Members of Ocean Grove United at the beach entrance by the pier on Sunday morning 9:30 am. 8/27/23 Blogfinger.net.
Auditorium Square Park. 8/27/23. Do Grovers really care about the Sunday closings? Tell us: Blogfinger@verizon.net or click on “comments.” Paul Goldfinger photo.
By Paul Goldfinger, MD. Blogfinger.net. Editor-In-Chief. 8/29/23
This story has been picked up by the Asbury Park Press, but it is pretty well buried. That’s because it is much ado about very little. And the Press, like the Coaster, tends to get it wrong.
Some say that it is about chains and locks (DEP warning, ) while others say that it is about illegal beach closures—but no charges or warnings currently exist about the latter.
The CMA tries to diminish the story by characterizing it as involving only a tiny percent of beach time over the year and they view it as a harmless tradition, about quality of life at its core.
They admit that they close the beach for summer Sunday mornings, but they say that the closure doesn’t discriminate—everyone stays out.
But Michael Badger isn’t so sure. He told Blogfinger that this was a very important topic, and I think it’s because he senses that this battle is about more than just 3 hours of Sunday beach closures in summer.
At Blogfinger we take the matter seriously because our readers do. On August 28 Blogfinger had 1,701 hits, and on August 29, 1,320 regarding this matter. Total so far: 3,000.
Neptune United still hasn’t made it clear why they really think that this subject is worth all the sturm and drang. They need to stop the noise and offer some intelligent discussion. Complaining abut tax exemptions is a waste of time. First we need clear explanations by both sides.
FRANCES LANGFORD: