Ocean Grovers enjoy walking to downtown Asbury for restaurants, special events, music and a lively bar scene. Paul Goldfinger photograph for Blogfinger.net.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor@Blogfinger.net
In 2016 we posted an article about the praise being lavished upon A. Park.
Last spring Money Magazine named AP as having the second best beachfront in the US, ahead of many famous locations in California, Texas, etc. “Asbury Park offers the classic combo of beach and boardwalk,” the magazine says.
The Asbury Park Press also reported that list. Asbury has also been ranked high for the city’s “cultural scene.” In 2017 it was named the “coolest small town in America.”
But, not so fast. Asbury has recently been reported to have the second highest violent crime rate in the state. And, according to the AP Sun, the city has been named this February to the “top 50 worst cities to live-in across the nation.” Similar reports have been mentioned in articles in the AP Press and the AP Patch.
Among the statistics, the city is reported to be high in poverty rankings, low median incomes, and high median home prices.
So, which is it: best or worst?
Blogfinger: The best or the worst? “It depends on where you stand.”
Asbury Park was, is, and always will be a tale of two cities: affluent, mostly white, folks close to the ocean and poor, mostly black, people west of Main Street. There will never be affordable housing built anywhere near the beach.
As for the music choice, some though that Springsteen’s “The Rising” was about NYC after 9/11, but Bruce wrote it earlier about AP.
Consider two songs decades earlier:
4th of July, AP, 1973:
For me this boardwalk life is through
You ought to quit this scene too.
Thunder Road, 1975:
It’s a town full of losers,
I’m pulling out of here to win.