Saturday May 23, 2020. Ticket area of the Great Auditorium. Blogfinger.net photo.
Summer, 2019 Ocean Grove. Plenty of distancing illustrated here, but sometimes the OG beach gets very crowded. Paul Goldfinger photo.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger. net
May 23, 2020. Ocean Grove, NJ
We had heard weeks ago that beach badge sales would have to be restricted in order to achieve a workable reduction in humanity on the beaches of the Jersey Shore to combat the spread of the coronavirus.
Even though the governor waited to the last minute to announce such a reduction, all the towns were getting ready with a plan, and many knew it was coming.
So before the season badges sales came to a screeching halt last week, all the towns knew what to do, and the word leaked out early. That is why all the town online sales quickly shut down. It seems that many people in the area knew to hurry up and buy badges.
Why didn’t the CMA let everyone in the Grove know about this well in advance? For that matter, why didn’t the jokers at Neptune Township sound the warning alarm for their citizens in the Grove?
Do you suppose that the CMA let the word out to its “community” in time for all those OG season passes to be snapped up by out-of-towners?
Perhaps someone should ask Pres. Badger why he didn’t tell the residents of Ocean Grove what was going to happen. You can ask him to explain why Grovers were taken by such surprise when he appears before the HOA next week.
As a result, many Grovers have been left out, leaving them wondering how they would be able to go on the beach in their own town.
Today we learned how the towns, including ours, knew how to do the math in calculating the numbers of badges to sell. The Asbury Park Press reported on a study by the Stevens Institute in Hoboken.
It seems that engineers have been calculating the square feet of beaches at Jersey Shore towns using Google Earth photographs. They were able to calculate the numbers of people who could fit into any beach, allowing for enough room to physically distance.
Measurements are made from the high water mark back to the dunes. Typically families can congregate within less than the 6 foot diameter required between most people, but they also allow for 6-12 feet between groups.
The special police who will monitor all this might have to patrol carrying 6 foot poles, according to the mayor of Bradley Beach.
For example Asbury Park was found to be able to accommodate 10,000 people per day. The number of day passes to be sold are calculated adjusting to the number of season passes already sold. In AP their starting capacity is considered to be 500 day badges per day, with gradual increases in the numbers over time if all goes well.
One flaw in the calculations is that no allowances were made for the fact that most beach goers like to be near the water while some prefer back near the dunes. People never spread out evenly as is considered in the calculations.
The APP today listed all the Jersey Shore beaches and their sand capacities. Included in the list were Spring Lake, Belmar, Avon, Deal Loch Arbour, Bradley, Asbury, and Long Branch. But which beach was missing?
Just as the coronavirus data has been missing for OG, Ocean Grove data was again missing when the beach sand numbers were published today.
Do you smell something fishy? Why are the people of Ocean Grove being deprived of this information?
Was it just one of those things, or was it something else?
NAT KING COLE:
Joanne: I totally agree that the residents of Ocean Grove should have been able to get to the head of the line for season beach badges.
We are the people who maintain our homes to make our town attractive to tourists. We are those who provide that friendly atmosphere and that curious porch culture that visitors admire. We maintain our gardens and strive to uphold our image as a special town.
But this is just another example where the CMA only shows interest in us when they need something from us such as support for fund raisers, concerts and other events. (eg flea markets) that help raise money for them.
We used to buy season passes each year even though we went to the beach only 2 or 3 times each season, but we considered it to be a contribution to the CMA’s beachfront efforts. However good- will like that requires an element of “one hand washes the other.” And there is nothing wrong with giving the Grovarian residents a home field advantage.
Paul @Blogfinger.net
For some reason naive me thought that since I am an OG homeowner, pay my camp meeting dues every year, pay my property taxes every year, am on record for buying seasonal badges every year, get the small card in the mail every year from the OGCMA that somehow I would be ok with getting my badges by the 21st of May. I’ve come to learn this was not the case AT ALL. I had sent a check but it was too late.
The bottom line was I could not get my season badges now and who knows if I will ever get them. I was advised if I wanted to, I could go online and buy a daily pass.
I replied I will not do that. As far I was concerned, I already paid for my badges like I normally do but since nothing is normal these days….I got screwed.
Whoever are the people in charge, they are not making the right decisions to prevent damages such as these.
I’ve come to learn that my friends who have a beach home in Manasquan received a direct email alert to buy their season badges prior to their being released to non-residents and out of towners. I never received a similar alert from Ocean Grove Camp Meeting nor Neptune.
I have become very saddened and depressed by this experience and feel hopeless as to what to do .
Joanne
Ocean Grover