APP.com (an on-line appendage of the Asbury Park Press) has a column called “What’s Happening” by Austin Bogues. It is said to be “about Asbury Park and Neptune.””
On July 19, a piece appeared under that banner called “Will Ocean Grove charge for parking?”
It begins by saying that “a discussion is emerging again on curbing the number of people who park for free in Ocean Grove to get to Asbury Park. Ocean Grove doesn’t charge for parking anywhere, but the township committee is eyeing some changes including parking permits.”
Really? Are parking permits going to help with the Asburian invasion of OG?
They interviewed Barbara Burns of the OG Groaners who said that she “would like to see a pilot parking program set up this fall.” She complains that people are “parking and then walking from Ocean Grove to get to the Asbury Park Beach and to the Asbury train station.” She failed to recognize that the Asburians are usually heading to the Cookman Avenue night life.
She said, “In my view, this is totally normal behavior, but we need to take some action.” But who cares if she thinks that this invasion is “totally normal,” and is she saying that parking permits will solve that problem?
She not only did not explain how permits will help that, but she offered no suggestion as to what “action” she would take. This is pure double talk, issue conflation, and fake news.
Then the column goes on to quote Committeeman Rizzo who said, “Our greatest successes in this area have come with the critical input of the residents, and their needs will continue to be the number one priority as discussions about permit parking progress,” Rizzo said.
So this Neptune Committeeman seems also to think that parking permits will help solve the invasion of the Asburians. But what “critical input” from residents is she talking about? We have heard of no such input. And what “great successes” is she touting? And what “discussions about permit parking” is she referring to? Certainly the readers of this APP.com column could have no idea.
And finally, what about the headline which suggests that “Ocean Grove may charge for parking?” Where is that fake news located?
Then, to add insult to injury, the column went on to talk about Asbury Park “backing the Paris Climate Agreement.” The mayor there is “signing on to the Mayors’ National Climate Action Agenda.” Wow! Where is Mayor Brantley on this one?
Then this “What’s Happening”column, which is supposed to be about Neptune and A. Park, goes on to report that the AP Beach Bar has been named to the top 25 Beach Bars in the USA. We should have a toast to that one. The column goes on to report that “the accolades and superlatives keep pouring into Asbury Park. ” Well of course, when your PR people are working overtime to stuff those accolades into our inboxes.
Then they tell us about a new honor for AP: “The website Thrillist named Asbury Park one of the top 13 beach destinations for tourists to visit this summer.” Thank goodness OG didn’t make that list.
After that comes about 4 other posts about AP.
So much for their coverage of “Neptune.” And the gibberish goes on.
Link below:
THE ROOFTOP SINGERS:
