Jersey Shore Arts Center on Main Street in Ocean Grove, New Jersey. Internet photo. (For those of you smartiepants who think we made an error in this address, this side of the building is on Main Street; the other side is on Main Avenue.)
Ocean Grove. September 16, 2016.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger.
About three years ago, a group called QSpot moved into the Jersey Shore Arts Center in Ocean Grove, NJ. They put up a billboard in November, 2013, on Main Street to proudly announce their arrival.
This is what we said in Blogfinger about the photo below:
“We saw this banner today opposite the UPS store in the strip mall. I asked a gay friend about it, but she never heard of it. Consulting Google, I learned that this is a social group, founded in Asbury Park in December 2012. It will now be meeting in the lower level of the Jersey Shore Arts Center and its first open house was held last Sunday. It has about 100 members.
“If any of the members of this new Ocean Grove organization want to tell us about the Project, please contact Blogfinger.”
We never heard back from any of that group regarding what Q Spot was about.
Now we have received information that QSpot is an organization which provides “services” to the LGBT community in this area. The group thought it would have a long lease with the JSAC, but they were recently informed that the lease would not be renewed.
Main Street, Ocean Grove, sign announcing the arrival of QSpot in Ocean Grove. Blogfinger photo Nov. 2013. © Click to read the sign.
The reason given by the landlord is that QSpot does not offer arts and education programs. That is the bottom line for those who get to rent space there. John Mikytuck, the executive director of QSpot, disagrees regarding its programming. He says that QSpot, founded in 2005, does offer such programs.
In an article by MaryAnn Spoto of NJ.com, she discusses the situation, but, as usual with the press, she fails to get the facts straight when speaking about Ocean Grove:
She said, “A community center providing services for gays and lesbians says it’s abruptly being thrown out of its office space in a Shore town that touts Christian beliefs but has had past struggles with gay couples.”
She also quoted Mikytuck as suggesting that the timing of the eviction notice indicates an anti-gay bias which he links to the Orlando shooting at a gay club. This assertion is wildly out of order, and the reporter should have probed a bit before printing it.
After that she pursued the anti-gay, anti-Ocean Grove theory by saying, “Ocean Grove , a section of Neptune Township, has had past struggles with the gay community.”
She also mentioned the Camp Meeting Association as being guilty of bias regarding the Pavilion matter in 2007. What in the world does the CMA have to do with this lease renewal situation, and certainly a good reporter would have determined the difference between the CMA and the town of Ocean Grove.
We will definitely hear more about this situation, but hopefully, as they cover this story, the press will do something about their muddled journalism.
MANDY HARVEY:
From a legal point of view, Sue is correct. We might add that no landlord is required to explain why a lease might not be renewed. Mr. Herbst chose to offer an explanation, but he did not have to.
As Sue implies, there would be no legal recourse in this matter, only public reproach, unless some sort of bias element could be proven, and, even then, would such a proven charge defeat the rights of a landlord to not renew a lease?
It is true that there are constraints about how that building is to be used as explained by Mr. Herbst. But even if the QSpot were to prove that its functions fulfill the education/arts requirements that Mr Herbst speaks about, he probably could still choose to not renew the lease for whatever reason.
If any lawyers reading this want to clarify these points, please do.
We received a comment from a Grover with all sorts of conspiracy theories as to why the JSAC refused to renew the QSpot lease. The reasons basically consisted of undocumented variations on an anti-gay theme. None of the explanations offered were backed up by fact. In addition the author used terminology such as “We all know…” or “Many in town suspect..” and others.
If anyone wants us to publish a comment on Blogfinger, it has to document any accusations,
and the credibility of strong comments would be enhanced if the writer gave us their real name.
They had a film festival last April. Doesn’t that count as “arts?”
These quotes are from the FIOS1 news report dated 9/16/16:
“Herb Herbst, the President of the Arts Center argues that QSpot was allowed to stay in the space on a temporary basis, adding that the organization does not align with the arts and education focus of the Jersey Shore Arts Center, which also houses two theaters, a dance studio, yoga and a guitar repair shop.”
“However, Herbst says if he allows QSpot to stay, he puts the entire arts center at risk. He says he has to operate under a 1896 agreement when the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association provided Neptune Township Board of Education the land to be used for purposes regarding education and arts. Prior to becoming the arts center, the building housed Neptune High School.
“For any reason if I fail to stay within the arts category, there’s a clause that would revert everything back to the previous owners,” Herbst said.
Thank you for the correction. I have changed the wording of the title. Elsewhere in the piece the word “eviction” is used by the author of the NJ.com news piece who is quoting a QSpot official.
But our article does explain what is happening in terms of the lease not being renewed.
Here is a link to that NJ.com piece which was my source. (Note the wording of their headline:) http://www.nj.com/monmouth/index.ssf/2016/09/gay_organization_fighting_eviction_from_shore_arts.html
If QSpot believes it is being misquoted, then it can contact us at Blogfinger@verizon.net and it should contact NJ.com.
There is a difference between not renewing a lease and eviction. I think the use of eviction is erroneous in this matter. QSpot is not being asked to leave with a lease in force, rather their terms of their agreement has run its course and the lease is not being renewed. Big difference. Now if their lease is not renewed because of what the organization stands for, then shame on the JSAC.