Out of sight, out of mind

From the Star Ledger:

Chris Christie signs order to speed razing of Sandy-damaged homes

Calling Hurricane Sandy-damaged homes that have not yet been torn down an “ongoing emergency,” Gov. Chris Christie signed an executive order aimed at speeding up the process of razing unsafe properties.

The order puts the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs in charge of overseeing the demolition efforts, which will be funded with $15 million in federal money.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in January approved the state’s plan to shift funding in order to primarily provide more money to established housing grant programs. But the state also requested — and received federal approval — to establish a $15 million program to demolish unsafe properties.

That $15 million comes from the first round of nearly $1.83 billion in Community Development Block grants the state received from the federal government. The state in February outlined its plan to spend the next round of those flexible grants.

The governor signed the executive order Friday.

The order gives the Community Affairs commissioner the authority to “commandeer Sandy-impacted eligible structures,” as well as take possession of rights of way on any property needed to facilitate demolition.

According to the governor’s office, state code enforcement officials have been surveying private properties to identify homes that need to be razed. Property owners will be notified when that determination is made and then will have the opportunity to challenge it.

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63 Responses to Out of sight, out of mind

  1. grim says:

    Giveaway to connected contractors?

  2. eb says:

    This is another part of the problem… Not a solution. The award to demo the houses will be on a no bid basis.

  3. grim says:

    Didn’t get a chance to post on this one last week, looks like it wasn’t the weather, from HousingWire:

    Find out why pending home sales are flat

    Pending home sales were essentially unchanged in January, according to the National Association of Realtors.

    Monthly gains in pending home sales in the South and Northeast were offset by declines in the West and Midwest.

    While the gains in the Northeast may seem odd given the Northeast was hit hardest by winter weather in December and January, Walter Molony at the National Association of Realtors said given the smaller size of the region as a portion of all housing and the modest increase, not much can be read into that.

    The South meanwhile saw gains in spite of cold weather in Dixie as well, and there were sharper declines in the West, where there is a larger portion of the housing market and where the weather has not been a factor.

    The NAR pending homes sales index edged up 0.1% to 95.0 in January from an upwardly revised 94.9 in December, but is 9.0% below January 2013 when it was 104.4.

    Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said that factors which dampened December activity also were at play in January, including the challenge of affordabilty.

  4. grim says:

    …and not single flake of snow up here.

  5. Juice Box says:

    About an inch of snow down here in Monmouth. Schools are delayed opening so far.

  6. anon (the good one) says:

    njw, bet the kkk brotherhood is not pleased

    @WSJ: The #Oscar for Best Picture goes to “12 Years a Slave.” http://t.co/Skv3ykROF9

  7. grim says:

    Well… that just takes it to a whole new level of idiocy.

  8. Hughesrep says:

    5-

    4″ and still coming down pretty good in southern monmouth. Looks like 195 is the cut line.

  9. Michael says:

    “I do not blame or condemn my father for his opinions. If you consumed a daily diet of right-wing fury, erroneously labeled “news,” you could very likely end up in the same place. Again, this is all by design. Let’s call it the Fox News effect. Take sweet, kindly senior citizens and feed them a steady stream of demagoguery and repetition, all wrapped in the laughable slogan of “fair and balanced.” Even watching the commercials on Fox, one is treated to sales pitches for gold and emergency food rations, the product cornerstones of the paranoid. To some people the idea of retirees yelling at the television all day may seem funny, but this isn’t a joke. We’re losing the nation’s grandparents, and it’s an American tragedy.”

    http://www.salon.com/2014/02/27/i_lost_my_dad_to_fox_news_how_a_generation_was_captured_by_thrashing_hysteria/

  10. Michael says:

    9- “My cohort, Generation X, is stuck between two generations of suffering Americans. The millennial generation is losing job opportunities and income as the nation stagnates. They put off marriage and buying homes. While white, Fox News-addicted baby boomers have lost their sense of hope. They’ve been passed over by shifting attitudes about gay marriage, the role of government and a host of issues. They still think of themselves as the “silent majority,” when in reality they are a wounded and thrashing legacy of white hegemony. My parents’ generation is becoming fragile antiques, relics by choice, reassured by Fox News that they are still the only voice that matters.”

  11. grim says:

    The millennial generation is losing job opportunities and income as the nation stagnates. They put off marriage and buying homes.

    This is a bit premature when you consider the youngest of the millenials only turned 10 last year (or 12 depending on whose definition you use). Either way, the new “largest generation” still has quite a long way to go in defining itself.

    The trend towards later marriage, children, etc is much longer running than just one generation, and has more to do with cost of living, standard of living, and inflation than generational monickers.

    Married at 20, kid at 22? Good luck with that strategy.

  12. nwnj says:

    #9

    Here’s the title of the other most recent article by that person. It would be a stretch to call him a journalist based on the quality of his writing.

    “Why I fled libertarianism — and became a liberal”

  13. Michael says:

    12- This other article is pretty funny. He is pretty much on point.

    “After leaving my small town upbringing, I learned that libertarians are made for lots of reasons, like reading the bad fiction of Ayn Rand or perhaps the passable writing of Robert Heinlein. In my experience, most seemed to be poor, white and undereducated. They were contortionists, justifying the excesses of the capitalist elite, despite being victims if libertarian politics succeed.

    If you think that selfishness and cruelty are fantastic personal traits, you might be a libertarian. In the movement no one will ever call you an asshole, but rather, say you believe in radical individualism.

    Yet I don’t want to gloss over the good things about libertarians. They are generally supportive of the gay community, completely behind marijuana legalization and are often against ill-considered foreign wars, but a few good ideas don’t make up for some spectacularly bad ones. Their saving grace is a complete lack of organizational ability, which is why they are always trying to take over the Republican Party, rather than create a party of their own.

    The Ron Paul delegates were able to take over the Nevada convention in 2008, howling, screeching and grinding it to a painful halt. I was part of the mob, and once we took over, we were unable to get anything done. The national delegates were appointed in secret later.

    The Republican convention didn’t turn me off of libertarians, but I started losing respect for the movement while watching the financial meltdown. Libertarians were (rightly) furious when our government bailed out the banks, but they fought hardest against help for ordinary Americans. They hated unemployment insurance and reduced school lunches. I used to say similar things, but in such a catastrophic recession isn’t the government supposed to help? Isn’t that the lesson of the Great Depression?”

    http://www.salon.com/2013/12/28/why_i_fled_libertarianism_and_became_a_liberal/

  14. chicagofinance says:

    Since when does libertarian = Tea Party?

  15. grim says:

    Since when does the KKK hold an Oscars party and serve tapas and chardonnay?

  16. chicagofinance says:

    I was going to let this one die a quiet death, but not why not toss gasoline?

    chicagofinance says:
    March 2, 2014 at 10:33 pm
    I think you missed the main point here. They are lazy and they were born into crap circumstances……the problem is that YOU are lazy, but were born into fostering circumstances. YOU don’t even know what the world looks like, all YOU know is YOUR blocks.

    Michael says:
    March 2, 2014 at 8:46 pm
    It’s not because they are lazy. It’s because they were born into crap circumstances. Plain and simple. They don’t know any better. They don’t even know what the world looks like, all they know is their blocks.

  17. grim says:

    Funny – when I was a kid we sued our parents for emancipation.

    Today? Kids sue to remain dependents and have their parents pay support (when their parents kick them out for not following rules at 18). Suppose this is just another example of crap circumstances and not knowing better. How can you blame her? Have to follow rules and do chores? What next? Paying rent?

    Morris Catholic senior sues her parents

    A Morris Catholic High School honor student and athlete who claims her parents threw her out of their Lincoln Park home when she turned 18 has taken the highly unusual step of suing them for immediate financial support and to force them to pay for her college education.

    Private high school senior Rachel Canning, a cheerleader and lacrosse player who has aspirations to be a biomedical engineer, filed a lawsuit last week in the Family Part of state Superior Court in Morristown that seeks a judge’s declaration that she is nonemancipated and dependent as a student on her parents for support.

    The father contended that Rachel moved out because she didn’t want to abide by simple household rules — be respectful, keep a curfew, return “borrowed” items to her two sisters, manage a few chores, and reconsider or end her relationship with a boyfriend the parents believe is a bad influence.

    “We’re heartbroken, but what do you do when a child says ‘I don’t want your rules but I want everything under the sun and you to pay for it?’ ” Canning said, adding that his daughter’s college fund is available to her and not withdrawn or re-allocated, as she has alleged.

  18. nwnj says:

    Or you could be Bill De Blasio. Looking poor kids into failing schools so you appease your backers and secure your voter base of disenfranchised seems rather cruel to me.

    “If you think that selfishness and cruelty are fantastic personal traits, you might be a libertarian. “

  19. nwnj says:

    “Locking”

  20. JJ says:

    Tearing down the beach houses is a good idea. Folks without insurance will let those things rot. Get HUD or FEMA money and knock them down no charge.

    To tear down a house near me, you need to deal with PSEG, Water company, get soil samples, do absestos testing, pay insurance, dumpster stuff etc. So some folks dont feel like doing it

    Neighbors to left or right in these property starved towns might jump at chance to buy plot once empty.

    Go to long beach and you see 30×60 bungalows with zero parking. Imagine if house between then was torn down. Neighbor to left and right buys it. Each gets 15×60 enough for two nice long driveways. Gets six cars off crowded streets in summer and one less house in the flood zone.

  21. Anon E. Moose says:

    Chifi [14];

    Since when does libertarian = Tea Party?

    To a leftist, anyone to the right of Lenin all look alike… [TIC]

  22. Libertarian philosophy will never go mainstream in the US, because there are too many dependent, stupid and lazy people on BOTH sides of the income divide lined up against it.

    Handouts and gubmint largesse have corrupted both the poor and the corporate welfare queens.

    Extinction event, dead ahead.

  23. If you don’t think Jamie Dimon is a welfare queen, you’re part of the problem.

    Just pray the boot to your face doesn’t come in your lifetime.

  24. The most degrading thing you can do to someone is take away his God-given right to fail.

  25. Painhrtz - Disobey! says:

    I like to understand how a libertarian philosophy would make me a victim. Is it the respect for rights of the individual, free association, or is it the ability to live unencumbered by the restrictions of statists on business and personal decisions ? Forcing a populace do do something under force of law is neither virtuous or righteous.

    Michael here is a little primer of what happens when government gets out of the way

    http://mises.org/daily/3788

  26. Michael says:

    18- The schools of the poor are not failing, it’s the community in general that is failing. Fix that community, and you will see that school go from failing to good. Ask spike lee about this in NYC, he seems to have pointed that out in his rant this week. When the neighborhoods were poor, they were crap, when they are wealthy, they are good. The bigger issue is that you can’t solve the issue of poverty, in a society based on an economic system based on haves and have nots. I don’t know of a better economic system, I just know that you are going to have problems with the current economic system and I accept these problems, since there is not a better alternative, blaming the problems of the current economic system on the schools is just wrong.

    “Or you could be Bill De Blasio. Looking poor kids into failing schools so you appease your backers and secure your voter base of disenfranchised seems rather cruel to me.”

  27. Michael says:

    16- What are you trying to say, that I’m entitled, and it’s a bad thing? I think you have defended the wealthy and their ways on this blog before. Now that I get help, it’s a bad thing?

    “I think you missed the main point here. They are lazy and they were born into crap circumstances……the problem is that YOU are lazy, but were born into fostering circumstance s. YOU don’t even know what the world looks like, all YOU know is YOUR blocks.”

  28. Fast Eddie says:

    Obama to Medvedev: “Tell Putin the election is over and I have flexibility now.”

    Vlad “The Impaler” Putin to Medvedev: “Who the f.uck is Obama?”

  29. Ottoman says:

    Of course libertarians are complete idiots as half of them would never have been born had it not been for government intervention in the immunization and food, drug and work safety efforts, not to mention the military protection that gave rise to a relatively safe place to grow capital and raise families. Some black lunged street urchin coughing on your great grandpappy or a factory accident might have meant a quick but painful death before he had a chance to knock up your great grandmammy. And if he was black or Chinese or Irish, good luck finding a doctor that had the skills and the will to treat him. Free market and no civil rights laws meant they didn’t have to.

    Ayn Rand herself got married for US citizenship so she could take advantage of the roads, copyright protections, and other government programs that enabled her to spread her banal claptrap without fear of someone clubbing her over the head and stealing her money and ideas. She spent the rest of her life trying to get her family American citizenship too so we know how much it meant to her. One wonders why such a self starter didn’t settle in some African sh!thole and become queen, unencumbered by the unintelligent and useless bureaucracy her dumbass followers bemoan.

  30. joyce says:

    Isn’t that the lesson of the Great Depression?”

    No

  31. joyce says:

    Wow, so the daughter is obviously a real peach. Her father is a classic NJ double-dipper. But I think the biggest @ssclown in that story is the girl’s friend’s father who is funding the lawsuit. What is that about!

    grim says:
    March 3, 2014 at 9:51 am
    Funny – when I was a kid we sued our parents for emancipation.

    Today? Kids sue to remain dependents and have their parents pay support (when their parents kick them out for not following rules at 18). Suppose this is just another example of crap circumstances and not knowing better. How can you blame her? Have to follow rules and do chores? What next? Paying rent?

    Morris Catholic senior sues her parents

  32. Painhrtz - Disobey! says:

    luckily my marlin 30/30 and model 94 only hold seven rounds or I might go assault rifle 1880s style.

    Seriously this state is so f*cked when it comes to gun laws. No signs that it will ever change

  33. joyce says:

    “My parents have rationalized their actions by blaming me for not following their rules,” Rachel said in her court papers. “They stopped paying my high school tuition to punish the school and me and have redirected my college fund, indicating their refusal to afford me an education as a punishment.”

    The father disputes the statement of redirecting her college fund but regardless, tell her to get a job/loan for college. Also, wouldn’t a poor 18-year old with no parental (financial) support be in line for numerous grants & aids? And for finishing high school, can’t she attend public?

    “Sean Canning said that a DCP&P representative visited his home for about three hours last fall, found nothing amiss, determined that Rachel was “spoiled” and discontinued the investigation.”

    Shocking determination

  34. Libturd in the City says:

    I give the Rachel story two more days before she claims an uncle sexually abused her when she was 9.

  35. Street Justice says:

    Pain, Home buyer…

    I wrote every legislator who was even remotely involved in the new 10 round mag limit bill (A2006) I think…

    I’m there for the senate president’s twitter meetings every week too.

    Mostly I’ve found that there’s this venomous hatred for anyone who owns guns and they just want to punish those people. Still, I try to get people to see….their rights are being stolen right in front of them in broad daylight….People should be hopping mad about it…

  36. Street Justice says:

    Frankly, I don’t know why I bother because it mostly falls on deaf ears. People keep electing knuckleheads who push an agenda. Case in point…this scene from gun bills passed in 2013…

    We’ll hear your comments after we pass the bills… .

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouNuaMdXmyM

    Published on Feb 14, 2013

    NJ Assemblyman Charles Mainor, Chairman of the Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee explains that the committee will vote on the bills before hearing public comment. Feb. 13, 2013

  37. grim says:

    I would fund the legal defense out of her college fund.

  38. JJ says:

    Kids have successfully sued parents to pay for college before. Trouble is even if you win it does not say what type of college. Could be community college followed by state school and live at home.

    I had a roomate in school with a rich dad that went through a bitter divorce with mom and refused to pay for nothing. Never saw his kid. They would count his dad income on everything so he got nothing and was bitter about it.

    it is odd that you can end up with parents who refuse to chip in anything who are well off as they screw the kids.

    It is extremely difficult to get emancipated. The rich orthodox and indians use the trick they marry the kids at 18, once married it is just couples income. So they get a free ride. Honestly I dont know why more folks just dont do that.

  39. Painhrtz - Disobey! says:

    grim exactly

    Street made sure I forwarded the articles on to the 40 or so guys in my hunting club.

  40. Michael says:

    36- well said!

  41. Street Justice says:

    If they are affiliated with the NJOA, tell them to cut ties. Word on the street is it’s their fault…the legislature felt emboldended because they felt like they had their support.

    40.Painhrtz – Disobey! says:
    March 3, 2014 at 12:30 pm
    grim exactly

    Street made sure I forwarded the articles on to the 40 or so guys in my hunting club.

  42. Painhrtz - Disobey! says:

    Street not us thankfully.

  43. A Home Buyer says:

    Someone was talking about this a while ago and how apple should be in this market:

    http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_25264667/apple-drives-into-car-stereos-carplay-integration-siri

  44. Ben says:

    The funny thing about libertarian purists is that they believe that the market will always effectively price labor to maximize production and profit. Then, somehow, they believe opening trade borders with a nation full of unemployed people willing to work for 50 cents an hour is good for the US jobs.

  45. chicagofinance says:

    The End Is Nigh (Vatican Edition):
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3a0txKdGnrY

  46. 1987 Condo says:

    “shockingly”, as part of divorces settlements in NJ, college funding is required as the State has determined that College education is now on par, in NJ, with receiving a HS education.

  47. Michael says:

    Exactly!!! How is opening trade borders, with people willing to work for wages that you can’t survive on in the American economy, good for anyone, but the guy paying the worker. This is exactly what happen with NAFTA and these other stupid trade agreements that started in the 90s. Sure, lets compete with workers from a country where the avg wage is 1000 a year, this will be good for America. It’s beyond comprehension how our politicians allowed our businesses to do that. It’s beyond comprehension, how the American worker just sat back and let it happen.

    “The funny thing about libertarian purists is that they believe that the market will always effectively price labor to maximize production and profit. Then, somehow, they believe opening trade borders with a nation full of unemployed people willing to work for 50 cents an hour is good for the US jobs.”

  48. JJ says:

    It should be. In the past what would happen is some guy would leave his wife and 2-3 kids and run off with a new hot younger one. Basically what happened to my old college roomate.

    His Dad had a young wife, new Jaguar and a new family. Him and his brother were casts off and when he was 18 and brother 20 child support was done, she had no alimony and she had two sets of college tuition she could not afford. I actually had two kids on hall in that boat. The other one had a kick ass house in Scarsdale which he described as slowly becoming “Grey Gardens” She got the house free and clear in divorce but no alimony and since kids were already in HS not much child suport. She wanted to hold onto the house the last sign of what she was. But with no money for maintenace, insurance or taxes and driving a 1971 Buick in 1981 and two kids in college you know that house was starting to go to pot just like Buick was slowly rusting out.

    47.1987 Condo says:
    March 3, 2014 at 2:09 pm
    “shockingly”, as part of divorces settlements in NJ, college funding is required as the State has determined that College education is now on par, in NJ, with receiving a HS education.

  49. Michael says:

    “Yale law school professor Dan Kahan’s new research paper is called “Motivated Numeracy and Enlightened Self-Government,” but for me a better title is the headline on science writer Chris Mooney’s piece about it in Grist: “Science Confirms: Politics Wrecks Your Ability to Do Math.”

    Kahan conducted some ingenious experiments about the impact of political passion on people’s ability to think clearly. His conclusion, in Mooney’s words: partisanship “can even undermine our very basic reasoning skills…. [People] who are otherwise very good at math may totally flunk a problem that they would otherwise probably be able to solve, simply because giving the right answer goes against their political beliefs.””

    http://www.salon.com/2013/09/17/the_most_depressing_discovery_about_the_brain_ever_partner/

  50. grim says:

    45 – Really? Most libertarians I know would point to the H1B program and say exactly the opposite.

  51. Comrade Nom Deplume, back as Captain Justice says:
  52. Libturd in the City says:

    “When you’ve lost WaPo, and you’re a democrat, that’s bad . . .”

    Normally I would agree with you Nom, but the Dems are so softhearted that they even criticize their own. Something the Repub media is never willing to do. Shit…the repubs shut down the government over ACA. The Dems think a filibuster is tough.

  53. Ben says:

    Grim, I should have said trade barriers, not borders. They think free trade is a 100% win win for everyone when its pretty clear, the US came out the big loser on loosening restrictions on trade.

  54. Fabius Maximus says:

    #21 Moose

    “As far as the tea partiers are concerned, anybody to the left of Ted Cruz is a RINO,”
    Bernie Goldberg

  55. Fabius Maximus says:

    Anyone else here knows who Stampylonghead is? He should write a book “The Millionaire in my Parents Basement!”
    http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hampshire-26327661

  56. Happy Renter says:

    “When you were asked what’s the biggest geopolitical threat facing America, you said Russia. Not Al Qaida. You said Russia. The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because…the cold war’s been over for 20 years.”

    http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/03/01/remember-obama-mocking-romney-over-russia-concerns-the-1980s-are-now-calling-to-ask-for-their-foreign-policy-back/

    Somebody please inform the Dunce-in-Chief of the meaning of the word “geopolitical threat.”

    No sweat, Barry — just draw some of your famous “red lines” and I’m sure the Russians will get in line if you preface your statement with “Let me be clear.”

  57. joyce says:

    “They think free trade is 100% win win for everyone”
    Yes, I agree they do think that… I disagree.

    “its pretty clear, the US came out the big loser on loosening restrictions on trade.”
    Yes, I agree. However, these agreements were not ‘free trade’ nor were they even or fair… they were completely one-sided (corporations) so it’s not surprising that the average person/poor people lost, and continue to lose.

    Ben says:
    March 3, 2014 at 7:23 pm
    Grim, I should have said trade barriers, not borders. They think free trade is a 100% win win for everyone when its pretty clear, the US came out the big loser on loosening restrictions on trade.

  58. Comrade Nom Deplume, back as Captain Justice says:

    Enough of this child’s play. Anything to the rumors that the Devils might dish Brodeur?

  59. Libturd at home says:

    I really doubt they trade him and he’d be dumb to end his career somewhere else. But he is kind of a dick in real life (fukced his sister in law before the divorce). He really aged a lot these last two years and if you watch him during warm ups, he’s not what he used to be. It’s time for him to hang it up. Old guys make bad backup goalies. The only good goalie in his 40s ever was Hasek and he was a freak of nature on Buffalo. The other thing about the Devils is that Lou is loyal to the point of stupidity. If it wasn’t for that loyalty, Daneyko would probably have rotted in the minors somewhere. He was a drunk, a lousy defenseman, and had no shot whatsoever. I’m pretty sure they carried him for his low salary. Personally, I don’t think Brodeur is much better than say Lundquist or Roy or Hasek. But he’s a better puck handler than the three of them combined. He did benefit from the Devil’s team concept of defense before offense. If you don’t believe me, go check out Steven’s stats before he became a Devil. Or any 20 goal scorer who was traded to them.

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