By Paul Goldfinger, MD, Editor, Blogfinger.net. 2/3/25. Ocean Grove, NJ, USA
From the OGCA at its web site: “The OGCA played a leading role in persuading state and local authorities to investigate and improve conditions in local boarding houses that had become home to large numbers of patients de-institutionalized by state mental health facilities. A direct result of this effort was the formation of the Neptune Township Rooming and Boarding House Commission. The Commission was charged with ensuring that rooming houses in Ocean Grove were safe and secure, and that owners complied with applicable regulations with respect to the treatment of residents. With only two rooming houses remaining in Ocean Grove, the Commission was dissolved in 2013.”
This fake news applies to something that happened nearly 50 years ago, long before the OGCA was created, and long before the current defunct Groaners were around. It is a distortion of the truth to give the impression that 2025 Groaners are somehow connected to this history. You will notice that the credit grabbing above contains no dates regarding what actually happened. This is a purposeful omission because the current Groaners, despite miles and miles of BS, has few if any substantial accomplishments in its past. In fact they are best known for their support of the North End Redevelopment Plan currently on the verge of crawling out of it law-fare hole to ruin a key part of our town.
This sequence of events did occur, but it was brought about by Herb Herbst and his courageous Homeowners Association, a group which did literally save the town by their accomplishments in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Herb’s crew faced a problem where about 10% of the population were mentally ill and were being exploited by some rooming houses. They would often be found wandering about town and sleeping on benches, and they were not reliably receiving appropriate care. The HOA of that era called on Trenton authorities for a more equitable distribution of such cases.
This success story made the town safer and more appealing while assuring the destitute a decent place to stay. It was a delicate matter, but Ocean Grove was hosting a larger proportion of the mentally ill than other towns near us.
Give Herb and his heroic Grover associates credit for that 20th century success, but the latest HOA edition, now with a new name, is falsely claiming credit.
Here is the actual true news story taken from the 2013 Blogfinger OG history timeline. (see link below)
1980’s: “By the 1980’s, the town is characterized by an overall “decrepitude,” including deterioration of buildings, declining tourism, crime, and a growing poor elderly population. (2) Deinstitutionalized mental patients are housed in empty old hotels and rooming houses in Ocean Grove. The town becomes a “psychiatric ghetto” (NY Times, October 1988), and, by the 1980’s, 10% of the town’s population are mental cases who are not receiving appropriate services and are sometimes abused by landlords. The prognosis for Ocean Grove is dire.
“During this period, the Ocean Grove Homeowner’s Association (OGHOA) develops as a political and activist force that successfully begins the process of converting the town from decay to renaissance. (2f)
“1990’s: OGHOA, led by Mr. Herb Herbst, Fran Paladino and others, fight for fair treatment in the allotment of the mentally ill around the state. The group’s political contacts and influence are considerable. The process is complex and difficult, but the numbers of “de-institutionalized” in OG drops considerably.
“The group also saw to the closing of many substandard boarding and rooming houses. The HOA presents Neptune with a “master plan” to protect the historic nature of OG and to rezone for the promotion of single family houses. OGHOA promotes secular tourism while working with CMA to increase religious tourism. New people come into town to buy homes and invest in businesses.”
Blogfinger OG timeline posted 2013.
“My True Story” by the Jive Five