By David Cruz
NJ Today
In the unofficial final week of summer, Gov. Chris Christie was in North Wildwood and Long Branch to kick off a week of boardwalk walking tours, intended to highlight progress made in the 10 months since Sandy, and to a certain extent, answer critics who say he’s been painting too rosy a recovery picture.
“Because we had a good summer from a business perspective in many parts of the state doesn’t mean for a second that we’re forgetting the people whose lives are still turned upside down by this storm. They are still thousands of people who are not back in their homes. People are still trying to grapple with the damage and the loss from Sandy. And we’re continuign every day through the grant programs that we have to help those folks,” Christie said.
In a wide ranging press conference that covered everything from his gun control veto to snow at the Super Bowl, the governor repeatedly came back to the theme of the week, which is down the Shore everything’s all right, but it’s not perfect.
“We knew that this summer was not going to be like the summer of 2012 and we said that from the beginning. I think all the publicity that Sandy got in the immediate aftermath of the storm led a lot of people who were not in the immediate region to conclude that we wouldn’t be open this summer. That’s why we did the Stronger Than The Storm campaign, not only in New Jersey, Philadelphia and New York but also in other parts of the country to try to get people here,” Christie said. “This gonna be a couple of year process, as I said.”
The governor said he was disappointed that more progress hadn’t been made on beach erosion and dune building efforts, saving some pretty harsh words for one of those 1,100 residents who had not signed easements — Assemblyman John McKeon.
“You can’t explain that level of selfishness, especially when you put yourself out as a leader. So I’m hoping that Assemblyman McKeon will try to show some leadership,” Christie said. “Sign your easement today, assemblyman. And let everybody in the public know you signed your easement and maybe that will lead some more people up and down the coast to say, ‘Well if one of our leaders has signed one, maybe we should consider signing it too.'”
Christie acknowledged that the southern portion of the shore was recovering more quickly than shore spots further north. He said next summer will see even more of the shore restored, providing another storm doesn’t hit the state before then, adding we could use a break this year.