OG citizens. July 4, 2018. Paul Goldfinger photograph. ©
TO THE EDITOR:
Ya know what Jack? Ya know what Paul?
We’re all numb and tired about these issues, these debates.
Ocean Grove slowly and surely is being gobbled up despite these efforts – by builders, by tourists, by rich out of towners……
Ocean Grove as we knew it will never be the same again.
We should all just save our time, our money, our breath, etc. and let things happen as they happen.
You know the North End will be taken over by Asbury Park because the Camp Meeting Association doesn’t have a back bone or a leg to stand on any more. You know the parking issue will never be solved. You know the Great Auditorium has become a white elephant, etc., etc.
Your efforts, your time, your knowledge are so very appreciated, but I’m afraid it’s falling on deaf ears.
KEN, OCEAN GROVE
July 11, 2018.
Editor’s note:
Thanks Ken. We have had similar thoughts ourselves, but you fail to recognize that the First Amendment is a beautiful thing which must be exercised or it will be lost.
Yesterday, July 10, Blogfinger.net had 1,562 hits. We also had visitors from 11 foreign countries.
The site stats show us what topics readers are viewing: tax appraisal notices, North End gibberish, new official at the HPC, and the “parking wars” in descending order.
We understand your frustration, but do you think that our readers want us to give up what we do? —-Paul
PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND: “Bucket’s Got a Hole in It.”
In reference to Ken’s comment:
The shops that are no longer occupying space in #60 Main Ave. is because the developer who has recently purchased the building is asking for higher rents than what the merchants originally were leasing it for.
We have lost some great shops in Town because landlords believe they can market Ocean Grove as Asbury Park and gain the same high rents. Asbury Park has more foot traffic which would allow a merchant to afford such high rents.
Ocean Grove’s business district is suffering because the foot traffic has significantly decreased within the last two years because there is no parking.
Customers have shared that they get can’t find parking and choose to only visit in the early spring and early autumn, so that they can park their car within walking distance to the shops.
Blogfinger is raising awareness to issues, such as parking in town and hoping for a change. Why would he or anyone want to give up on a town that deserves to be loved and cherished.
There is an overlapping effect of all our issues:
If there is no parking available, caring residents who love this community will continue to move out of town.
More builders and business-minded people will be renting out the homes around us. This will decimate our neighborhoods.
The town will lose its magical charm, which is the reason it is set apart from other towns. We know our neighbors and have a relationship with them. This will change.
If parking problems continues to worsen, OG merchants won’t be able to afford rent and they will be pushed out of town. Shops will remain closed.
Residents and visitors will find less charm in the town when shops are closed; the business district will be lifeless.
The Town and the CMA will lose revenue from visitors and donors, and the historic buildings will crumble.
I appreciate Blogfinger’s striving for a better town because each issue at hand overlaps the next and negatively affect our future way of living—on all levels.
strong>Editor’s note: The Sackman Real Estate company which foolishly let those shops, including April Cornell, leave Ocean Grove is the same company that wanted to add a 3rd floor to that #60 Main Ave. OG building, but the town denied them.
And they also are the same company that was behind the abrupt closure of two major and seemingly successful restaurants in A. Park last October–one of which was Fish and the other was Cibo E Vino. Both closed suddenly and mysteriously. Evidently they couldn’t afford the rents.
But the good news is that there will be a hip-hop concert on July 28 at the Great Auditorium sponsored by the Camp Meeting Association. Goodbye Tony Bennett, hello Hip Hop!
Keep up the good works.
All I’m saying is that your efforts, though very commendable, maybe should be redirected toward the monster multi-unit homes that are being built all over, the absentee trustees, the lack of any police enforcement, the closing of several businesses on Main Ave, snow removal problems, etc, etc.
For a number of years many people in this town have looked at what’s been going on here and thought it was a good thing. People were buying homes and “fixing” them up. There was a lot of interest in OG. What they didn’t see is that yes many people were “fixing” up houses, but not to live them. Their goal was flip or rent them out.
OG has become all about profit. Houses built to the edge of property lines by developers who have no problem getting what they need from Neptune whose goal is to increase revenues no matter what the cost. Our neighborhood has been grossly compromised.
While they bemoaned the section 8 housing of the past and the street people, the reality is that now our town is crammed full of people who don’t really care about our former sense of community and history.
“Renovated” properties are filled with bunk beds and pull-out couches so rental homes “sleep more.” Quite honestly the streets are now filled with more garbage than they were in the 70’s or 80’s. I have watched the same discarded water bottle sitting in front of the bank at Main and Pilgrim for over a week. Stores lie empty or for sale while weeds proliferate.
We have more realtors than towns twice this size. Look at many of the “for sale” listings and the pitch line is how much you could make from it, not what a wonderful house it is or how special the town is. While the quality of life for owner-occupied homes goes down, taxes go up.
The number of those who really care about the town are dwindling.
We cannot give up.
“Never, never, never give up!” Winston Churchill
Don’t give up.
Ken, in the early 2000’s when Real Estate values started to rise, the Neptune Township Committee turned over our municipal charter to developers.
And our Municipal Agencies are now working for the Developers, not us, and these unknown and unelected developers have been busy transforming our Historic District into ‘The Riviera on the Jersey Shore’
We would just like our Charter back.