By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger.net
Last year we reported on how the residents of BB got their town to cancel a mega-event, “The Lobster Festival” because it would overwhelm their town on the first weekend of the summer season. This way those families who actually live in that famous beach community could enjoy the ambience of their town. There would still be residents, families, guests, beach tourists and others in manageable numbers who could come, park and visit the local restaurants, bars and shops.
T.J.Coan who succeeded to win this battle last year on behalf of the locals was pleased. We spoke, and what a difference was evident when we compared our town, Ocean Grove. Blogfinger wrote about it:
In the Grove, all the power centers are about tourism with barely a nod towards our resident community which hardly has any identity here, much less the clout to influence lifestyles such as how many suffocating weekends we would have to endure.
But, we heard from T.J. again today, and the news is upsetting. The local governance hired the Passion Group from Asbury Park to create two new giant festivals: Memorial Day for 3 days and Labor Day for 4 days.
T.J. said that their town (twice the size of OG and with garages and driveways) was a “residential town” and should not be subjected to such festivals which would create phenomena as “the parking wars.”
We asked him why their town leaders wanted to have such events. Why not stick to the philosophy, which the Belmar mayor enunciated a few years ago, that the main function of these towns should be to benefit the residents. T.J. couldn’t give a clear answer as to why Bradley Beach would go out of its way to drown their town with tourists. He said that the business people on Main Street were not enthused either.
In Ocean Grove we have several driving forces that are motivated to subject the Grove to more crowds and parking problems without any consideration for the residents. Our situation is more complex than T.J.’s because of those factions which each have their own motives: Camp Meeting Association, Home Groaners, Chamber of Commercials, Neptune Township Comedy and its friends the developers; and because of the creature from outer space: the new Asbury Park. There are those who do want us to become Asbury Park Light and do want us to continue our roll as cash cows.
It’s time to change our subtitle:
1869: OG, home of the Methodists and their summer Camp Meeting
1900: OG, Christian summer town and home of religious tourism.
1900-1950’s: OG, diverse Victorian town unchanging
1950-1990: OG, town in gradual decline. Will it survive? Neptune runs the joint as of 1980.
1990-2010: OG, recovering historic town with quaint houses, growing tourism, crowds, and parking strife. Culture shifts; swing towards secularism
2010-2019 OG, magnet for second homers and multiple mega-events. Decline in lifestyles for residents, some of whom have been leaving.
2019 OG, residential town at heart overdosing on tourism from all sides. Increasing secular presence by second homers. Parking wars.
It’s time that residents demand to be placed at the top of the priority list by Neptune Township. From now on we will refer to the Grove as “a residential community.”
We need to identify with Bradley Beach and not A. Park. The latter is becoming a high power attraction for the wealthy and the superficial. It will become a cultural wasteland.
Paul there was an interesting article in this Sunday’s NY Times Travel section about a crackdown of local police in Miami on AirBNB.
The choice of Paul Anka’s song is no coincidence. OG is a romantic town which is part of its appeal. But ugliness is creeping in.
Thank you for clarifying and yes I think your assessment is correct about the trend. We bought our cottage 12 years ago just because it was not a shore town riddled with transient weekly Airbnb or VRBO properties-it is the small town -sit-on-your-porch, say hello to your neighbors community that drew us to Ocean Grove.
Hi Lori. I am trying to understand demographics in Ocean Grove. There has been a definite increase in second homers, and although some are concerned about that, I view it as a positive trend.
In general I enjoy meeting those young families. They add life to the community. People used to buy second homes in the Grove in order to rent them out. Now many actually stay in their beach houses and they come year round.
But another trend now is to buy a house in the Grove for Airbnb rentals. This is a major trend , which I forgot to mention. Some economists think that the next generation will do more renting, than buying, and that includes houses, cars, furniture, etc.—–Paul
I read the article about Bradley Beach doubles its troubles and will be glad to be out of town this Memorial Day as I am sure someone not related to me or my neighbors will be parked in front of my cottage. I am wondering what you meant by “…Increasing secular presence by second homers”.