Asbury Park’s north end. A better prognosis than OG’s north end. Paul Goldfinger photo. ©
During the early part of this century, Asbury Park was a wasteland. You could go to the beach on a warm summer day and find no one there. At night, there would be plenty of parking.
In Ocean Grove until a few years ago, the Saturday night shows in the Great Auditorium would attract thousands of visitors. And guess where they would park?
If they couldn’t find a spot in the Grove, they would park in Asbury and walk to the Grove. Many would just go straight to Asbury and skip the OG search.
But now Asbury has the success that we all know about, and along with that they have a huge demand for parking spaces, and they have expensive meters.
And the Grove experienced a decline in Auditorium attendance. People told me that they would never attend a show in OG because of the growing difficulty in finding parking.
With Asbury’s burgeoning success, the pressure on parking in the Grove increased due to a double whammy of more OG demand for spaces and the increasing Asbury parking requirements resulting in more AP tourists and employees looking for space and free parking here. The tables are turned.
So, the Camp Meeting had to cut back on secular programming. This year there are only 3 such events: Beach Boys, Queen tribute, and Doo Wops in September. This fits with the Blogfinger parking theory which calls for less cars, not more spaces.
The dynamic regarding the relationship of OG and AP is volatile and evolving.
We have discussed this subject in a number of posts because that dynamic, as it affects Ocean Grove, involves real estate demand, demographics, the historic district, grid lock situations due to tourism, and the life styles of those residents in the Grove who are becoming increasingly upset over their situations.
We have documented Grovers who are moving or plan to move, and they usually cite parking and congestion as central issues. And then there are the commercial interests who see OG as a cash cow to drive more money to real estate deals, local businesses, condoization, and tourism.
The point is that the dynamic is composed of quite a few variables which continue to evolve, so if you live in this town, you had better keep an eye on a changing scenario. There’s not much you can do about it, but to know what’s going on is a worthwhile endeavor.
JULIE LONDON:
Neptune resident,
Parking meters in OG were rejected by the ‘Parking Task Force’.
You would have to present your plan to the OGCMA, because they own the land where the meters would go, and the CMA would get the money from the meters.
Parking issue solution thought: Install parking meters at at northern and eastern sides of OG. Charge 25 cents more than rate of AP to deter free parking.
Provide free parking registration for all OG residents to use metered parking spaces at will. Stickers provided by Township after residency verification. Township to maintain license plate data base. Renewals needed every 2 years.
Revenue collected dedicated to other long term parking solution;. e.g. strategically located low rise parking garages within OG.
Parking meters policed by NTPD.