The Groaners Board sits and faces the audience. This image is from the ZOOM display. 7/24/21
This is the in-person audience at the HGA meeting. 7/24/21 ZOOM image.
Blogfinger team coverage of the HOA membership meeting:
There were about 30 people in the Community Room. There were also about 30 signed on via ZOOM.
Back when Herb Herbst ran an activist Home Owners Association, they had about 1000 members. That edition of the HOA from the 1990’s shook up the town and brought it back from the abyss.
This edition? What has it accomplished?
This meeting was supposed to be a “Membership Forum” They hoped it would be a free-for-all where anyone can take the mike. They wanted to know, “What’s Bugging You?
Evidently there were others who, like me, had low expectations for the meeting. I caught the second half, and it was pretty dull. Robert Lane, Neptune Comedy member, took the floor and asked for volunteers to joint the Fletcher Lake Commission whose main function these days is to deal with wayward fowl and their excrement. “Chicks and ducks and geese better scurry…” when this crew gets serious.
Assemblyman Eric Houghtaling stood up to say “hello ” and he defended the job he did with the Neptune Comedy to solve Broadway drainage problems. He will have more to say at the August meeting.
The President of the Groaners Richard Williams called Main Avenue “Main Street.” He said that if a food truck appears in town, the citizens should demand to see their permit. And, you can call the police, as someone did at the sight of a “lobster truck.”
It seems to me that they should have let the lobster truck stay. In fact they should have one night a week when food trucks could assemble on Ocean Avenue. It would be a huge hit. But it would compete with the CMA’s multiple and congested events over there. It’s the sort of out-of-the-box idea that the HGA cannot produce.
Joyce Klein, trustee, spoke about how to get approvals for rental units. She said that single night rentals were legal in the Grove. But what she failed to provide was some data as to how common Airbnb and other similar rentals are in the Grove. It is an important trend here and elsewhere, but how much of a problem is it in this town? Don’t expect the Groaners to tell you.
A member of the Groaners board stood to tell us that he needs more volunteers for the “Green Committee.” Their goal is to improve the “carbon footprint” of Ocean Grove. I can’t tell you how exciting that prospect is. What a joke!
The most marvelous agenda item that I saw was about nothing emanating from the HOA. Instead a ballsy Grovarian woman went to the microphone to describe her accomplishments in doing battle with useless power and cable lines around town. There are some rental homes that have up to 10 lines going to the house. She calls herself “Erin the Cable Lady.”
Who in their right mind would like to tangle with with Verizon and Optimum, but she has done it and has made some progress. “Erin the Cable Lady” is dedicated to her idea.
She will help any of you who have such a problem. Unfortunately, her description of her email address fell flat. But I bet you could contact the Groaners for her address, or she can send us her email to Blogfinger@verizon.net, and we will help publicize her crusade.
What does Erin look like? Well, look at the photo above. She is in the audience, on the left side, in a pink top, raising her right hand.
Erin—you are roll model for all Grovarians. You deserve a medal or at least a round of (digital) applause.
Here’s for Erin:
If you want to know all the details of this meeting, you can read the Coaster next Thursday or maybe the HGA will actually post some minutes on their web site. The last time they did that was October 2020.
They announced that they have planted a memorial tree in Auditorium Park for a former member. There will be a memorial plaque. Will it look like a tombstone as do some of the Firemen’s Park memorials? When will Neptune ban the use of our public spaces for memorials to the dead? What other shore towns do that?
Blogfinger receives 500-600 hits per day on average. So if you have an issue that you want to air out, send it to us and we will consider posting it. You can send us an email or a letter to the editor or a ” just wondering”segment. You will get more exposure than at events such as today’s. Blogfinger@verizon.net
Have you noticed that the Groaners never respond to our readers about the important issues which we raise. Preserving the trustee’s private club is a greater priority than actually becoming activists and doing something.
It’s time to bring in some young people whose future in this town is being fiddled with by this crew.
And this is for the Fletcher Lake Commission. BEVERLY KENNEY from Oklahoma.
A great blue heron was seen on Wesley Lake a few days ago. We will post a photo. Paul
On my two recent visits to OG, I noticed that the Wesley Lake geese were gone. I imagine this was due to several floating orange lights that are supposed to annoy them. When I walked over to the Bradley Beach station today, I noticed a flock in Fletcher Lake by the Pilgrim Pathway footbridge. I have a goose call and will try to communicate with them on future trips to move elsewhere. Instead of fish and chips, perhaps the Auxillary could offer roast OG goose—surely a gourmet item.