Blogfinger

March 4, 2017.  Ocean Grove fire scene taken from Asbury Park. Internet photo.

By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger

Question 1: Neptune Twp. mayor, Michael Brantley read a statement at the last Committee meeting which said that the “detective bureau deemed it to be an undetermined incendiary fire.” His text also said, “Either an arsonist deliberately, or a vagrant accidentally, set a fire to the Warrington Hotel, in a location where fire should not otherwise be present.”

The Mayor’s text used terms such as “cognitive experiments” to explain the investigation to us, and his statement was cognitively challenging.    The text of this perplexing message was sent to us by a publicist.  

Why didn’t the Mayor speak to us in his own words instead of reading a canned  and undecipherable speech that someone else presumably wrote?

The Mayor gives the appearance of someone who is concerned that he might say the wrong thing. What is he afraid of?

Question 2: Why hasn’t the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office given a formal statement to the press? Do you suppose that they are finding a very worrisome intertwining pattern developing ? How extensive has this investigation become?

And why did the Mayor make that statement at the Committee meeting when no one involved directly in the investigation has said anything publicly?

Question 3: Are they investigating the owner of the building: Jack R. Ancona, LLC/ Flatiron Real Estate Advisors? He had obtained approvals for a land-locked boutique hotel on the banks of the retention/detention basin (aka Wesley Lake.)

How did he manage to get the variances that he needed to help skirt land use law?

Question 4: Why was the vacated Warrington Hotel allowed to deteriorate and become a “fire trap?”

The neighbors nearby were frightened of the risk for years and they complained about it. We heard it personally when we interviewed a 91 year old man who lived alone in one of the cottages that was destroyed in the fire.

The Warrington became a big wooden box which was open to the outside creating ideal conditions for oxygen to stream in and feed the fire.

Mike, a single man who lived in a 4 unit rental house next to the Warrington,  loved his apartment near the Lake.  He  barely escaped with his life. Mike saw the danger. He said that “the stage was set” for a fire. He saw ”a fireball” coming towards him as his windows were “exploding.”  He barely got out, and “the building collapsed within 13 minutes.” He lost everything he owned including his cat.

If the building had been condemned and demolished, as it should have been, this fire would have never occurred.

Question 5: Why was the Warrington Hotel allowed to stand empty without being properly secured?   Suspicious people and noises from within were reported by neighbors—they called the police on many occasions in the past, but we were told that no vagrants had been seen in or around the building in recent months.

In contrast, the Whitfield site was said to have been “professionally secured” with sturdy fencing all around.

Question 6:   What is the liability of the Township which gave the owner permission to leave his property in a condition that created danger for those who lived nearby?

Who benefitted from leaving that property in such a condition rather than seeking to protect the neighbors from fire and from bad actors?

Question 7: At least 8 lawsuits are already in motion: Who are the defendants?

MENDELSSOHN    Psalm 42, op. 32   St. Thomas Choir (Leipzig)