OG boardwalk—exploring all directions. By Paul Goldfinger.
By Paul Goldfinger
On January 26, Blogfinger posted a piece about Mayor Houghtaling’s views on a variety of topics including taxes, boardwalk and Broadway.
Today, February 3, we gave the new mayor an opportunity to offer some more thoughts about issues which he discussed last week and also a surprise or two that you have not heard about.
He opened his remarks by saying, “We are at the very beginning of great things for Neptune, and although we have sustained major damage to our town, we will come back.”
BOARDWALK: In our last piece, Mayor Houghtaling said, “We’re going to do everything we can to restore that boardwalk.”
But today, he added this: “The boardwalk is important, however those who decide on funding say that it is only important for recreation. But we all know differently, and the Township is reaching out to anyone who will listen to plead our case regarding how important the Boardwalk is, not only to Ocean Grove, but also to the surrounding communities. It is an economic engine (a great term and very truthful) and it must be restored. We will work with the CMA and get the required funding.”
BROADWAY: In the last article, the Mayor was said to feel that the drainage work had been disappointing. He said, “We’re not going to walk away from those problems.”
Now he adds, “We think of the Broadway project as an improvement, but some say that the work has made the flooding worse. This has caused a lot of anger towards the town and it certainly is not the result we were after. We will continue to correct obvious problems and our work will eventually be completed. We will then see how it is taken by residents along Broadway.”
Regarding the lighting on Broadway, last week we learned that new street lights will be installed. Today the mayor adds, “All lights will be the same, which we do not have now.”
In the last post, we were told that the entire street will be repaved. But the new mayor now speaks of a more colorful vision: “I am hoping that a beautification project along this road will take place as well— to add a little color to this major road into the Grove.”
SURPRISE: “I will keep you informed and tell you when our Governor comes to town to see for himself the problems which we have been dealing with. We have formally invited him, but we will have to find out when he puts us on his calendar.”
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Blogfinger is an important source of local information plus great casual reading.”
My view is that Neptune is responsible for fixing the dainage so that our property doesn’t keep getting damaged ,no matter what the cost. We’re not talking big money here. If it takes another $300K to fix the problem, they just need to do it. The ugly truth is that after all the money they spent so far — I think upwards of a million dollars — the flooding is as bad as its ever been. Thus, we should not be penalized because the Neptune Department of Works wasted their money to date doing work that made no difference.
Cost and payer?
Thank you Mayor Houghtaling for not forgetting us!
We have long suffered because of the poor engineering decisions of the past, including the ill-conveived redirection of water towards Broadway that used to run out to the beach. I know my neighbor has been trying to sell his otherwise beautiful house for several years but cannot because of the flooding problems. This whole situation should never have happened. The problem is far from fixed and we need the “solution” to be revisted and re-addressed.
Thank you.
Serious question — will the Mayor commit to do whatever is necessary to fix the flooding problem? His comments above seem like a waffle and fall short of saying “I will fix this problem no matter what it takes because we promised the long-suffering residents on Broadway that we would remedy the flooding.”
How hard could it be to add some more pipe and more drains? Just do it!
Finally, an engineer who understands the problem we are facing. Neptune Township — please hire him/her immediately and fire whoever is doing this work for you now!
I can totally understand the residents of Broadway who suddenly have this flooding problem to deal with. If only there was some way to know ahead of time that Broadway would flood when it rains…
I am an engineer and have studied this flooding problem quite carefully. After much thought and analysis I can offer the following solution — a solution which has eluded the professionals working on the project to date.
The solution is: more drains and wider pipe. Yes, my analysis has revealed that the drains and pipe are not adequate to remove the water at a speed necessary to prevent flooding. Either they must replace the existing pipe with wider diameter pipe, or they must run a second line. About 1/3 more drains, especially on the east end of Broadway, would help such that drainage would be assured even if a drain or two gets clogged up.
Editor’s note: We have no way to confirm the credentials of this anonymous commenter. —PG
I live on Broadway. I love my neighbors, but if I had to do it again, I would not choose this street. The flooding is horrible. I invested hundreds of dollars on my front curbside garden just to have it washed up and away by the floods. The water has not gotten better. Do you know that when it rains, we all rush out and move our cars to side streets so they do not get destroyed. Within moments of a downpour, and moving our cars, we often walk through a foot or more of water to get back to our homes. Sometimes, people kayak down Broadway in the rain. Last summer we suffered through a lot of noise, blocked roads, a destroyed playground just to have nothing improved. It is actually pretty unbelievable that in 21st century, the underground plumbing cannot be corrected. We have been sending people to the moon for decades, can create things through 3d printers, but we cannot fix Broadway.
Dear new Mayor, please help us.