Delaware Avenue, south of Main. Parallel parking is an adventure. Click to Seymour. Blogfinger photo 8/19/17 ©
By Paul Goldfinger, MD. Editor at Blogfinger.net. Articles about parking never grow old on Blogfinger. They tap into the fabric of life in the Grove, and they bring the residential community to the surface for a gasp of fresh ocean air:
Summer, 2017:
This photo is at Delaware Avenue, just south of Main Avenue. Ironically, there is a funeral home to the right. This street here is very narrow, as are many OG streets. It’s a sunny Saturday in August, and there is gridlock. About 60 seconds before this photo was taken that parking spot was vacated. The prior occupant pulled out of the space very slowly.
30 seconds after that, this vehicle showed up. There was room for parking, but parallel parking in a place like that always feels as if you would hit the car on the other side. You have to have faith in the Lord that you will not do so, and almost always you don’t. This driver must have been sweating this experience. Behind his car is another car waiting.
But why should parking be a frightening experience and why do we allow our town to overflow with cars—many more than there are spaces?
NJ.com June 2016: The Neptune mayor was interviewed about OG parking. “We have to take a look at the proposals that do what’s best for the greater good,” McMillan said. Bull!!
This is double talk for “we are not going to seriously look at the OGHOA permit parking proposal.” This also is fake news because he doesn’t tell us what “greater good” means. He certainly isn’t giving the residents any advantage.
Parking should not be an absolute democracy. Permit parking works in many other towns which recognize that their residents are special and need assistance. That is the greater good! The objections mentioned by the CMA earlier this week (Aug. 2017 ) are bogus.
In that 2016 NJ.com interview, McMillan said, “There’s no easy solution to the parking issue, and the best way to address it is to let the political process play out.” Is he serious?? We cannot trust the “political process”in Neptune. Ask them what happened to the revised HPC guidelines——MIA.
And he said, “We’re not going to run away from the problem.” More gobbledygook! Look what happened over the ensuing year—-nothing but poppycock. Our local government specializes in poppycock and they should hang a banner to that effect in front of the Mother Ship.
And now, 2017, Mayor Brantley tells the Coaster (but not the citizens of OG) that permit parking is dead.
Consider Belmar: In 2015 they closed down the entire town when the number of cars exceeded the number of spaces during a seafood festival. But the official Belmar stance on parking, as stated by their mayor, is that they place the interests of their residents first.
Their online site says, “Belmar’s leadership and citizenry always understood that lack of parking is a serious problem here and that increases in the availability of parking must accompany any increased development.”
Do you think the Neptune leadership ever had this thought in mind when it approved condos without parking?
Paul Goldfinger Editor @Blogfinger.net
MARLENE DIETRICH. She sings this to the Neptune Committee on behalf of OG residents:
On Saturday the 19th I knew when I left for work in the AM that I would face The Challenge upon my return. Getting back into town at 4:25 PM I circumnavigated the mountain region around my joint, and by some miracle within a mere 20 minutes I found an open spot on the corner of Mt Hermon and Delaware on the park side. I took care to back my car up to within a few inches of the box in the spirit of polite parking, and knowing that I was within the watchful eyes of Blogfinger World HQ.
Editor’s note: Now that you have blown my cover, you should know that we have not set up an observation post where I could spend my days watching the hood; We probably watch no more than anybody else, but in my case, the parking news may be published and seen world-wide, including Madagascar where they don’t understand our problems.
However, if any BF reader spots news in their section of paradise, they can email it to Blogfinger@verizon.net. This is supposedly an information sharing website.
Thanks, Paul
This past Friday while returning to the Grove we entered the town by Broadway about 10:30. We noticed how many parking spots were open—–not that many really, but we said “look it’s wide open!” Turned onto Ocean and by the time we crossed past Main there wasn’t a spot to be found!
We dropped off a friend at Surf and then began the fruitless odyssey of finding a spot within a comfortable, reasonable walk time to home. Whether anyone wants to admit it or not, there is a huge difference in parking problems between the areas north and south of Main.
As a side note, this past Saturday during the Beach Boys concert, a car sat in the yellow zone at the end of my street with it’s flashers on. Not ticketed or towed and finally moved after the concert.
Without defined and marked spaces how can anyone determine the actual number of available spaces there are in town anyway? How many driveways have been converted to patios and yet still retain a valid curb cut?
On my narrow, short little street in the Mounts, all it takes is one one over-sized land-yacht with a bike rack on the back, and 3 of of the 16 possible spots vanish, or how about a commercial vehicle taking up 2 spots.
There is also the steady stream of Asburian bar-hoppers heading for the footbridge at NJ Ave. Just come and sit on a porch in the North End on a weekend (all day and night) and watch and listen as steady streams of groups pass by. There’s also a rumor that there is a shuttle service from AP bars to the free parking in the Grove. Isn’t that a pleasant thought?
These problems not limited to “The Season” either. In the Mounts as someone pulls out of a space to go to work during the week, there are cars waiting to fill those spots and then go to work in AP. They are not shopping in our commercial area, coming for the religious activities, or visiting the sights here; they are going directly into Asbury.
There’s also a real problem with “warehoused” vehicles never being moved during the entire off season. Proper street cleaning and clearing becomes nearly impossible.
These are not insoluble issues. Institute a sane plan and people will adapt.