Almost 2 months after Superstorm Sandy, Governor Christie is back on the town hall circuit.

Governor Christie at a Town Meeting event in Belmar
Governor Christie at a Town Meeting event in Belmar (David Matthau, Townsquare Media NJ)
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During a visit to Belmar, he told a standing room only crowd, "346 thousand homes were damaged or destroyed, over 2.7 million households and businesses were without power, including a thousand schools , over 116 thousand people were under mandatory evacuation orders and were displaced, we had nearly 600 full or partial road closures around the state, and right after the storm 127 shelters around the state were housing over 7 thousand people. Over a million pounds of food and nearly 5 million meals and snacks were served through the Community Foodbank of New Jersey, and other groups."

The Governor also said, "Mass transit and infrastructure were incredibly hard hit, causing system-wide disruptions, and all New Jersey schools were closed for at least 2 days, and many were closed for many, many days beyond that, and a number of them have been destroyed…in total we're looking at 36.9 billion dollars in damages…The worst storm that's ever hit this state in its history."

Governor Christie addresses a question at a Town Meeting event in Belmar
Governor Christie addresses a question at a Town Meeting event in Belmar (David Matthau, Townsquare Media NJ)
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He told the crowd, "Now, we're counting on Congress and federal agencies and the private sector to help us rebuild, but eventually people will have to turn the corner, from saying - how are you going to take care of me, to how are we going to take care of each other…I'm not going to personally rebuild every house and every business that's been damaged in this state- and if you ever saw me swing a hammer, you wouldn't want me to."

"We need to do all this stuff together, and you need to step up and be part of the solution too- advocating for yourself, standing up for the things that you need to stand up for…the last part of this is understanding that patience is going to be needed as well, because nothing like this…is going to be fixed overnight- so we're going to have to work together."

The Governor stressed bi-partisan cooperation will be critically important as we move forward.

"Those challenges will be difficult ones for us to face," said Christie, "and there will be moments of extraordinary frustration - but also moments of extraordinary optimism and happiness, and these memories of destruction will replaced by memories of rebuilding and renewal of your neighborhood, of your town, of your County, of our state…none of the journeys that are worth anything in life come easily - they just never do, my parents taught me that a long time ago - you don't get something for nothing - the things that really are worthwhile come through great effort - and that's what we're going to need to do together."

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