19th century view of Main Avenue as one approaches the gates in a horse and buggy. Source: OG historian Justin Truth.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @blogfinger.net
Ocean Grove is a historic town on the State and National Registers. Our town government and our town organizations, especially including the Home Owners Association, are supposed to be committed to maintaining that historic perspective as Ocean Grove moves forward in time, now into the 21st century.
But these town entities don’t often place our master plan on top of their priority list. This quote is from the Neptune Twp. Master Plan, Historic Element: “The MLUL (Municipal Land Use Law) responds to a generally held belief that those sections of a municipality that still bear the visual imprint of the past should be preserved.”
Among the “goals and objectives” of this document we find “#1 To preserve and protect Neptune Township’s designated historic sites and structures.”
Most recently they made a decision to use diagonal parking to narrow our beautiful boulevard, Main Avenue, right where it enters town and greets visitors. On Blogfinger we assailed that plan, partly because it will turn our lovely entrance way into a congested eyesore.
But more than the ugliness, this decision goes against history.
In an article written early in the 20th century, the story of President Grant’s visits to Ocean Grove was recounted. You can read it at Justin Truth’s web site. http://thebookofhistoricalsecrets.blogspot.com
Here is a quote from that piece, and please take notice of the part in italics:
“The matchless soldier and the nation’s chief was also a dutiful son and brother, and during the time that his mother and sister occupied a cottage near Wesley Lake he came at frequent intervals to visit them. These trips from Long Branch were made by carriage, and the President’s favorite pair of horses came in time to be as quickly recognized as the man himself.
“It is not surprising, perhaps, that Main Avenue, so wide and straight and smooth, offered to a genuine horse- lover almost irresistible temptation to speeding; but the big and commanding chief of police, who still holds the same position at Ocean Grove, testifies that on certain occasions when it became necessary for him to lift his hand as a warning signal the President always and instantly complied, reining in his spirited bays to a decorous trot.”
So, the President of the United States enjoyed his carriage rides as he rode into our town via that welcoming “wide, straight and smooth” west part of Main Avenue. What would he think today if he knew that the Township was about to choke that stretch with diagonal parking. He probably would change his route onto Broadway.
Contact the Neptune Committee and ask them not to degrade the historic entrance to the Grove.
BEVERLY KENNEY from “Oklahoma.”
The thing I can never, ever understand is this, Ocean Grove has an Historic designation. There are ‘rules and regulations’ that go along with that designation, why in the world would you buy and move to the town and then be upset when the changes you wish to make, whatever they are, are blocked by the Historic guidelines? It’s the same thing with the ground rents. Fair or unfair, however you feel, it’s what you agreed to when you bought here.
Holdout. It’s good that you won’t use pink, because you don’t want to color-clash with the pink line down Main Avenue.
How about chartreuse? —It could be a symbol of a special battle in this town: i.e. The War on Historic Preservation.
Shelley: Hopefully your tirade will be picked up by others who are beginning to see the light of what is being imposed on our town by forces that are motivated by money and not by community.
The public has got to wake up and get themselves a few megaphones to tell the truth of what is happening here. They should make themselves heard incessantly by the Committee and they should organize an ad hoc group to act while the Home Groaners Ass. spins incoherently in dangerous circles.
Blogfinger has been pulling aside the curtains, but only the people can make something happen.
And you are right about the dangers of trying to slip out onto Main Avenue from a side street when a hulking vehicle totally blocks the view. J.Cortese made the same point, and most of us get to barely survive those incidences on a daily basis.
At the very least, the Neptune Traffic Bureau (NTPD) should limit parking in those diagonal spots near intersections to small cars only. —-Paul
Actually I’m holding out for the front of my place on the west side of Ocean Ave. to be changed to diagonal parking.
In fact I might just hit the hardware store for the paint and roller I need and get it done. Oh by the way the lines won’t be pink.
The powers that be will not be happy until every square inch of this town is covered by: cars and housing; Hulking pseudo-Victorians built to the edges of property lines sucking the light from their neighbors; SUVs and trucks sticking so far out into the roadway that turning out of a cross street is a death-defying experience; and small two bedroom homes that are rented out and “sleep 10.”
I, for one, can’t wait for the Auditorium to be turned into luxury condominiums. Totally unbelievable.
Will be ugly, ugly ugly. (Thanks for the article PG)