Graphic from Seasons General Store in Ocean Grove
Paul Goldfinger, Editor, Blogfinger.net. Source: the Coaster. June 30, 2022.
This past spring, the Neptuner Committee decided to have a “non-binding resolution” regarding whether or not we should have parking permits for residents of Ocean Grove. Now the matter is given front page treatment by the Coastericans. (June 30, 2022)
Nowhere in the piece is there any mention or question as to why such a vote is a good idea to decide such a matter.
I think it is idiocy designed to end the discussion once and for all instead of finding legitimate ways to give the residents of OG their due.
And, guess what: Every voter in Neptune will get to vote on our future.
In the Coaster article, the matter is discussed in interviews with two people: A Deputy Mayor whom no one has heard of (Keith Cafferty) and Michael Badger, CMA President who usually speaks of Ocean Grove as being a “Christian Seaside Community” and who usually ignores the largest faction in the Grove—the residents who suffer the most from parking chaos.
Cafferty is quoted as saying that the Township wants to “reach the largest amount of impacted residents.” But evidently he sees the entire population of Neptune as being “impacted residents.” Like Badger, the Committee never mentions the residential community of OG who are the ones who need parking relief.
So both these quoted mouthpieces believe that this “resolution” nonsense should be decided by a vote of all Neptune residents.
Badger revealed his obvious bias when he is quoted as saying, “The OGCMA supports the question being brought to the voters of Neptune.” But he won’t admit that he has a conflict of interest in this obvious idea of manipulating a vote.
In addition he said, “It’s an opportunity for all of Neptune’s voters to respond to accessibility to the beach that is associated with Neptune.” He went on to say that we need to “share our beach with our neighbors.” Since when does he care about all the citizens of Neptune? This is a newfound love affair for him.
Badger has decided to cause confusion by framing our parking problems as an issue of beach equality for all who live in Neptune! He also said: “A day at the beach should be open to everyone.”
He didn’t mention that our parking problems are much more about the droves of tourists that the CMA brings into town and that Neptune residents coming to the beach here are really no problem.
He lied when he said that there has been a “debate regarding equal access and equal voting rights.” He also asserted that “the opponents to equal access have proposed allowing voting by people whose primary residence and voting privileges are elsewhere but who have vacation homes in OG. They hope to make Ocean Grove more exclusive.”
This disgraceful mish-mash is a collection of detritus and we challenge Mr. Badger to document that “debate” and to back up everything he said regarding “opponents to equal access” and “people who want to make OG “more exclusive.”
Those of us who live in the Grove can see through this crap, and you residents need to call out Badger on his outrageous statements.
As for the idea that the entire town of Neptune should vote on an issue of importance only to Ocean Grove residents, it is obvious that this trick is being used to create an argument which we can never win!
It has happened more than once before when the citizens of Ocean Grove wanted to secede from Neptune. So a referendum was held, and the plan was, of course, voted down by the Neptuners: the fix was in.
Here is a link from 2014 on this subject:
PHIL OCHS. “Changes.”
“Moments of magic will glow in the night
All fears of the forest are gone
But when the morning breaks they’re swept away by
Golden drops of dawn, of changes.”
Ocean Grove is a private housing development owned by the OGCMA. The state requires the OGCMA to provide parking for both its lease holders and its own facilities.
This isn’t a matter for voting; this is a requirement that the OGCMA must meet and a requirement that Neptune must enforce through zoning.
Both Neptune and the OGCMA have been violating law and this must end. It is time that Neptune enforce State RSIS and Federal ADA parking requirements for OG through its zoning as required by law.
Neptune is paying a planner and 4 attorneys who are knowingly ignoring and violating zoning laws when it comes to OG zoning. This is major grand larceny for the fact that these officials are taking our tax dollars while refusing to do their job.
It is time the State and Federal governments investigate this major violation of our Civil Rights.
All this Badger beach talk is just a lame and fictitious distraction to make us look bad in the eyes of potential Neptuner voters.
I believe he desperately wants any attempt to pass a resident parking sticker plan to be soundly defeated because he wants his religious tourists to be able to comfortably park in the Grove, and as the CMA continues to expand its programs here, parking will be an ongoing challenge, and he doesn’t want the demands of OG residents to get in his way.
Thanks RRS for your powerful response. Badger deserves condemnation by Grovers who value truth and understand what the CMA is about now.
Michael Badger: “A day at the beach should be open to everyone.”
If so, why is admission charged? Some will be excluded because they do not care to pay or cannot afford to pay beach admission. And why is the beach closed on Sunday mornings? What he really means is that a day at the beach is open to those who can pay the admission price and don’t want to enjoy the beach on Sunday mornings.
He also asserted that “the opponents to equal access have proposed allowing voting by people whose primary residence and voting privileges are elsewhere but who have vacation homes in OG. They hope to make Ocean Grove more exclusive.”
I maintain a primary residence elsewhere but I own a home in Ocean Grove. How is it that Michael Badger has evidently become my self-appointed spokesman and offers a blanket statement that all non-resident homeowners have as their nefarious goal to make Ocean Grove “more exclusive.”
One of the things that I treasure about OG is its diversity. I have absolutely no desire to make it “more exclusive.” I like that OG has a mix of homeowners, renters, all age groups, minorities, housing at different price points etc.
Perhaps, it is the OGCMA that seeks to make OG more exclusive by catering to heterosexuals of the Methodist faith, who are, by and large, majority,Caucasian. Between 1 and 3% of Americans self identify as members of the United Methodist Church, and an additional 1% are reported to be members of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church. If representing only 1 to 4 % of the population isn’t exclusive, I don’t know what is.