devastated by sandy in the same way that hoboken, which was 80% under water at the height of the storm was, in that project that christie directed the sandy money towards. it had been in the works for a long time, well before the storm hit. as "the "star ledger" reported, sandy was barely mentioned at the 20-minute ground-breaking ceremony. it was built primarily to allow seniors to retire in their home town, not as a way to provide shelter to sandy victims. bellville is part of essex county, one of the largest and most democratic friendly counties in new jersey. christie has cultivated key political alliances with top democrats in the county. the county's executive, joe divicenzio was the most prominent to endorse him. the political machine that produced him in the northward of newark, has long been suspect the of quietly boosting christie in his first campaign for