Blogfinger

By Charles Layton

We have our own little island here in Ocean Grove. We are sequestered by gates to the west and by bodies of water on three other sides – moats, you might say. This blog strives to mirror life within these idyllic confines by savoring the architecture, history, music, street fairs, and just the feeling one gets walking the streets – so different from other parts of Neptune Township.

But I was jarred out of my isolationism at last Monday’s Township Committee meeting, when more than a dozen citizens of Neptune’s Midtown area showed up to complain about persistent incidents of gunfire. In recent weeks, people in that neighborhood have been severely wounded, and at least one was reported killed. Bullets have been fired into houses and passing cars. While we in Ocean Grove complain about bicycle thefts, these people are in fear for their lives.

“People in the neighborhood are telling me, ‘I am afraid to come out of my house’,” Diana Harris, who heads the Midtown Urban Renaissance Corporation, told the Committee.

Bonnie Baity spoke of having a bullet pass through the wall of the day care center she owns. Another resident said, “I don’t drive down Heck Avenue. There are only certain places I will drive. I have to circle around the whole neighborhood to get to my house. That’s crazy.”

Others told of the intimidating presence of idle young people who gather nightly at the corner of Heck and Atkins, some of them apparently armed. Cordelia Bullock said the neighborhood has no parks or other recreational opportunities for young people, including latchkey children. “Without positive activities you’re going to have negative activities,” she said.

These witnesses listened politely as Neptune Police Chief Robert Adams told them his department was working with officials in Asbury Park and elsewhere to find new, coordinated approaches to the problem. (Midtown shares a border with Asbury Park.) Committeeman Randy Bishop said a Neighborhood Watch program is being organized; Officer Michael Adam, who is police liaison to Ocean Grove’s NW program, will be involved in that.

Police Chief Adams has met with members of the Midtown community before, as have Mayor Kevin McMillan and others. The discussion Monday night was intense – but it was an adult discussion, free of the grandstanding one sometimes sees when Ocean Grovers complain about parking. There seemed to be general agreement that the problem was deep and complex and the solution would need to be multifaceted. “We want to work with you,” one man said to Adams. But one could hear the desperation in these people’s voices, and see the pain written on their faces. They are truly worried about the future of their neighborhood.

Midtown is a mixture of middle-class and poor residents. But unless the violence is stopped, one can imagine people of means and talent giving up on the place, moving out and leaving the neighborhood to become a festering slum, as I have seen happen in Philadelphia. That would be unacceptable.

We are talking about a neighborhood that is only five blocks from the gates of Ocean Grove. And I came away thinking that we, and the rest of Neptune, owe these people our sympathy and moral support. And if there’s a more substantial way we can be of help, we owe them that, too.

A couple of news stories on this issue can be found on the Asbury Park Press website — go here.   And here.  And today’s Coaster also has an article about it. I would urge everyone to read those.