SEA ISLE CITY – Gov. Chris Christie traveled to Sea Isle City’s newly-inaugurated Municipal Complex Building Oct. 2 and met with mayors from Cape May County and surrounding counties. He later conducted a media briefing at the adjoining newly-refurbished fire house where he declared, “The state is ready for any weather eventuality, and we want residents to also be ready with a plan in case power goes out or you need to be evacuated.”
“We Are Ready”
Introduced by Mayor Leonard Desiderio, who termed Christie “a friend of South Jersey and Sea Isle City and the greatest governor in the U.S.,” Christie said nearly five years ago with Hurricanes Irene and Sandy the state began to fight hard to get the resources needed to ensure minimizing any future damage from severe storms.
He praised the efforts of U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-2nd), “No one is more engaged than Frank in hand-to-hand combat in Washington,” so New Jersey is in “good shape and prepared for whatever happens with this current storm and future ones as well.”
Christie said he had been busy all that morning with meetings with his cabinet and updates from relevant federal and state officials as well as leading a conference call with over 350 elected officials from around New Jersey.
He noted the threat of extreme damage was diminishing as Hurricane Joaquin was forecast to continue to veer ever eastward off the Jersey shore. Nevertheless, Christie continued to emphasize, “we are ready, so far so good,” quipping “We have done our bit already for hurricane tourism.”Alluding to the media attention resulting from Sandy.
Residents, Be Prepared
Christie urged residents to be ready to respond to flooding and have an action plan to get out of their homes if need be. “Connect now with a family member or friend where you can stay, if it gets cold and there’s no power and you stay in your house, use a generator. You must know how to use that generator,” Christie continued, “During Sandy lives were tragically lost because people didn’t know how to use their emergency generators and died from carbon monoxide poisoning.”
State of Emergency Oct. 1
Christie said he signed a declaration of a state of emergency for the state the day before, not because it was an emergency at that time but to anticipate any potential need.
“We want every possible asset available to us and that’s what signing that declaration did for the state. We are very fortunate that it doesn’t look like Joaquin will be a major factor for us but I wanted us again to be prepared,” he said.
“Most Selfish”
Concluding his prepared statement to the assembled press, Christie took aim at “Those municipalities who refuse to comply with eminent domain requests so that dunes can be built up to protect lives and property. I am really frustrated personally, not speaking for anyone else, with places like Margate, they’re so selfish, and refuse us the ability in the interest of vanity to build up protective dunes and in the end we’ll win anyway. But they’re wasting our time and taxpayers’ money as we need to fight them in court and again, they’re going to lose anyway.”
Christie continued on the subject saying, “The vast majority of affected residents come forth and comply with easements, those who don’t are resisting common sense.”
Questions from the Media
Christie then took questions from the media two of which asked him pointedly about the status of Transportation Commissioner Jamie Fox who has been the focus of recent allegations related to “Bridgegate” and politically motivated unprofitable United flights from Atlantic City to South Carolina.
“He’s on the job, he’s been on the calls we are doing to monitor the weather situation and is making sure our roads and trains are safe and in good condition,” the governor said.
Responding to a question from the Herald on scarping and other signs of erosion already evident in newly-replenished areas, Christie replied, “Yes, we will keep working closely with the Army Corps of Engineers, Frank [LoBiondo] and Bob [Martin, commissioner, Department of Environmental Protection] will stay on top of this.”
Christie was asked how can he be so sure “New Jersey is prepared” as he kept averring when thousands of residents still can’t return to their homes because of Sandy damage from three years ago, and how can citizens have confidence in his statements?
Christie argued, “We lost 365,000 homes because of Sandy, and the fact that only a few thousand still are not back is a great accomplishment. Can we do better?” he asked rhetorically, answering, “Sure, we can always do better but we’ve done a great job. Look at Biloxi where 10 years after Katrina many people still are not back and we’ve only had three years. ”
Where’s The Fleece?
The press conference ended on a jocular note as Christie was asked where is the famous navy blue fleece jacket he wore continuously throughout the beginning days of Sandy’s aftermath.
“I looked in my closet last night, I have 27 fleeces from all over, today I have on one from the Camden County Police Dept., that’s my way of a head nod to them for all that they’ve accomplished to reduce the murder rate there and make Camden a safer place.”
Christie played along with the spirit of the question by finishing up with “Tomorrow I may be wearing a Jersey Fresh fleece, here I’m in the heart of the garden part of the Garden State, not sure, and can’t promise but that’s what I’m thinking for tomorrow.”
At the conclusion of the press conference Christie said he was headed north to Toms River to assess the situation there and asked everyone to “pray as appropriate” for a happy ending to Joaquin.
