Monday, April 29, 2013
What do you think of the governor's statements that are angering conservative critics?
Gov. Christie told MSNBC Monday morning "the President has kept his promises" regarding Sandy relief and that he has "no complaints." Christie, a Republican with likely presidential aspirations, also said on the "Morning Joe" program that he tells his conservative critics that he was just "doing his job" when he worked with Democrat Obama in the grim weeks and months following Superstorm Sandy. Christie continues to get heat from Republicans, especially their conservative members, for his statements about how he was being "responsible" welcoming Obama and working with him when he made his early November, post-Sandy and pre-election visit to the Garden State, as noted by Joe Scarborough, host of "Morning Joe" and a former Republican …
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Viacom/VH1/MTV shows support of Sea Bright
They rang in a spirit of community and recovery today. As a testament to Viacom, Inc.'s Viacommunity Day on April 19 when employees rallied in Sea Bright to volunteer with Hurricane Sandy recovery, the company's President and CEO Philippe Dauman was joined by Mayor Dina Long and Chris Wood, founder of Sea Bright Rising, this morning at the NASDAQ market site in Manhattan's Times Square to ring the opening bell. "Viacom/VH1/MTV has been a supporter of Sea Bright Rising from the beginning," said Wood in a Facebook post. "We’re very grateful to Viacom and their employees for supporting Sea Bright Rising." Viacom, Wood added, brought roughly 35 volunteers to Sea Bright on April 19 Friday to clear it north beach walking path of debris. "Thank …
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Bain's was one of the first Sea Bright businesses to reopen after Hurricane Sandy. Are you Jersey strong and open for business? Tell us in the comments section below.
- THE NEIGHBORHOOD FILES
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Tuesday, April 2
The Jersey Shore is open for business. And Sea Bright is on the rise. So promises a video produced by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) featuring several local businesses, including Bain's Hardware, that have reopened following Hurricane Sandy. In brief vignettes spliced with images and slogans of the shore's recovery, business owners and employees from Sandy-impacted towns invite customers back to their businesses by letting them know that not only are they open, but that in spite of the late-October storm they remain "Jersey Strong." In addition to the small businesses featured in the video, it ends with a clip of a recent Gov. Chris Christie speech at Woody's Ocean Grille in Sea Bright, also open, praising New Jersey's …
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Sea Bright has made great strides since Hurricane Sandy, but there's still a lot of work ahead for residents
The digital sign still flashes a message that a curfew on side streets from 5 p.m. to 7 a.m. still exists. The same sign has been flashing the same message for those heading over the Rumson-Sea Bright Bridge into Sea Bright for months now. Roughly 40 percent of the residents of the small peninsula town nearly flattened by Hurricane Sandy are back in their homes, Mayor Dina Long has said. Most are not yet. There are signs of progress and there's a lot of hope. Some homes have been raised and/or revamped. Much debris is gone. Others are basically the same as they were right after the storm. Those who are living there say it's like a ghost town at night. Businesses are opening back up little by little and some beach club owners have said they…
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Fair Haven resident Chris Wood's non-profit Sea Bright Rising has brought in more than $1.1 million
Call it Hurricane Sandy Aid worth more than a million bucks. When picking up his Sandy relief non-profit's latest donation of $3,863 from Red Bank RiverCenter last night, Sea Bright Rising founder Chris Wood, a Fair Haven resident and owner of Woody's Ocean Grille, filled the crowd in on the latest facts about his cause. His organization, he said, has brought in more than $1.1 million in donations to date. Of that money, roughly $600,000 has been distributed to 200 families and eight businesses. The over-the-million milestone reached by Sea Bright Rising makes it the most lucrative private Sandy non-profit in the area. "We're getting the money out to people as quickly as possible and in a judicious fashion," Wood said. Sea Bright Rising …
Friday, February 22, 2013
The event will benefit several area charities dedicated to assisting Hurricane Sandy-afflicted
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
New center at Borough Hall open to offer aid
The message on Sea Bright Rising's Facebook page says it all. If you are a Sea Bright resident and need resource help with your Hurricane Sandy recovery, get to Borough Hall at 6 p.m. tonight. There, a Sea Bright Solution Center will be set up and volunteers with Sea Bright Rising, the non-profit created to assist the Sandy-afflicted, will be on hand to help you take advantage of free resources. The resources include legal, accounting, FEMA, insurance, mold testing and disaster recovery experts with advice as well as counseling, computer assistance and more. "Come by and check it OUT," the Sea Bright Rising Facebook post said. "Please help spread the word to your neighbors without Facebook/internet access."
Thursday, February 7, 2013
The founder of Sea Bright Rising is among the top 100 most powerful people in NJ business, named by NJBIZ.com.
It all started with some food and a hunger to help. Now, Woody's Ocean Grille owner and Sea Bright Rising founder Chris Wood is known as one of the most powerful people in New Jersey business in Hurricane Sandy's wake, according to NJBIZ.com. After Sandy left Sea Bright apocalyptic, Wood instinctively fired up a grill and started cooking for hundreds of displaced residents and business owners. His business surviving Sandy less scathed, he felt it was the least he could do. Little did Wood know that his random act of kindness would snowball into a firestorm of good will that went from flinging burgers to setting up camp for a U.S. Army National Guard-manned tent city and forming a nationally-recognized Sandy charity — Sea Bright Rising. "…
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Patrons were waiting outside the restaurant for doors to open.
Driving into Hurricane Sandy-ravaged Sea Bright on a freezing winter's night lately is like getting a harsh slap of sorrow square in the face. It's dark. It's quiet. It's what loss looks like — stark and sad. Eerie mountains of sand block the view of a lone beach replenishment barge equipped with a beacon that calls to visitors like the scary siren of an at-war sea. It's been that way for a while now, save for the few businesses that stay open into the night. But this night was different. There was another light and a spirit of warmth that emanated from a now re-opened Woody's Ocean Grille. Stepping out of the car and into an otherwise still Sea Bright, an ironic wave of sounds now engulfs. You can hear wind whistle, waves crashing, doors …
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Word came to Woody's owner and Sea Bright Rising founder, Chris Wood, from Freeholder Director Thomas Arnone that the bridge will be open on weekends.
On the eve of his restaurant re-opening, faced with the oxymoronic joy of post-Hurricane Sandy progress and pain of a pending Rumson-Sea Bright Bridge closing, Woody's Ocean Grille's Chris Wood got some great news — he was told the compromise he'd rallied for in staggering the bridge's closing days was coming. And, as of Wednesday morning, when Wood said he got the confirmation call he had been waiting for from Monmouth County Freeholder Director Thomas Arnone, that compromise became a reality. That compromise, he said, looks like it's going to call for the bridge that funnels traffic in and out of Sea Bright to still close on weekdays starting "on or about Jan. 28," but to be open on weekends, or Friday nights through Sundays, and closed …
Thomas Bruno
2:43 pm on Tuesday, April 30, 2013
I believe that politicians became what they are today by pandering to party interests and forgetting their purpose is to serve all of the people, not just those who'll vote in the next primary. I hope that for all of his faults - and we ALL have them - Gov Christie becomes that type of politician who remembers this. It is fine to disagree with the likes of 'Corzine Democrats' because their ideas … more ›