Future President of the OGHOA. Vote for her at the next election. Saucy Susie will do a better job for the citizens of OG. Blogfinger photo. ©

By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger

Bonnie Graham writes for the Coaster, but she mostly specializes in reporting on HOA meetings. She is more like a stenographer because she writes down everything that happens, and then the Coaster regurgitates it all in their next edition 5 days hence.  She does a fine job of putting every ounce on paper, so no one really needs to go to those meetings.  All you need to do is read the Coaster if you can bear the pain of wading through it all.  But the June 1 account of the May 27 Home Groaners  meeting contains some gibberish which Blogfinger has an obligation to share with you, because it might otherwise just sink to the bottom of the sludge in Wesley Lake.

a.   The subject of “additional parking spaces along Main Avenue” was raised.  President Barbara Burns is quoted as saying, “We asked the Township to assume the administrative burden without funding, and the OG Chamber of Commerce is not pushing the parking issue.”  So, speaking of gobbledygook, someone please explain the meaning of this quote.

b.  Carol Rizzo, Township Committeeman who lives in the Grove,  is quoted by Bonnie  as saying, “OGHOA always sends 4-6 members and trustees to the Township Committee meetings. We listen to everybody. The parking recommendations made were a consensus opinion.”

So, who is “everybody” that formed that “consensus” ?  Does the “consensus” include the silent majority? Perhaps that parking “consensus” was formed behind closed doors somewhere. Do the people of Ocean Grove really believe that the answer to the parking issue is to squeeze in more spaces?

Shouldn’t  Committeeman Rizzo be  representing we the people  in demanding more accountability and new transparent  procedures in the decision-making process involving the citizens of OG, the HOA, and the Committee?  And how about those parking stickers for the residents?   And why doesn’t Ms. Graham challenge any of this balderdash?

c.  The Home Groaners announced that they have found something else to “focus” on.  It seems that they have exhausted their work on behalf of Ocean Grove, so, as reported by Ms. Graham, “The group will soon focus on issues in Neptune ‘outside of Ocean Grove.'”

Richard Williams, the Vice President of  the group “spoke at length on the Midtown Urban Renaissance Corporation–MURC—which serves as a liaison between this community and Neptune Township”

What “community?” Can anybody translate this mumbo-jumbo? Did the HOA members authorize its trustees to spend time looking into “Neptune issues such as gun violence, children’s activities, community garden, and fund raisers?”

The Home Groaners should do one thing: be involved in issues affecting home ownership in Ocean Grove. This is what their website says, “The mission of the OGHOA is to protect and enhance property values and the quality of life in Ocean Grove.” (period.)

d.   Ocean Grove fires: Barbara Burns spoke about fires in 2008, 2010, and 2011, but she had nothing to say about the horrendous Warrington fire of March 3, 2017. So Barbara, have you checked on those OG citizens who lost their homes in the fire?  There were nearly 100 of them.  Maybe she has no time now in view of the group’s latest incursion into Neptune’s  Midtown “renaissance.”

e.  And finally, Ms. Graham reported that a former President of the HOA, Ann Horan, said at the meeting, “We live in a diverse community. I have seen some of the most mean-spirited people being invited as summer speakers. I hope none of this year’s pastors are of the same ilk.”  Ugh!

Her ill-mannered portrayal of visitors to the Grove was aimed directly at the HOA’s special guest, Rev.  John DiGiamberadino, COO of the CMA who felt compelled to offer a defensive and embarrassing answer when he said, “We check to try to insure that speakers are non-controversial.”  Really?   He was bullied by Ann Horan, and no one in the crowd evidently protested. What a pathetic, blind-sided swipe at a man who came to the meeting to share good news, not to be rudely attacked by an unforgiving HOA all-star.

Thank you Bonnie Graham for sitting through this lame blather so that some of us could stay home and avoid these obnoxious meetings run by a group which is failing in its responsibility to the community of Ocean Grove.

So, enough of this summary of an event that was like the Mad Tea Party or perhaps an Oscar Meyer Weiner cookout?

Here’s something musical to get our minds off the gobbledygook.

MAX RAABE at Carnegie Hall, 2007