We need less cars in town during prime season.
By Paul Goldfinger, MD. Editor. Blogfinger.net. 1/27/25
Did you know that a new congestion pricing program in NYC has resulted in less congestion and less cars in lower Manhattan?
From NY 4: “The MTA released new numbers showing the new tolling program has made a big impact on the number of vehicles in Manhattan.”
This makes sense because fewer drivers want to pay, so they make other arrangements, for example by not coming into the city; at least not driving into the city. So less cars mean less congestion including less parking glut, and the same would be true in the Grove.
Ocean Grove can become a congestion relief zone
Now that the Groaners have a new name, you can check their website and see that they have formally realized that the number of parking spaces in town is too few for our needs, and that We-The-People who live here and pay taxes need an out-of-the-box solution to reduce useless tourism.
My idea of reducing cars coming into town would allow We-The-People to have their town back, especially during the most beautiful times of the year such as prime weekends. It’s a bit like the benefits of congestion pricing in NY except that it would reduce cars and crowding without any money involved.
What is involved is that the OG Congestion Association (OGCA) needs to keep its promise to improve our quality of life. This is what they officially say:
I wonder how they plan to do that, since they haven’t done so since Herb Herbst and his HOA band of heroes rescued the town about 40 years ago.
So here’s the plan: We need to ban all mega-events in town such as “giant flea markets” and “giant craft markets” both of which bring nothing useful into our town and take advantage of the beauty that we Grovers. provide. And no events should be allowed which close any of our streets. And no foreign cars on display.
The town would benefit from small events organized by We-The-People and would not only result in happier citizens but would change the character of the town, something necessary in the 21st century here to satisfy young people, families, visitors who love the Grove, and residents. And we could use more secular cultural events such as Art on the Porch, live music in our parks, classes at Centennial Cottage, plays for kids, garden tours. house tours, history tours, yard sales, poetry readings, children’s education events, film festival, art classes, secular music on Saturday nights, lectures, sports for kids, and programs for seniors etc. All of this would create happy days here while solving our parking concerns.
The CMA should be encouraged to back off in their quest to fill the town with year-long religious events that occur outside their facilities. so as to create some balance: religious and secular.
They may own the land, but most of that land belongs to the public as a practical matter based on lease payments and public access understandings such as Green Acres. (as per FEMA rulings and special tax relief programs.) And Neptune needs to enforce RISS (NJ Dept of Community Affairs) rules about parking.
ELVIS:
Here is a link to a 2019 post from Blogfinger.net