Fran Scalessa is a yoga instructor and a disabled senior from Ocean Grove. For the last 17 years he has taught yoga to small classes, mostly on the pier, but sometimes on the boards. His classes are very popular with yoga students coming from the Grove and elsewhere.
Fran Scalessa conducts a yoga class on the boards this past June, out of the way of walkers. Paul Goldfinger photo. ©.
Fran is forced to go out of town to conduct a yoga class. Paul Goldfinger photo. 8/16/22. Asbury Park.
Recently Fran was told, in early July, while conducting a class on the pier, that he would have to cease and desist because his classes are “competition”against the CMA’s new “Fitness, Faith and Fun workouts for the body and soul,” which started in June on a new cement slab near the pier.
He was told that if he did not leave, the police might be called to remove him. But he refused to go. When he had another class on the boards on July 10, another man approached him and said that he could no longer offer his yoga classes. The man never identified himself.
After that, on July 15, he met with a high ranking CMA official who thought that something could be worked out, but then that hope was retracted. Weeks went by and finally Fran and two of his supporters met with President Badger on August 12.. Fran was told that the CMA “wanted him gone.”
But later in the meeting Mr. Badger told Fran that there might be a chance for him if he agreed to recite some of the CMA’s religious convictions praising Jesus, before starting any session.
Fran refused to be coerced into proclaiming such ideas in order to have the freedom to teach yoga on the boardwalk. He said that this was “forced religion” and it was “religious discrimination.”
So, after 17 years without a complaint, Fran had to cancel his OG boardwalk yoga classes. He has quite a number of students and friends who are furious over this situation.
Review of the CMA’s Beach/Boardwalk Regulations (OceanGrove.org) reveals that someone who wants to conduct an activity on the boards that involves money would have to get permission, but there is no money involved with Fran’s situation.
Below is that rule, but there are no provisions for other sorts of activities that do not involve payment:
No person shall offer for sale, or sell any article, commodity, beverage, food or perform any service for which such person anticipates payment either on the boardwalk, sidewalk or ocean front park area except with the written permission of the OGCMA. All such activity is also under and subject to zoning and mercantile license regulations of the Township of Neptune.
So Fran is forced out because he would not be steamrolled into promulgating the CMA’s religious ideology.
But imagine the what if’s—-what if folks want to organize some other activity on the boards that does not involve money but is really merely for enjoyment and fun. Will they also have to endure the same precondition?
For example: a small chess club wants to play on the boards, a trio wants to make music, kids have a marbles tournament, the wisdom bench convenes, 6 woman want to play music and do tap dancing, juggling classes, checkers competitions, a group wants to do calisthenics, etc.
Will Fran’s experience be precedent setting? How can they insist that he espouse a specific religious doctrine without forcing all the others to do the same?
Since the boardwalk is a “public thoroughfare” there should be no religious activities up there, minus the pavilion.
What happened to “church vs state” concepts? Would Grovers support Badger’s seeming overreach in conflating religious ideology with rules pertinent to a public space?
Is it possible that the CMA would really stand firm over yoga classes?
Would they actually be willing to endure pushback over something as innocuous and ultimately beneficial as free yoga instruction?
Surely, upon further reflection, the CMA will come to see the error of its logic and in the spirit of the overall good to the Township of OG and it’s diverse community, allow Fran and others the constitutionally protected freedom to express themselves through any variety of harmless diversions and pastimes.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor, Blogfinger.net. Ocean Grove, NJ 07756. 8/16/22
THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS:
I was saddened to hear that Ocean Grove is trying to persuade people against their will. I moved from NY to Ocean Grove in 1993, and lived their for 16 years, had a home raised my children there. It was a wonderful place to have a family than, great neighborhood. Yoga and fitness was always a part of daily life there, no one objected, no one was ever excluded, no one complained. It was never like that before, what happened to everyone? But as you can see the political climate has changed around us and has changed people’s hearts and minds. .
It’s wrong and sinful to expect someone to recite a prayer, someone who might not believe in the prayer or be a part of that particular religion. What would be the point of that?
When we force our opinions and or religion apon another person, we are edging God out. Keep on standing up for what you believe.
David H Fox,
The ‘Public Highway’ that you refer to from the NJ State Superior Court Decision in the late 1800’s was meant to clarify at the time that the ‘Highway’ part of a public ‘Right of Way’ was the sidewalk that is six inches higher than the ‘Cartway’ section that is now used for motor vehicles.
The Highway or the sidewalk cannot be ‘used for emergency access by ambulances, etc.’
It simply was not designed for that purpose .
I am a member of Fran’s yoga group and I look forward to exercising (pun intended) our right to assemble peaceably in any of the beautiful public spaces in our town, including the boardwalk.
Thank you, Fran, for sharing your talents with our community. There is room for us all. Namaste.
I don’t see any regulation that would apply to Fran’s situation. Without a rule, how can they rightfully cut him off?
How can an organization that dictates that every activity on the boardwalk start with prayer, claim to provide a “Christian seaside setting”??? Outrageous.
I hope that some — many — attorneys are reading this post. This situation cries out for legal action.
I appreciate this discussion and the bright light it is shining on this problem.
I am not a yoga student of Fran’s, but I know of his skills through friends and family. I fully support his right to assemble a group for a session on our beautiful boardwalk.
It’s important to note that it only became a problem when the CMA felt their own BRAND NEW program might have some competition.
I was involved quite a bit after Sandy when discussions were ongoing at the CMA about the FEMA applications and I never heard of such distinctions other than to say that the CMA would get FEMA funds because the boardwalk functions as a “public thoroughfare” for public safety.
That was the crux of it–the persuasive argument for FEMA, but no one I came across ever said that “public thoroughfare” only refers to emergency services and that the boardwalk was off limits for recreational or commercial purposes, which is obviously not true.
David: Please supply us with documentation of such distinctions.
And if the boardwalk is a “public space/thoroughfare,” just as our parks are, then it has to be treated as a public space for all purposes just as the parks are. We’ve seen commercial and recreational activities in the parks, which are all owned by the CMA.
Perhaps Fran might set up in Founders Park, or would the prayer mandate be applied there as well? And are prayers mandatory for pickle ball and tennis?
You can be sure that the NJ Marathon running on our boards is “recreational” and they charge for participation and so do the 5K runs which occur for charities. Do they have to offer a prayer as they pass through the Grove on the boards?
We and Fran and others who want to use these facilities need better definitions applicable to all so we can know what the issues are.
In the application for FEMA funds to repair the boardwalk, it was noted, “Moreover, it is noteworthy that OGCMA prohibits the facility’s [boardwalk’s] use for commercial and recreational purposes.” It was argued that the boardwalk was used for emergency access by ambulances, etc.
“Conclusion: The Ocean Grove Boardwalk is an eligible private nonprofit (PNP) facility because the facility is designated as a “public highway,” connects neighboring townships and supports the execution of mutual aid agreements, and is available at all times to provide health and safety services of a governmental nature.”
Who doesn’t like to do yoga by the ocean? Oh I don’t. I have never done yoga in my life, but you know yoga has religious roots (Hindu), So the practice already has religion built in as a way to obtain a union with God.
So there really isn’t anything else to say when doing yoga. Maybe the Camp Meeting will take that the consideration when they restore free will to Fran.
I seem to recall that one of the premises put forth by the CMA when petitioning the Federal government to absorb the cost of repairing the boardwalk post Hurricane Sandy was that it was a public thoroughfare. That being the case, how can they require a yoga instructor to recite Methodist religious doctrine as a requirement for leading a free yoga class open to the public? That would seem to be inconsistent with the premise that boardwalk is a public thoroughfare in my opinion. Perhaps the Youth Temple would be a better location for yoga classes that include religious worship as part of their routine.
Fran’s classes, which I’ve been attending since 2006, are good for the body and the soul. Fran is a great yoga teacher and he creates Community. Raised a Catholic, I’ve always admired what the Protestant denominations do so much better than the Catholics: FELLOWSHIP.
In other words, COMMUNITY. Why would the CMA want to quash the Community we all enjoy through Fran’s yoga? Even if Community (aka Fellowship) were not already such a strong Methodist value, why, when loneliness and isolation are the scourge of our times, would anyone, much less leaders of the CMA, want to do anything to diminish any source of community connections? I’m flummoxed.