By Lauren Wanko
Correspondent
The Cioppa family of Brick Township say they’re beyond frustrated with how the Christie administration is handling the Sandy recovery.
“Unless you’ve lived this, you have no idea how inept the state has been,” said Tom Cioppa.
Sandy’s flood waters inundated the Cioppa’s home. They’ve relied on their flood insurance settlement, credit cards and money from family to rebuild. The only grant this couple’s received so far is the $10,000 Resettlement Program.
“Outside of that program, everything else, whether it’s the RREM program or the house elevation program, those have been a complete nightmare,” Tom said.
Tom’s wife Stacey is a professional grant writer.
“I apply for grants, public and private, every day. This should have been an easy process for me to understand. It is flawed. There is no way to understand it. If I can’t understand it, I don’t know how anyone is supposed to be able to,” said Stacey.
The Cioppa family are among 74 percent of state aid applicants who feel that people like them have largely been forgotten in the recovery effort. That according to the most recent Monmouth University poll.
“People feel more than a year after the storm hit, they should be farther along in the process,” said Monmouth University Polling Institute Director Patrick Murray.
Murray says storm victims feel stuck and frustrated because they’re not moving forward.
“We find that the majority say they applied for aid but they’ve been turned down for aid, or the money is not there or they’ve been told they’ve been wait-listed and they don’t know what that means. It’s a lot of confusion,” Murray said.
Stacey says many of houses in their neighborhood are abandoned.
“If you don’t have any money, if you don’t have any savings or credit cards or family to fall back on, if you were really waiting for one of these state programs, you’re doomed,” Stacey said.
Tom and Debbie Fortier lost their home to Sandy. The family is still displaced and still waiting for grant money. They were invited to Gov. Chris Christie’s town hall today. Debbie says she’s losing faith in the governor.
“I have met with the governor a few times and he said he was gonna help me. I do have emails back and forth but nothing really came through and I just beg him please please help us,” said Debbie.
“I just want this money to get out. Look, there is never gonna be enough money but there’s still a lot that is not being distributed because the state doesn’t have the wherewithal to do it for some reason,” said Congressman Frank Pallone.
“For a governor who likes to say he is a different kind of governor and is gonna be honest with the people, well right now he is lying through his teeth about the success of the Sandy recovery program,” Tom Fortier said.
Tom plans to attend the administration’s public hearing tomorrow at Brookdale Community College. He says he’s looking forward to talking to the Department of Community Affairs about his frustrations and disgust about the homeowners Sandy recovery money.