Resident permit parking is essential to bring justice to those who live in the Grove. Let the tourists find their own way,
Paul Goldfinger, editor @Blogfinger. June 2, 2019. Ocean Grove, NJ.
Saturday June 1, 2019, was Flea Market Day, and it was perhaps the worst day ever for Ocean Grove in terms of a parking glut due to a mega-event. OK, it was a giant parking mess, but it was our mess.
So Sunday (June 2) comes around. It is a bright, cool, sunny morning and there are some parking spaces available around 9 am when we vacate our space near our house and head to Wegmans.
On the way back, on Main Street in A. Park (aka “no park,”) a big party is going on, thousands are milling about, a band is rehearsing, and it dawns on us, after taking a closer look, that this is the assembling of the Pride Day Parade.
As we drive home to the Grove into our North End neighborhood, every parking space is occupied. It is clear that this is no ordinary Sunday where a few A. Parkers, like employees from Cookman, might be around because of free parking.
Instead, this time, our neighborhood is a massive parking lot not due to some mega-event in the Grove, but this time it is due to a mega-event in AP.
I went over there, and Cookman Avenue was clogged with marchers and folks lining the streets.
Pride Parade iin Asbury Park June 2, 2019..
Actually it was a very festive and joyful event, but A. Park got the parade and the pride, and Ocean Grove got the cars.
So this is yet another example of parking mayhem in the Grove, but this time it is not home grown.
We can now add a new category to our list of events that place the residents of OG under seige by outsiders attending a mega event. It’s like Jerusalem when the Crusaders filled up the streets of that old town—chariots everywhere.
Why are Grovers resigned to such abuse in their town, where they pay taxes and where others often show up to crowd us out during the most beautiful time of year?
Permit parking must be accomplished to help the residents of OG enjoy their town and park their cars. I know Grovers who have moved away primarily over parking, and others, who would consider that reason. It is that important and should not be trivialized.
Link to BF article on permit parking:
and a 2018 link, where you will find lively comments section:
Township rejects permit parking
Editor’s update. Sunday March 12, 2023. Once again our north end streets are clogged for most of the day, not due to a homegrown OG glut event, but due to the St. Patrick’s parade which caused all parking to be taken and a steady flow of walkers strolling north past our house, many with green hair, to cross the bridge, leaving us stuck with their cars all over. Don’t let anyone tell you that our parking problems are only for a few months each year.
MARILYN MONROE. This song should be sent by the Home Groaners to the Fabulous Five at the Mother Ship:
If parking permits are approved, maybe we can get hanging mirror tags printed “Ocean Grove Taxpayer” and the parking ushers can direct us to spots near our homes?
Editor’s note: Not only did the Liquid Church ask its guests to enter the Grove via Broadway, but they did have monitors directing people to open parking spaces. Then a shuttle bus was available to take them to the Great Auditorium.
I think that’s why I, at the North End, was seeing only the Pride interlopers.
It was a double parking whammy for the Grove, one from the north and one from the south.
And It was a lesson in intolerance, from both sides of the detention/retention basin. From the Pride side was a disrespect for Ocean Grove’s usually quiet Sunday Christian sabbath.
On the other side was a disrespect for the privacy and quiet expected by resident Grovers, especially on a Sunday morning. And there is a Neptune ordinance aimed at noise on Sundays.
Ironically, the two groups are probably at opposite ends of the ideological spectrum while sharing a deep belief in making noise and parking where residents should be, especially on a “quiet Sunday” in the Grove. ——PG
https://liquidchurch.com/shore/
I live on Broadway and this past Sunday noticed Liquid Church parking ushers at every corner directing cars to open spots on the streets in the South End. I couldn’t figure out how they knew which cars to help.
Apparently, they have hanging mirror tags that identified them as LC visitors. I must admit it’s clever and I’m a little jealous. Wish I had that kind of help finding a spot.
Will this be the parking norm on Saturday evenings this summer? Let me know so I can plan when to return home from weekend errands. Best chance for parking will be in that sliver of time after the beachgoers leave for the day and before the crush of LC visitors arrive.
Liquid will be here Saturday nights July through August.
In 1965, the first distance trip I ever took after getting my license was from my parents’ home in suburban Trenton to Asbury Park. It was late autumn, off season, and I automatically drove into beautiful Ocean Grove and parked for free on the north end near the Homestead.
I think the meters in Asbury took dimes back then. So parking in the Grove for Asbury destined people has been going on forever, although now there are a few more cars on the roads than in ’65.
I lived on McClintock Street from 1999 until late 2015. Believe it or not, I kind of miss the whole busy weekend thing of not daring to move your car because you’ll never get a space anywhere near the house because that was the Saturday of the Beach Boys concert in the too nearby Auditorium.
Or better yet relieving a neighbor tired of driving the streets for parking by jumping in her car and cruising the south side for a space while she went inside to freshen up after a work morning. I was never sure about the permit parking thing, mostly because I never ever thought it would happen.
Here, in the California desert where there are many cars but always more parking places, I often dream of my former summer Grove Saturdays when I had to hop on the bicycle and pedal all the way to Dean’s because I’d foolishly forgotten to buy tofu when I’d made my rounds by auto on the previous Thursday.
As other commenters have stated, the glut of cars and people was due to CMA renting the town to the Liquid Church for the day. The north beach at Bath Avenue was completely given over the the church for a mass baptism.
One visitor told me that 5,000 people would be participating. The invasion sure felt like that amount, but I’m sure it was an exaggeration. I’ve never heard more neighbors express anger at a CMA sponsored event as this one.
There is no regard for the quality of life of the secular community here. I have no doubts that there is trouble on this horizon.
Since the OGCMA owns all the land, including the streets, maybe homeowners should think about suing the Camp Meeting for parking spaces.
Since the OGCMA is the developer of OG, they should be providing at least one parking space for every leased lot.
You missed the fact that there was a mega-event in OG. Liquid Church invaded town! It was a hostage weekend for all of us.
We were packed on the South side but due to Liquid Church. They even had parking people lining each car up and down our streets . That was about 9am. Sure hope this isn’t every weekend they’re here . Both days we were held hostage.