandates.

We have a booming grassroots protest movement at the Shore, and you're invited to join as we reach out to all of NJ, NY and coast-to-coast. Get the facts at Facebook.com/StopFemaNow or StopFemaNow.com

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Tom Maras

1:29 pm on Tuesday, March 19, 2013

@George Thanks for the links. FEMA, like most other blotted federal and state agencies, are the real man-made disasters. The only way to correct their behavior is to get rid of the politicians and bureaucrats that use our money to fund them!
Hope your efforts at the Jersey shore, and those of anyone in other flooded areas, all meet with timely success! Like so many others, I will do all I can to help those in need, and to tell the politicians to stop their bloviating and do the job they were elected to do; namely, protect and serve their electorate!

anonymous

1:04 pm on Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Its about time peaple thank you to all who protest. Wrong or right it is your civil obligation to not only you but your sleeping neighbors to bring injustices to light. I hope your outcome makes tommorow a better day then today. I stand with you until someone hears your voices. anonymous

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