President Obama’s Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force
Benjamin Spinelli outlined a federal initiative called Local Resilience Partnerships that involve municipalities banding together to address shared concerns — in this instance responses to the challenges posed by Hurricane Sandy. For example, Spinelli said, shore communities on Long Beach Island face conditions that differ from those of communities on Barnegat Bay, on Raritan Bay, or urban cities on the Hudson or Delaware. Municipalities with similar circumstances should organize around those similarities. Such ad hoc groups, he said, would be able to pool resources to pay for studies and services that address those unique problems, services a single municipality would find prohibitively expensive.
The mayors also heard from Lauren Townsend, New Jersey Director of US Strong, which describes itself as a non-profit, non-partisan national campaign to protect communities from extreme weather. US Strong (http://usstrong.us) advocates a dedicated Extreme Weather Relief Protection Fund not supported by property, income, or corporate taxes. “Instead,” according to the US Strong information sheet, “there should be a financial cost to putting more carbon pollution into the atmosphere that is fueling more extreme weather.”
The Ocean County Mayors’ Association has been found tax exempt by the IRS. Donations are deductible. Documentation of this determination and related financial disclosure documents are available for public examination. The Ocean County Mayors’ Association has been found tax exempt by the IRS. Donations are deductible. Documentation of this determination and related financial disclosure documents are available for public examination.