By Charles Layton
I’m going to ask you all a question, but first I’m going to ask that you try to put yourself in the position of Marshall Koplitz.
Assume that you had a real estate business and that you owned a large, uninhabited building in Ocean Grove, specifically, the Park View Inn on Sea View Avenue, and that this building had been in a run-down state for years.
Further assume that the neighbors were so concerned about it – particularly due to the potential for fire – that 33 of them had signed a petition calling your building “an eminent danger” and urging the Township to take action. Assume that the HPC had also asked the Township to take action.
Now assume that the Township had summoned you to court and forced you to agree to rehab the building. But assume that, concurrently, the Ocean Grove Board of Fire Commissioners had ordered you to install an automatic fire alarm system. And that, for 14 months, you had been refusing to do that. And that the County Construction Board of Appeals had agreed with the fire commissioners, going so far as to state, in its official written opinion, that your building was “extremely susceptible to the rapid spread of fire” and was “a significant threat” to neighborhood residents.
Assume that since May 16 of this year, penalties had been accruing against you for failing to install that fire alarm system. Assume that as of September 8 those penalties amounted to $114,000, and you still hadn’t installed the system. And assume that since then penalties had been increasing at the rate of $1,000 for every day that you fail to install the system.
If you were Marshall Koplitz, what would you do? Photo by Charles Layton
And, finally, assume that the fire commissioners are asking the Superior Court of New Jersey to order you to pay your due penalties (which would amount to $146,000 as of this Monday, by my count) and also to install that alarm system without further delay.
Here is my question: Would you give in and install the alarm system? Or, even as the penalties mount, would you continue to fight on, possibly increasing the chances of another catastrophic fire in Ocean Grove? Possibly risking people’s lives?
This morning I telephoned Marshall Koplitz’ attorney, Michelle Lebovitz Lamar of the Sterns & Weinroch firm in Trenton, to ask about all that. “I prefer that you speak with Mr. Koplitz directly,” she said. “It’s a no comment.”
I have left a message for Mr. Koplitz at his office in Asbury Park.
For background information about this issue, go here and also here.
We don’t need someone in our town who does not appreciate the architecture or small-town ambience we try to hold on to. Everyone else abides by the rules, why not him?
Well maybe it is a good sign that Mr. Koplitz had a repairman at one of his Ocean Pathway properties. The exteriors are certainly looking shabby,so I can only imagine what the interiors look like. Ironically, the day of the Harvest Fest, I spoke with an Ocean Grove visitor from NYC who was staying at the Ocean Plaza. I bit my tongue and didn’t ask her about the quality of the accommodations. But now this is bringing to mind what a previous poster to the Blogfinger had suggested. Perhaps one of the ways to get the message to Koplitz is for people to boycott his establishments. If he’s running a shabby operation, guests will talk–and they won’t come back.
Charles, I spotted Mr Koplitz on the porch of one of his Inns on Pathway talking to a repairmen during my morning walk. Perhaps that is a way to catch him for an interview, when he visits his Inns rather than by phone. By the way, I did say “I love what you’ve done with The Park View,” but he just took the repairman into the Inn without saying anything.
He thinks he is getting away with something. In the meantime, he is ruining OG.
There must be some way to arrest him.
A bill of attainder (also known as an act of attainder or writ of attainder) is an act of a legislature declaring a person or group of persons guilty of some crime and punishing them without benefit of a judicial trial.
Charge him and take him to court, just make it a group effort!
Anonymous, I think that law you speak of would be considered a Bill of Attainder and would be forbidden by the US Constitution.
The notorious Mr Koplitz was the owner of the now demolished Sampler Inn. His delaying tactics and legal wrangling worked well with that place, didn’t it? I know he has had issues with his properties in Long Branch and elsewhere. How about teaming up with those towns and ‘ganging up’ on him? Maybe develop an enforceable ‘Koplitz Law’ to deal with property owners like him?
The question isn’t “What would you do if you were Marshall Koplitz?”
The question is: “What can be done to achieve a positive resolution on behalf of the community?”
Some suggestions:
Develop a boycott of his two existing b&b’s on Ocean Pathway. Ask the OG Camp Meeting Association to reject his advertising of these facilities. Ask the OG Chamber of Commerce to reject his brochures and delete any reference to these facilities.
Send letters to newspapers serving his home and business office areas detailing his documented record over the years.
Such actions immediately hit his pocketbook and his “pride(?)”