Sunset Avenue Ocean Township. Sunday morning. 4/23/17. Paul Goldfinger photo. Click to look at this strange and happy sight. ©
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger
One year ago, Ocean Township took advantage of a Federal grant. They banned parking on Sunset Avenue beginning at the bridge with Asbury Park. On the AP side there were many cars parked, but on the Ocean Twp. side, there were none. What a striking difference!
Instead, on the Ocean Twp. side of the bridge, bike lanes were established on both sides, and bikers were welcomed — an unusual development for a Jersey Shore town. A woman on a two wheeler was pulling a bicycle caboose with shade, screens, and a toddler inside as she headed towards Asbury. Then a string of about 6 bikers were spotted happily and safely following the bike lane heading west.
The car -free avenue extends to Logan Avenue and then to Deal Road.
We spoke to a resident who said that the car-less avenue did not create parking problems down the side streets, but this area has no beach, and houses have driveways and garages. The bikers were very pleased.
He pointed out that bike riders in most towns have challenges. If there is parallel parking, a sudden door opening can abruptly stop a passing bicyclist. As a result, in such locations such as Belmar bikers are often seen peddling down the middle of the street, creating other hazards And where there is diagonal parking, the space left for bikes forces them to the middle as well, or onto the sidewalks.
Ocean Grove boardwalk. Blogfinger photo ©
We have bicycles in the Grove, but the best bet is to go on the boardwalk during appropriate hours, such as 3 am to 10 am. Otherwise, cycling is a bit hazardous all around town. Not only do we have diagonal and parallel parking of many cars, but our side streets are a maze with unpredictable stop signs all over and cars whizzing about like at a chariot race.
Also, our parking situation in OG is so bad, that we seem to have little interest in the fate of bicyclists. Despite this, peddling around town is a popular social activity, but without the high speeders in spandex who sometimes race through the Grove, on the way to elsewhere. However for the slow-pokes and the kids, it is a holly-jolly thing to do–but be careful.
Bradley Beach bikers race through the Grove on the way to A. Park. Paul Goldfinger photo. ©
As for our parking problems, the Township Parking Task Force is busy trying to create more spaces by making our town more ugly. And the Township continues to promote high density construction projects without parking. What we need are innovative ways to lessen the number of cars in town; those ways have been discussed on Blogfinger. That would encourage more bikers.
Let Sunset Avenue in Ocean Twp. be an inspiration if not a direct roll model.
Here are a few links about biking in OG:
Or, take a walk with She and Him:
Editor’s note in response to Tom Costantino’s fanciful alternative narrative about parking in the Grove (see Tom’s comment; click below) see the etching below which shows a historic Ocean Grove without a single horse or buggy parked on the lovely streets depicted. Those founders made sure there was parking then by placing stables near the entrance to town. One was where the Embury Arms now take up an entire block with private parking, and the other was west of Delaware Avenue in the North End of town.
19th century Ocean Grove.
Our parking problems cannot be fixed without less cars in town. For starters, let the sponsors of those huge events (i.e. the CMA and the Chamber of Commerce) provide parking out of the gates, with a steady stream of buses in and out. Then let’s cancel some of those street clogging mega-sales and substitute events that are for the citizens of Ocean Grove, such as concerts in the parks, art sales for local artists,garden tours, poetry readings, film festivals, historic reenactments, town-wide yard sale, etc.
And we should offer relief to the homeowners with parking stickers. And we need a solution to the motorized invasion by those parkers heading for A. Park. This summer those Asbury meters will be operable until 2 am every day, putting even more pressure on our limited parking in the Grove.
@JackBreden
“Parking in the flare is the same as parking on the sidewalk.”
What is the law for this? Parking on the sidewalk is a Title 39 violation, but if you park beyond that, I would like to see the statute that says its illegal.
And I would bet that no cop would walk up onto someone’s front law and write a ticket.
To return to editor’s note at the top:
Consider parking from the point of view of the Chamber of Commerce or the OGCMA. They want lots of outsiders to come to OG for flea markets, beaches, Saturday eve entertainment, and Sunday religious programs.
They provide no solutions to help outsiders find parking. They do not want parking permits for residents because then even fewer places will be available for the visitors (if one side of each street is reserved for residents). Parking is difficult enough in OG throughout the summer (especially North of Main and East of Central), but then we have the Chamber and OGCMA events creating complete chaos.
Nonsense Maker: This is a confusing issue, however, Blogfinger is correct in saying “but it may not be possible to park in your driveway near the beach if your car is in the flare.”
There are two sections of a street right-of-way. One section is reserved for automobiles. The other is reserved for pedestrians, where there may or may not be a sidewalk and a grass strip on both sides of the sidewalk.
In Ocean Grove, the (term) “flare” is used to identify the pedestrian portion of the street right of way where the grass strip between the sidewalk and the house gets progressively wider, as you get closer to the ocean
But, just as a pedestrian may leave the sidewalk to cross the street, and a car may leave the street to cross the sidewalk….a pedestrian cannot stop and stand in the middle of the street and a motor vehicle cannot stop and park on the sidewalk or in the “flare” on the first two Ocean blocks in Ocean Grove.
Parking in the flare is the same as parking on the sidewalk.
It is against State law to block a driveway – even if you live there. It poses a safety hazard to emergency vehicles. So it’s the municipality that would need to enforce the law. (NJ Statute 39:4-138.4. Permits; issuance, application, description).
A 5.5″ x 8.5″ placard must also be prominently displayed in each vehicle that is registered with the local police, otherwise a summons is to be issued
Nonsense Maker:
Spring Lake has a census population (2010) of 2,993. Ocean Grove has a census population (2010) of 3,342. Their downtown is successful as a place for residents and guests to shop. It is an example of how beautiful a town could be without massive tourist attractions clogging their streets, shops and beaches. The comparison is not meant to be a serious suggestion that we become Spring Lake.
As for the flare, I believe I am correct to say that cars in driveways on flare blocks (first two beach blocks) would be in violation of the flare.
But when it comes to those driveways other than in the flare, then, as you suggest, the Township could insist that those home owners park on their own driveways instead of on the street, but that might be in violation of Neptune ordinances and will create more ugliness in addition to more spaces.
Given the closeness of our houses, parking in driveways would really be unpleasant for those who live here—not only unsightly, but cutting down on breezes, visuals, and a sense of openness.
As for parking at the end of your own driveway, I see nothing wrong with that, but I suspect that would be against the law regarding blocking driveways. However, who would complain? Would the home owner report himself to the police?
Paul:
Don’t understand your comment “But it may not be possible to park in your driveway near the beach if your car is in the flare”.
In the first beach block home owners parallel park in the street in front of their driveway, givng them a “reserved” parking spot. As to your definition of ‘ugly’. many of these homes have garages, thus reducing their ‘ugliness’. Look at Embury, Heck, Olin, Bath or Surf for examples.
Lastly a comparison to Spring Lake isn’t valid, since they’re significantly larger geographically and they have more year round residents than OG.
Nonsense Maker: I may have to change your name. because of your original idea. But it may not be possible to park in your driveway near the beach if your car is in the flare. Also it might be considered unsightly anywhere in town.
But you get points for finding a way to increase parking that would yield many more spaces than the diagonal parking “experts” who came up with a mere 18 new spots, a solution that was praised by the Township and, with the Town’s blessing, will simultaneously add to the parking ugliness already all over the place.
So if it’s OK for them to make the town uglier, than why not you? At least your idea was free and more productive.
You don’t like the theory that reducing cars would help, but to oppose the idea over possible loss of businesses, you have no data to prove your point. I submit that fewer reasons for throngs to come here would be better for the economy because Grovers are here year round, and they would support businesses and events earmarked for them instead of tourists. The town would be much more hamish and a delight to visit and shop. (The definition of hamish, also known as haimish, is Yiddish slang for cozy and homey.)
Wouldn’t you like a charming downtown with more restaurants, a dry cleaner, unamplified street musicians, a real grocery store, a coffee shop, a butcher shop, a kitchenware store, etc? And, there would be more air,light and conversations. And maybe a small-town historic Victoria’ Secret ——after all, this is a Victorian town, and they must have had secrets in 1870.
Have you been to lovely Spring Lake? I bet those shops do really well being supported mostly by the town’s citizens. They have real stores for real people.
Blogfinger:
– It’s a fact that the State will not provide tourism grants or money to municipalities that limit or wanted residents-only parking. See Bay Head, Cape May or Ocean City all who have tried and lost.
– It’s a fact that fewer cars means fewer people meaning fewer dollars spent in town and on beaches.
You want 1 good idea – OK, here’s one. If you have a driveway in OG you have to park 1 or 2 of your cars in the driveway (depending on length of driveway) before being able to park on the street. In JUST the 1st 2 blocks there are 37 driveways. People with driveways use the street entrance to their driveways as “reserved” parking spots (which is illegal unless written approval from the Chief of Police), and/or convert their driveways into patios. Doing this would free up 60 – 75 parking spots…but no one wants to talk about this – because this isn’t a CMA or Neptune issue, it’s a home owner issue
Agree with Saturday Nighter that the CMA 2017 booklet is well designed and nicely put together. However, the Saturday night talent brought into the Auditorium for all of us to enjoy has been severely lacking (I mean…I love the Beach Boys and all…but seriously? Again? This is becoming depressing…).
The fact is that we are all blessed with this unbelievably unique and beautiful community resource, yet the CMA has allowed it to be terribly underutilized for years. The CMA should take note of what our community and Main Avenue businesses are missing out on and hire an outside consultant to be specifically in charge of Saturday Night programming. Both the CMA’s mission and our entire OG community would be far better served by having someone with experience in, and understanding of, actual “entertainment” running the show.
The CMA 2017 booklet is now on line and in the PDF form and nicely done. There will be significantly reduced tourism on Saturday night revolving around the Auditorium events. There is a Beach Boy concert and hopefully Neil Sedaka still carries a tune, both of which are squeezed into August scheduling.
Nonsense Maker: Where have you been? The summer pop concert series has been cancelled by the CMA. Check their web site. Their booklets for the 2017 season should be out soon.
The rest of your comments are fictional and/or total nonsense; except where you say that the idea of reducing cars is “interesting.”
We need less criticism and more original thinking out of the box. Please send us one idea that will help.
Diagonal parking, besides being unsightly, makes it extremely difficult to cross the streets either walking or driving. Coming out of side streets
on Main or Central,where there is already some diagonal parking, you take your life in your hands because you need to stick out so far to be able to see around the parked cars. The same is true when trying to cross Ocean Avenue on foot.
Don’t create more problems just to gain a few spots.
Your comment “What we need are innovative ways to lessen the number of cars in town” is at least interesting if not contradictory.
If we lessen the number of cars in town we won’t be able to accept State tourism dollars; nor we will be able to afford to have Saturday evening concerts in town on Saturday nights. The single biggest parking in town occurs during Saturday nights for the concerts. This site seems to be fans of these concerts, but with fewer attendees there will be less money to attract better name entertainers.
The merchants in town will have to get by with lower sales due to fewer cars (and people in those cars who spend money). Our beaches will not be as clean since there will be fewer people buying beach badges – which will also reduce the number of lifeguards. As to biking, are we to expect that a family with little kids will have to park outside of town and have the kids ride bikes into town?