Paul Goldfinger, MD, Editor Blogfinger.net
2020 re-post (The original question posited in the headline is still valid.)
There are multiple factions in the small town of Ocean Grove (pop 3,700,) and these organized groups are largely isolated from each other. Woven into the fabric are homeowners and renters who live here but do not belong to any organizations, thus becoming, by default, a faction of their own.
According to social scientist Steve Valk, whose family has lived here for several generations, it would be important for these factions to find ways to appreciate and cooperate with each other. For example he cites the religious groups and the secular groups which ought to find common ground for the benefit of the town. One example of such cooperation is the recent interaction, since Sandy, between Ocean Grove United (OGU) and the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association (CMA); however we have recently seen how tenuous that relationship is when we recall the recent clash about Sunday sermons.
The CMA ran the town from 1869 to 1980 as a tax paying part of Neptune Twp.—-111 years.
Neptune Township treated OG as a sort of gated community. The CMA made the rules and imposed blue laws until the N.J. Supreme Court put a stop to that in 1980 when Neptune took over active governance in the Grove (although the Neptuners were technically the governing body almost since the town’s founding.) Since 1980, the CMA has continued its mission and it has largely kept out of the way of Neptune Township.
But we now see the CMA and the Township working together on the North End Redevelopment Project, but suspicious elements have been revealed, and that project does not seem to be designed primarily with the town’s best interest at heart. By 2021, the CMA, OGNED, and the Neptunites seem to be on the verge of going ahead with the NERP.
As for the Neptune Township governance, you have seen the results of our recent poll which shows that 80% of respondents mistrust the Neptune Township Committee. Interestingly, over the years, there were times when the citizens rose up against Neptune control resulting in law suits and even a failed referendum to allow the Grove to become a separate town which it did for one year in 1925.
The other organizations here also tend to have their own agendas and to be run like private clubs. Such groups include the Homeowners Association, the Historical Society, Ocean Grove United, and the Chamber of Commerce.
They don’t work together very much for the good of the town. They are busy with their own agendas. For example, the Chamber of Commerce runs big events to try and drum up business for the merchants. But what do they do for the benefit of those who live here? We asked them to take over sponsorship of the Town-wide Yard Sale, but they refused.
When we introduced a new idea for the town—the Blogfinger Film Festival—a benefit for the boardwalk—-only a few of the members would be sponsors for the program, and hardly any attended the event.
When we think of factions in town, we can see the visible ones, but how about the invisible ones such as families that have lived here for generations and are part of networks that act in concert with each other, with the CMA, and with the Township governance, especially where land use, zoning, and parking are concerned. Let’s call that “the OG network of special interests.”
For them the town of Ocean Grove seems like a gift that keeps on giving. This network never speaks publicly, shows its face, or identifies itself, but what it does and has done will impact all of us and will determine what the town will be in the future. Take a look at all the Grovers who are involved with OGNED and will gain financially from that North End project; to the detriment of those of us who live here and pay taxes.
We have seen the results of favoritism for those special interests in the Greek Temple and Mary’s Place. The North End Redevelopment Project is a good example to keep an eye on. Who will be the winners, and who will be the losers?
Because of indifference by the public, organizations, and special interests, Ocean Grove may become an at-risk town which could end up a failed historic place without focus and character, such as is seen in other shore towns—unless the public pays attention and the organizations here begin to work together for the overall benefit of the town and not just on their narrow pet projects, like the Homeowners Association which is currently circulating a simple-minded parking survey while ignoring the improprieties and illegalities around town regarding land use issues. The HOA has teamed up with the Neptune Committee ever since 2008 when it supported 165 residential units, mostly condos, at the North End.
In 2002, a professor* at Monmouth University published an academic paper about OG history, emphasizing the powerful way that the activist HOA of 25-30 years ago fought for the town and saved its life. Below is a quote** from that research about that era.
Contrast the conclusion below with the current HOA which now is failing Ocean Grove through impotence, inaction, and lack of focus towards the issues which currently threaten our town the most.
The Home Groaners need to step up and save the town once again, but this version appears to so far be hopeless in that regard.
** 2002: “The HOA has maintained or reconstructed the carefully planned infrastructure of the founders, and even as Ocean Grove is being reborn as a contemporary tourist site, the HOA has worked with the CMA to preserve its sacred foundations. Just like the CMA, the HOA has been outstanding in its ability to secure what it wants and what it believes the community needs. Property values have risen, the community is again a safe place, tourism has been revived, an enormous amount of social capital has been generated, and the Victorian charm of the town has been restored.”
By Karen Schmelzkopf* in the Journal of Historical Geography, 2002
BLOSSOM DEARIE:
A reminder that the town was designed in a time when most used horse drawn carriages, trains and there feet to get anywhere.
A parking study? Where do you live? The issue is mainly during the tourist season when I have to drive around in squares to find a spot. Most of the time I just drop my kids and stuff off and meet them when I find a spot.
Still want a parking study? Then look to the north end of this town cause that’s the only hope for a cure in parking. Get over your studies and get a developer for the parking.
LOL! Enjoy all those lovely tasks!
LTOGL: Thank you, but my tasks, as stated succinctly on our BF business card are: Photography, Opinion, Music and Ocean Grove. We strive to be “a digital breeze from the Jersey Shore” not a hurricane of hot air from the mother ship. —Paul
PG: Come to think of it– you should run for Twp. Committee. That would really get their heads spinning and their pencils sharpened! LOL Any chance?
Paul, thanks for your hard work and dedication. Also, I like your no BS answers (much like Trump, lol!). As far as the Twp officials and their interest level in OG—- you are correct!
Kevin: I believe the problem is, that for over 100 years the Township permitted the OGCMA to do their own study, planning, and development as though they were a municipality, until the court said “You cant’ do that anymore”.
The OGCMA then turned OG’s planning over, not to the Township, as some might think, but rather to mutual developer friends of the OGCMA and some members of the Township Committee.
The Township’s Planning Board would then “rubber stamp” the planning; and so nothing has really changed with OG’s planning process since 1879.
Establishing our own government might be a good change.
HOA — Please heed this request. We need a parking study. This is part of your core mission.
For the last 30 years the Township of Neptune has hired three failed planners. Each of the three has failed to or has refused to bring the zoning in OG into conformity with the Municipal Land Use Law. The members of the OGHOA should vote at its next meeting, as Paul has suggested, to hire a planner to do a proper zoning study.
The parking survey that is being done on the net has no weight or worth in a court of law nor with the Township Committee nor with the present planner or planning board. All still refuse to follow or enforce RSIS or bring OG’s zoning into conformity with the MLUL.
The residents are entitled to having the MLUL followed and enforced. We are entitled to having RSIS followed and enforced. We, as the residents of OG, are not second class residents of Neptune nor the state and should not be treated as such. We are entitled to the enforcement of the MLULaw, the benefits of the MLULaw and the protection that MLULaw is providing to every other resident of the township and state. This is what we are being denied.
Kevin Chambers
Fran Hopkins,: Ocean Grove cannot solve its parking problems until the zoning is amended : to limit all new (residential development) to DETACHED SINGLE FAMILY HOMES as recomended by professional planners 30 years ago. The present planning for O.G. is now being done by a group called WAVE.
LTOGL: You are correct, but those people, who have engaged in a total lack of transparency about the North End, have not left us with “muddy waters.” They have left us with nothing to go by—total opacity. Blogfinger has presented a clear critique of their actions—nothing “muddy.”
We would welcome their responding to our assessments of the situation, but don’t expect clarity from them—they have agendas out the wazoo, and explaining their actions to us is not on the to-do list.
But if you and others see the situation as “muddy waters” then convince the HOA to hire an impartial land use lawyer to assess the situation and tell us what’s going on.
Thanks for your input, Paul
Ocean Elmo: I liked your comment very much, but I tried to reach those two candidates to get them to discuss OG issues with me. It seemed like a good opportunity for them to weigh in on our problems, but my two emails inviting them to let me interview them were ignored. So they don’t seem to be interested in us. It would have been a good strategy for them to pick up votes in OG, but I guess they didn’t have enough sense to approach Grovers other than the boiler plate cards they sent out in the mail.
It would be great if we have our own district committeeman, but that isn’t how governance works in Neptune. There was a documentary on TV recently about Yonkers, NY where they do have a specific councilman for each district and where they elect the mayor. That would be better for us in OG.—Paul
Long time OG Lady-
How many voters does Ocean Grove have?
Let’s bring 2348 of our closest friends to the next election and we will have our advocate.
That’s how many votes it took Williams to win his seat.
Harris lost by 508 votes
Sheehan lost by 696 votes
Can Ocean Grovers muster up 700 additional votes on Election Day?
We might have 2 advocates in Neptune Twp if those two candidates showed some interest in our town and we got out and backed them.
Unfortunately the Neptune Township “Committee” shows no interest in publicly stating any explanation to clear the muddy waters about the North End Redevelopment. In fact, there really isn’t an advocate for Ocean Grove on the Committee at all. There should be an “advocate” for Ocean Grove on the Twp. Committee, who communicates regularly with those that are paying his/her salary. What a novel idea.
It still can’t hurt to complete the OGHOA’s Parking Survey, which is found on their website at this link: http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07ebs1gpnjigf9x5pq/a01b4ih4c7m91/greeting.
Questions 9 and 10 ask for “Comments” and “Do you have any suggestions for improving parking in Ocean Grove?” These are opportunities to bring to their attention our views on “improprieties and illegalities around town regarding land use issues” as you noted. For example, in response to question 10, I wrote, “The Home Owners Association should insist that the Neptune Township Committee stop ignoring the state Residential Site Improvement Standards. The Township’s ordinance prohibiting off-street parking is in violation of RSIS. All new residential multi-family construction must provide for adequate parking.”
Steve Valk is correct. Ocean Grove is a national treasure, and all the groups in town should cooperate with each other to keep it that way.
However, there is only one group that is responsible to adopt the zoning that would accomplish the goal of preserving our town for future generations, and that group is the Neptune Township Committee.
But when elected officials believe,”To the victor go the spoils,” they start running the government by “The Golden Rule.” That rule is “Those who have the gold make the rules,” (especially the zoning rules) and they reward their supporters, who in turn reward the politicians with “campaign contributions.”
You would think our little Victorian town would be protected from this kind of corruption by our elected local and state officials.
It’s not.
Your article “Factions” is terrific. It opens ones eyes to the make up of the town & how these groups can keep Ocean Grove as a unique & special place or one more Jersey shore hodge podge.
Paul, sorry to restate the obvious, but in 1980 you had a much more homogeneous population here. Since then, the older Methodist group has passed away to a great extent and as new folks move into Ocean Grove, the “old ways” are becoming lost. Attendance at the summer services is smaller in the morning and negligible in the evening. Boardwalk services has grown dramatically but the are summer visitors, not necessarily homeowners
Each new person or family coming brings a new agenda. When have you met a new person who was vetted by the Camp Meeting? When we bought our first house in 1993 we were given an interview asked to sign papers that we would “obey” the rules of the CMA as presented, much like my grandmother was asked to sign in the 1940’s. Doc Stoll stared you in the yes and asked you directly if you really meant what you were signing.Twenty two years later who gets interviewed?
If the CMA owns the land and gives us the lease, it seems they should be embracing new folks initially.
I agree with you that we should be more embracing of each other and work together for the greater good of our wonderful little town.
It has to start with positivity, not name calling and negativity.
I don’t have the answer, sorry to say, but I do have the hope that we can sustain this special place for generations to come.
Ted Aanensen