LBI is Alive
Everything you need to know about the rebuilding of LBI.Hello Islanders
Who is an Islander? You are! All you need is a connection and a love for LBI and we want to hear from you. If you own a business, we want to know if you are open now or when you will be, if you have any specials, or just want to tell us about your place. Homeowners, let us know how the clean up went at your property. Vacationers, tell us about your favorite activities on the island and what you can’t wait to do again this summer. Whether you own, rent, have a business or just have a love of LBI, we want to hear from you.
We are all in this together. We are all Islanders.
LBI Thank You Fest- Island Wide Alive
LBI Thank You Fest has taken the place of previous years’ LBIFest. It was decided that this year’s “fest” should be a little more personal, a thank you to all those who helped LBI get back on its feet. LBI was not just assisted by the LBI United Emergency Services, but police all the way from Louisiana as well as the NJ National Guard and many others. These people, as well as our local firefighters, medical personnel and police no doubt had damage to their homes and were separated from their family, but they continued working to make this island safe for us to come back and begin rebuilding.
Louisiana State Police drove all the way up here to help get our utilities back on safely. Members of the 150th Engineers and other New Jersey National Guard units had access to heavy equipment to help move sand and debris. The 177th and 108th Fighter Wing of New Jersey Air National Guard helped with the search and rescue on LBI and the 328th Military Police Company patrolled the island to keep everyone safe. Our local authorities and first responders not only rescued people who stayed through the storm, but they went and found residents’ pets to bring them to their owners on the mainland. They were on this island before the National Guard or any other authorities, they never left. The LBI United Emergency Services worked side by side with the military and utility crews to get LBI back as quickly as possible once Sandy finally moved through.
They slept on floors (if they slept much at all) , had no hot water, minimal food and had to look at this destruction day in and day out. I sure am thankful for what they have done and I’m sure you all are too. Some of these local responders I went to school with, some were family friends, others I had just seen around town.
LBI would not be alive without their help; which is why we are thanking them through a (free) weekend long event. But don’t worry; we get to celebrate with them too!
LBI will be transformed into a huge reopening party in this 3 day event! Friday (June 14th) the party begins in Ship Bottom with a live concert series from 4pm-8pm. The party continues Saturday (June 15th) in Brant Beach and Harvey Cedars from 11am-8pm. There will be live music all day, a dance house, laser tag, kid’s activities, a dunk tank, food vendors, arts & crafts and retail vendors. Finally, Sunday the 16th in Beach Haven, there will be countless sidewalk sales and Fantasy Island will be open.
There will be more information as the event gets closer, so be sure to check back here and at LBIthankyoufest.org.
Town Hall on LBI with Gov Christie
Governor Christie came to LBI today for his 107th town meeting. As we walked to the St. Francis Center we saw new, larger See You This Summer yard signs. We then had to join the huge snaking line to get inside.
Once inside we took a seat near what we assumed was the entrance and exit walkway to get some good pictures. Looking back towards where we walked in, we saw two HUGE banners!
Which would act as the backdrop for all the cameras recording the town hall (or so we hope). It was a great town hall, progress is being made and will continue to do so. Check out 6abc, Fox and Channel 9 WOR (I am not sure where or who they are, maybe NYC?, but I saw the truck) for total coverage. It was a positive meeting and I think we all learned a lot of new, helpful information. And thank you to Governor Christie for coming down and taking the time to speak to us. What I can tell you, is that the bay will be cleaned up by June and dredging of the inlets will start as well. The new FEMA flood maps and elevations will be posted in 3-4 weeks. And the dunes ARE going to be replenished — end of story, according to Gov Christie.
My “end of story” spiel: Be like Christie, get your LBI is Alive Apparel. He shows LBI is Alive and you should too!
The “crisis fleece” has had its time, now it’s time for the LBI is Alive hoodie to make an appearance.
For more pictures click here.
LBI Media Blitz
Memorial Day is less than a month away! Hooray for the unofficial start of summer! Hopefully Mother Nature gets the memo in time. As we know, the media has finally begun to turn in LBI’s favor. This Sunday evening (April 28th), be sure to watch “It’s Your Call with Lynn Doyle” for some positive coverage of LBI. Here is the listing of channels for your areas.
Ted Greenburg, of Philadelphia News Channel 10, came down to LBI two days ago for interviews about this summer on LBI and beyond. The Verizon Fios channel (unsure where exactly this will air) also did an interview. If you have Verizon Fios, let me know where you see it or send me a link to the video or article.
On the newspaper front: keep an eye out in the Asbury Park Press, NY Times, Star Ledger and The Bergen Record. There should be LBI articles in each this coming week. Again, if you find these before me, comment below with the link so I can add them to this post.
Speaking of media, LBI is Alive has another social media account for you to follow: Instagram. If you are unfamiliar with Instagram, it is basically a site where you can look at users’ pictures and they are tagged in the same way Twitter posts are. I use the tags, #LBIisAlive, #SeeYouThisSummer, #LBI and #LongBeachIsland most often. Please follow me @LBIisAlive. If you have awesome LBI pictures tag @LBIisAlive so I can see and share them! As the weather gets warmer I will be taking more pictures so stay tuned! Click the blue rectangle on the far right social media column that says “View on Instagram” to follow from the site.
Instagram of Apparel
We also still have LBI is Alive T shirts, Long Sleeves and Hoodies available. The hoodies are super soft on the inside and perfect to wear on a cool summer night. The long sleeve T’s are lightweight and perfect to protect you on a day out on the water or after you got a bit too much sun the day before. And let’s be honest, you can never have too many T shirts; and if you think you do, make a T shirt quilt (I am).
Don’t forget to spread the word: LBI is Alive!
TV Commercial Airtimes
The LBI TV commercial is now airing! So far it is being shown on these networks: CNBC, Fox Business News, Fox News Channel, National Geographic, Biography, TV Land, A&E, Travel Channel, Bravo, The Discovery Channel, The History Channel, The Hallmark Channel. You can catch it during shows like Squawk on the Street, Fox Report with Shepard Smith, The First 48, Storage Wars, Real Housewives of Atlanta, Hannity, Power Lunch, Deadliest Catch and American Restoration just to name a few. Half of the slots are in the morning or evening prime time!
These commercials will be aired in Central and North Jersey, including the Princeton, Skylands, Sussex, Middlesex, Morris, Bergen, Passaic and Union, New Jersey regions. Those with FIOS in Ocean and Monmouth will get some of these networks airing the commercial, including FIOS News Network and The Weather Channel Crawl.
So far the commercial is airing on Comcast, FIOS and CableVision systems; more systems are being added each day. So keep checking back to see if your system is airing the commercial if you live in the above mentioned regions!
Be sure to check back for more information on channels and shows or follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook for more updates on the commercial and information about LBI!
LBI is Alive! Spread the word!
The Tides Have Finally Turned!
FINALLY!
LBI is getting the positive news it needs and deserves. In the wake of the new commercial promoting LBI two news stations visited LBI and gave fantastic coverage on the 5 and 6 o’clock news.
Action News 6 promoted LBI on the 5 o’clock news, which I unfortunately missed live since I was driving home from work. They showcased our main problem: people lumping us in with northern shore towns that were more heavily damaged. Visitors were happily surprised at how LBI looked compared to what they had heard. Be sure to watch the newscast if you missed it like me and don’t miss minute 1:26! Article and video here.
CBS 3‘s newscast also interviewed happily surprised visitors who were spending time on the beach. They also touch on the secondary issue of slow insurance and FEMA headaches. Don’t miss minute 1:13 in the video and make sure to click the “play button” IN the video not the button in the lower left (if you click that the commercials keep playing over and over). Article and video here.
Help get the word out, reach out to news personnel you know, wear your LBI is Alive apparel and be a billboard for us (don’t have some, click here)!
LBI TV Commercial- See it before it airs
Check out this Long Beach Island TV commercial before it airs in the Philadelphia and New York markets.
Municipalities, business owners and fellow LBI lovers worked together over the past couple months to bring this commercial to fruition. The media is beginning to turn in our favor, but we still need your help to get the word out. Share this video, tell your friends “LBI is Alive” and come on down for a visit.
Summer officially begins in about 50 days and we can’t wait to see you this summer on LBI!
Spring is Here (Kind of)
Spring is supposed to officially be here, but the temperatures (AND SNOW!) seem to have a different idea.
At least it’s not THIS bad.
However, in the spirit of spring cleaning, I am cleaning out my notes of topics I needed to tell you all about. Here are some updates about all things LBI:
Apparel
We still have apparel available! T shirts, long sleeve shirts and hoodies are all still available for donations. They are adult unisex sized items and they do not shrink nor fade when washed. Check out this page for more information. Already the proud owner of LBI is Alive apparel? Read below.
Reppin’ Some LBI is Alive Pride
Send me pictures of you, your kids/parents, friends, or whoever representing their LBI pride. You can email your pictures to me at LBIisAlive@gmail.com. Let me know where you are from so I can add that to the caption. Bonus points if you take a picture at a famous landmark. Here is the page so far, but I would really appreciate some more pictures to add to it!
Easements
On a more serious note: Easements. I know this is a touchy subject. I have tried to just create a page with facts and general information. I am just compiling information into one place so it is easier to read the facts. We are all in this together, we all need to work together, we are all LBI lovers; we need to keep LBI alive as long as we can. Check out this page for information on the easements. Remember May 1st is the deadline.
200 Businesses Open
That is more than normally open for March. These businesses have been through a lot, be sure to shop/eat local when you are down here. The family owned businesses need it more this summer than ever. They have opened early to show they survived Sandy and can’t wait to see you all this summer! Check the continually updated list here. Also, if you are an open business and not on that list, email me at LBIisAlive@gmail.com, I try to update all those I see open as I drive around, but I am sure I don’t have you all listed.
If you are not already, follow us on Twitter, like our Facebook, and subscribe to this website (the “follow” box at the bottom of the next column) to stay up to date on LBI for the Summer of 2013.
