Asbury Park Press photo of the Bradley Beach Lobster Festival. Probably 2017.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger.net
Blogfinger has repeatedly said that the mega -events which occur in Ocean Grove, such as the ones on the Pathway where thousands of outsiders cause gridlock in the interest of buying flea market and craft stuff, are damaging to the lifestyles of those who live in our town.
These happenings are frequent in the Grove and are sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and the CMA, enabled by Township approvals to shut down streets and allow overwhelming numbers of cars in without considering the parking issues.
Such huge tourist attractions cause considerable inconveniences and distress to those residents who live in the Grove. During peak season, they can ruin the joy of living here.
Here is link about the gridlock that occurred one weekend in 2017:
Well, we are not the only ones with such concerns.
On the front page of the Coaster, March 8, 2018, there is a piece about a Bradley Beach citizen who is suing the Borough Council. Ostensibly, the reason for the suit is because a vote at the Council was tainted by an alleged conflict of interest involving the local Chamber of Commerce.
But what were they voting on? It was to approve the dates for the annual Lobster Festival. This event, from June 23 to June 25, attracts over 70,000 people and has about 250 vendors stretched over the 2 mile boardwalk in BB. It is sponsored by their Chamber of Commerce.
It seems that there are some Bradley residents who want that mega-gridlock event to be moved from prime-time to a weekend after Labor Day when the town might be better able to host such congestion.
You may recall that the Mayor of Belmar shut down his town when the influx of their lobster festival celebrants threatened to overwhelm the Borough.
There are times in Ocean Grove when such events produce a total in-effect shut down of our town, with desperate crazed drivers circling endlessly looking for parking as if they were refugees in South Sudan waiting for a shipment of K-rations to drop from the sky.
Here at Blogfinger, we have no interest in the Bradley “conflict of interest” suit, but we did sense that there is a subtext to the suit, which the Coaster failed to unearth.
We contacted T.J. Coan, a former Councilman, resident and a businessman on Main Street, in BB, who is bringing the suit. It turns out that this is really mostly about shutting down the Lobster Festival for June and moving it to after Labor Day for the sake of the residents of Bradley Beach. Secondarily it is about governance in that Borough.
TJ said that the June weekend is an “insane” time for bringing thousands of tourists into Bradley; it is the first weekend of the “season” when the kids are off from school and where the town should belong to the residents. “Even without a festival, it is a madhouse.”
This is a quality of life issue. TJ agrees with us that these gridlock events do nothing to benefit the residents of our towns, and, in fact, make things worse for those who live in the two communities . He says, “It’s bad for Bradley Beach,” and that generalization speaks volumes to citizens of any shore town to organize and fight the pressures to turn their towns into Seaside Heights or the San Gennaro Festival.
Without challenges to the pressures by promoters and commercial interests, a town will change, especially the demographics. We know people who are already selling in Ocean Grove in response to dissatisfaction with the way the town culture is deteriorating.
It is a question of who should get priority when multiple factions, such as the Chambers of Commerce, realtors, and tourism advocates fail to consider the best interests of the towns where they do business.
People are attracted to our towns because of their unique and old fashioned styles, but then certain parties want to change things. Residents need to fight such destructive tendencies if they want to preserve the character of their community .
TJ likened it to Manhattan when huge events such St. Patrick’s Day and the Puerto Rican Day cause even jaded New Yorkers to leave their city and escape somewhere else. As for the Lobster Fest he says that “Bradley Beach becomes a mess due to tourists, trucks and garbage all over the place.”
TJ and some like-minded Bradley advocates are willing to put up money to try to influence the future of their town.
But, Ocean Grove, a tiny shore town, has more gridlock events than Bradley Beach does, and so far, our citizens don’t seem to care. Apathy allows the barbarians at the gates to come right in and threaten our lovely historic boroughs.
COLE PORTER WITH VINCE GIORDANO AND THE NIGHTHAWKS:
Just Maybe: The issue is not about whether these events are fun or not. Many people enjoy them, but Bradley Beach has one (not counting holidays such as Labor Day) while OG has at least 5, and that doesn’t include some very large religious based grid-locked events sponsored by the CMA. Then there are the Great Auditorium weekend displays that might have thousands of people attend. And of course we too have major holiday crowds such as July 4 which brings in tourists by the thousands.
The number of tourist events in OG are way out of proportion to the size of the town. Both AP and BB can spread out in two directions and have garages, but we are trapped.
Finally, don’t forget the glut of cars and people coming into the Grove because of huge events in Asbury Park. We saw it on a Sunday (3/11/18) for the St. Patrick’s Day parade festivities, creating a situation when it should have been a quiet Sunday in OG.
It is a question of volume and quality of life. People do live in this small town and shouldn’t be subjected to so many grid-lock tourist events during the prime season.
Are we going to seen as just another crazy shore town? Can anyone point to another Shore town that causes so much self-inflicted discomfort on its residents? Spring Lake gets along very well without any giant events. And during the OG mega events, the sponsors do nothing to relieve the oppressive parking situation.
The Township just defeated permit parking. When do the OG residents get to see some relief?
What would happen if a fire broke out anyplace in the vicinity of Ocean Pathway/The Great Auditorium/Main Avenue during one of these events? First responders would find their access hampered and their arrival at the scene delayed. Consider the Manchester Inn fire, what if this had occurred during daylight hours during a Flea Market or Craft Show weekend? Perhaps for public safety reasons, these events should be reconsidered.
If, as you say, our citizens don’t seem to care, then maybe it’s not really a problem after all? I live in OG, and I certainly enjoy these events.
There is a difference between Bradley Beach and Ocean Grove.
Bradley Beach residents have off street parking.
Their Mayor and Council are best suited to decide the number and size of permitted Summer events, as long as the event does not cause traffic congestion on the street. In that case, they would be in violation of State statutes for that event.
Ocean Grove is different. Our Governing Body just violates State statutes all the time.