I was reading this article about the damage from this weekends storm.
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local-beat/Thousands-Still-in-Dark-as-Sun-Comes-Out-87774147.htmlIn low-lying Bound Brook, N.J., site of several major floods in the past decade, Mayor Carey Pilato credited a $100 million flood control project, begun after the remnants of Hurricane Floyd caused major flooding in 1999, with sparing a six-block area of the town that had been hit hard then and during a nor'easter in 2007.Mark Wilson, director of a soccer academy that sits in the middle of Bound Brook's hardest-hit area, said the first-floor carpets were damaged and the basement was filled with water. Still, he said, this round of flooding paled in comparison with 2007, when his company was in the middle of renovating.
"We had 4 feet of water throughout the whole building, and under that was a half-inch of river silt," he said.
"There was a certain degree of faith that it wasn't going to happen again, and here we are three years later. But it's definitely a big improvement." http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local-beat/Thousands-Still-in-Dark-as-Sun-Comes-Out-87774147.html That got me wondering if there was stimulus money used to finish the project after 2007 and THERE WAS!
Bound Brook gets $13M in stimulus funds for flood projects
Bound Book officials welcomed the release of $13 million in federal stimulus funding that will go toward construction of the final link in a wall and levee system that would fortify the flood-weary town from the Raritan River.
The money for the long-delayed Green Brook Flood Control Project was part of President Obama's $787 billion stimulus package emphasizing "shovel-ready" projects that could immediately put people to work.The flood control plan is the biggest U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project east of the Mississippi River. The project could go out to bid, and work is expected to begin within months, officials said.
"On behalf of the residents of Bound Brook, we're thrilled. We're thankful," Bound Brook Mayor Carey A. Pilato said. "This is a credit to some of the warriors that started this fight more than 20 years ago."
<snip>
"It is outstanding news for Bound Brook," said U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance (R-7th Dist.) today.
"I'm very grateful, and I want to thank the administration. This was our highest priority, really, regarding this area, because of the tremendous devastation that has occurred -- three 100-year floods in the last decade." Pilato expects the project, which includes gate closures on South Main Street and south of the Talmadge Avenue bridge, will be completed by the end of 2011.
<snip>
Obama's budget to Congress also included $10 million for the Green Brook Flood Control Project, but the additional $13 million was necessary to complete the final link of the $113 million flood control project in Bound Brook.<snip>
An April 2007 nor'easter also hammered Bound Brook, flooding more than 500 homes and leading to $32.4 million in recovery costs. Homes caught fire, and the flooding blocked fire trucks from reaching the burning structures.
Residents living upriver also will get relief.
As part of the stimulus funding -- the federal government pays 75 percent and the state 25 percent -- $20 million was released for replacement of the Sebrings Mills Bridge between Green Brook and Middlesex townships.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/04/bound_brook_gets_13m_in_stimul.html This is another great example of how right wing ideology is a proven failure. The money spent on this project
put people to work, saved money, and saved lives.Clowns like Jindal should be ashamed.
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