Princeton Community Television Special on Life After Hurricane Sandy Airs This Weekend

Jim Hooker is the host of the special "Life After Sandy", which airs on Princeton Community Television on Labor Day.
Jim Hooker is the host of the special “Life After Sandy”, which airs on Princeton Community Television on Labor Day.

Princeton Community Television has produced a special broadcast featuring former NJN news anchor Jim Hooker that takes an in-depth look at Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts.

The special, “Life After Sandy,” is hosted by Hooker and produced by 14-time Emmy award winner Janice Selinger. It will be aired on Princeton Community TV throughout Labor Day, Monday Sept. 1. You can watch the special on cable television on Comcast (Channel 30 in Princeton), Verizon (FiOS CH 45 in the greater Princeton area), and online at www.princetontv.org.

In October it will be two years since Hurricane Sandy swept across the Garden State, leaving behind tens of billions of dollars in property damage, hundreds of destroyed businesses, and thousands of homeless people. Progress has been made, yet two years later work related to clean-up, rebuilding and relocation remains.

“This very strong block of programming presents an inside look at post-Sandy New Jersey from a number of important viewpoints,” Hooker said. “One segment features interviews and compelling video from the front lines of one community hit hard by the storm – Highlands. Roundtable discussions with journalist and artists as well as key figures from the non-profit world, the medical profession and government agencies also shed light on important information that we can all learn from.”

Selinger said the aim of the production was not only to look back, but also to look ahead with an eye toward rebuilding safely and being prepared for the next storm.

“As we come up on the second anniversary of that devastating storm, I thought it was important to take a look at how far we’ve come, where we’ve still got to go as a state and also how New Jerseyans can better protect themselves in the rebuilding and before another such storm strikes,” she said.

The first hour -long program in this series, “Telling Sandy’s Stories,” features the work of three talented Jersey Shore natives who set out to document  the tragedy and the fragile recovery that’s still ongoing. Jim Hooker interviews panelists Sandy Levine, a Toms River native who produced a documentary on the storm called “Heartbreak and Healing After Sandy”; Justin Auciello, a native of South Seaside Park and an urban planner who started the popular Facebook page Jersey Shore Hurricane News; and Kevin Burkitt, a Manasquan native whose haunting black and white still photography project “Hurricane Sandy: 91 Days/Countless Nights” captured life post Sandy after dark.

Part two, “After Sandy: Rebuilding Safely,” looks at the importance of avoiding a second disaster as people clean-up and rebuild after a hurricane. The final segment, “Resiliency: Lessons Learned,” examines what can be done to prepare for the next storm.

The roundtables and feature program were produced at Princeton Community Television, a non-profit media outlet that is based in downtown Princeton.

“Sandy was a statewide event that devastated communities along the coast as well as far inland in many counties around New Jersey,” said George McCollough, general manager for Princeton Community Television. “As terrible as it was – and, yes, many families are still rebuilding almost two years later – what better way than through Public Access television to communicate with our fellow New Jerseyans about where we are today and what we’re doing to move forward.”

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Krystal Knapp is the founding editor of Planet Princeton. Follow her on Twitter @krystalknapp. She can be reached via email at editor AT planetprinceton.com. Send all letters to the editor and press releases to that email address.