Upscale kids at the Asbury boardwalk while diners enjoy gourmet food at  Stella Marina. Paul Goldfinger photo.2013 ©

By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger

Like it or not, Ocean Grove and Asbury Park are sister cities whose futures tie in together in a number of ways.  Some publications like the Tri-City News like to ignore this relationship, but the facts on the ground speak for themselves.  On Blogfinger, we have taken an interest in this reality and have given it a name:  “The Asbury Connection.” We have written about how  the overlap of these two communities actually works, including reports on Wesley Lake/Fletcher Lake, FEMA, North End redevelopment, parking, crime, Asbury events such as the Zombie walks, and our efforts to promote community activities including their Farmers  markets and their restaurant scene. Our citizens go back and forth from Asbury in-season, and the life styles of both towns complement each other.

Approaching  the Casino from Ocean Grove, heading north to Asbury. Paul Goldfinger photo, 2012. ©  Click to enlarge.

Condos in Asbury on the north side of Wesley Lake. Paul Goldfinger photo ©  Click to enlarge.

Some issues in Asbury  are not overlapping, but we need to pay attention to them just as they ought to be looking over their shoulders at us.

In today’s APP, a courageous article* tackles the tale of two cities within one, where you have the trendy, “hip city” shtick going on downtown and by the oceanfront, and with new expensive condos near the sea, i.e. the East Side of town.  On the other hand you have the West Side  where there is poverty, drugs, crime, educational and family deterioration, and housing issues.

The boarded-up Asbury Towel Company on the west side of town. From our series “The Other Side of Asbury” By Paul Goldfinger, 2014. ©

The East Side is exemplified by mostly white people, including a growing gay population, while the West Side comprises the black and Hispanic demographics. The West Side story is that more needs to be done for that part of town compared to the successful gentrification going on  to the east.  Of course there are economic realities influencing  that subject. The situation is currently focusing on the candidates for Town Council and for the School Board.

The “projects” in Asbury during the pinkification of Ocean Grove last May while nary a pink ribbon was found on the west side of AP. Paul Goldfinger photo ©

You can read the details in the APP article linked below.* The purpose of our article is to alert Ocean Grovers about a fascinating and somewhat startling public revelation as these fundamentals bubble to the surface under the stresses of a very important election coming up.

I guess, if we want to be honest about it, these matters can be boiled down to a racial struggle in a town where most people would probably  prefer to live in a post racial world. But similar issues are occurring in towns across the country, so these are not easy problems to solve.

Here are some quotes from today’s article:

“Many black community leaders say they are fed up with watching the east side of town flourish while the west side neighborhoods get left in the dust.”

“…..caught in the plans, promises and unbalanced success of Asbury Park is a political tug-of-war match that come Nov. 4 could determine whether a black majority or a mixed group of blacks, whites and gays runs the government and school district.”

“There have always been power struggles between classes of people and residents in Asbury,’ said city historian Werner Baumgartner. ‘It just confirms that there is a lot of value here.”

“For city resident Daniel Harris, the power struggle in Asbury Park is a racial issue.  Asbury Park is 51 percent black, 36.5 percent white and 25.5 percent Hispanic, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.”

So, from our vantage point in Ocean Grove, where we have had some demographic struggles ourselves, it is almost refreshing to have the truth put on the Asbury  Park table instead of pretending that the problems there are  merely about attracting sufficient investors  and condo buyers to the town. We in Ocean Grove need to be aware of what is going on there in the north country.

ENNIO MORRICONE  “Deborah’s Theme” from Once Upon a Time in America.  (1984)

*LINK TO APP ARTICLE REFERENCED ABOVE:  APP LINK