Season 5. One advantage of being in the mob is that you get to enjoy marvelous food at feasts for the guys only, but oftentimes the goomars get to attend. Christopher (aka Christafuh) has become a “made man,” but junior hoods like him have to pay for these dinners out. This one, with champagne and all the trimmings, cost him over $1,000.00. But he stiffed the waiter, resulting in a confrontation behind the restaurant which didn’t end well for that waiter.
You can also get amazing 3 pound lobsters at any of the Spanish/Portuguese restaurants in the Ironbound District of Newark. I used to live in Newark in that neighborhood, so we sometimes go back. Don Pepe’s is a good choice.
I met a mobster once at the Jersey Shore. My band and I were playing at a bar/restaurant in Lavallette called the Red Rail (now condos.) A gangster used to frequent the place with his floozie girlfriend. He threatened us unless we played “Sweet Georgia Brown” until he told us to stop. He liked to dance to that tune. It went on for about 20 minutes.
This Blogfinger piece is from January , 2019, but having just had an election this month, Nov. 8, 2022, where two Democrats were again elected to the one-party-rule Neptune Committee, the post below still has some relevance, and Nicholas Williams is still in office.
And the two who won, York and Lane, the least experienced committeemen regarding the Grove, were cynically assigned by Mayor Brantley to solve parking problems in OG. And that is why they sat near the front at this past Saturday’s HOA meeting. (11/26/22.)
And I also want to tap into the Blogfinger archive to when Dr. Brantley came to an HOA meeting and said that Ocean Grover was the “jewel in the crown” of Neptune Township. But he is so enamored of the Grove that he has led the atrocity known as the North End Redevelopment Plan. None of these Neptunite Commiteepersons give a damn about Ocean Grove, and this opinion is based on their actions governing the Township.
Paul Goldfinger, Editor@Blogfinger.net. 1/21/19
Committeeman Williams just finished a year as the Neptune Mayor. But he once said, a few years ago, that he would never comment on Blogfinger. Well this may be the only campaign promise that he ever lived up to in Ocean Grove.
Most politicians at local, state and national levels are looking to engage with the press as well as with the public in a way that would ensure that their views would not be misconstrued.
But not so in Neptune Township where one-party rule seems to permit elected politicians such as Williams to hide under their desks in order to avoid interacting with challenging media such as Blogfinger. But isn’t he supposed to represent and communicate with the people? Does he only represent the Grover-less parts of town?
As you approach Rt. 71 while driving to the end of Corlies Ave, have you seen the sign that says “Ocean Grove Historic District?” Neptuners like to think of the Grove as their historic district, but they wouldn’t mind if we lost our historic designations tomorrow.
Their indifference to our part of town has been evident at least since 2007 when they shut down single family home zoning at the OG North End in favor of preferences for connected others.
And for those few Grovers who attend the Committee meetings, they must sit on their hands for 2-3 hours until the “Public Portion” when they can have 5 minutes to say what’s on their minds, and with little or no response typically emanating from the “Lords and Lady” who sit elevated above them on the dais.
One time we reported on how Jack Bredin went to the microphone and was forced physically to sit down when the Mayor (MB Jahn then) literally called the cops.
In the Coaster, Williams handed out press releases which the Coastericans happily post verbatim without any challenges At BF we do not accept press releases. The Neptune Republicans asked us to do just that this week. They sent us a press release which they requested that we post word for word. We refused. When that press release does appear in the Coaster this week, we will report on it, but in our own words.
Why are those Neptune Committeemen so secretive? They routinely engage in practices which we routinely challenge in Blogfinger. But they won’t interact in our comments section with BF and interested Grovers, as well as with the many readers from here and elsewhere who go to our site on a daily basis. We often have over 500-1000 hits in a single day. This represents many more than the 50-60 Grovers who go to Groaners’ dopey meetings.
This smells of a coverup. How else can it be explained? The pols seem to fear interaction with the public. But why should they interact? They know that Democrats will continue to win locally without approval in the Grove.
There is a large African American voting block in mid-town who tend to vote according to party. But what have the elected Dems done for those Midtowners? At the next Committee election** we may hear from two sides instead of just one, at least that is what the Repubs in town are saying now.
Unfortunately, ideology is replacing bipartisanship in America, and “all politics is local.”* If we Grovers can’t rely on our elected officials to represent us, and if our citizen based groups such as the Home Owners Association do not step in, then, as Jack Bredin recently said, “We are sunk.”
* Thomas “Tip” O’Neill, Democrat.
**November 2019, two Repubs lost to two Dem incumbents for seats on the Neptuner Committee. One party rule prevails. Bad news!
By Paul Goldfinger, Latin Music Editor @Blogfinger.
I want to be at this party. Don’t you? Great music and all the salsa you can eat (strong heat, without cilantro—don’t like that spice.) This song, in case you don’t know, is about sex—really. The title translates to “You Know How to Love Me.” Be sure to watch the video all the way to the end—there is a musical treat, best enjoyed with a steak fajita.
Gabriela, 1999. By Debbie Fleming Caffery from her exhibit “Brothels of Mexico.”
By Paul Goldfinger, photography editor @Blogfinger
Debbie Fleming Caffery (1948-) is a documentary/fine art photographer from Louisiana who only shoots in black and white. “I see in black and white,” she says. She can’t be pigeon holed because she is drawn to all sorts of subjects. Debbie says, “I want to document life around me.” The small towns of the Mississippi delta constantly intrigue her. She finds a scene that draws her in, she studies it, becomes “infatuated” by it, and then finally she starts photographing.
Among her most famous works include her photo essays of the Katrina devastation, southern sugar mills and cane harvesting at dawn and dusk, and the Mexican brothels which inspired the image above.
The photograph “Gabriela” is from her 2009 book The Spirit and the Flesh and from the exhibit that year at the Gitterman Gallery in NYC. Here is a link: Gitterman Gallery
Debbie Fleming Caffery is a wife and mom to 3 children, but even now, at 66 years old, she says that she cannot imagine life without photography.
JOHN BARRY wrote Somewhere in Time for the 1979 movie of the same name:
According to the OGHOA theory of relativity, 60 people out of a population of over 3,000 in OG is a superb turnout, and all who were present today were congratulated by the organization. This article on Blogfinger will be read by thousands of people, at the rate of about 400-500 or more each day starting today.
A number of important topics were discussed at today’s meeting, but only 2% of the population were able to hear the information, and not all of them could understand all the details as explained by a lawyer/homeowner (Joyce Klein) who presented some complex material about parking and taxes. But the former is what raised eyebrows at this session because it is startlingly new, tangible, and original.
Something should be done, such as an online video, so that many more could hear the presentations. You will get more details in the Coaster, but the most interesting components were the questions and answers. On Thursday the Coastericans will present their report by the stenographer who comes to each HOA meeting.
Below we’ll give you an idea about the most important topic—permit parking pilot plan: (the 4 P’s. and we will add 2 more “promises, promises”)
You know what they say about decisions made by committee, but nevertheless, a”pilot plan” will be presented for residential parking permits to the Township. This plan was designed by a group consisting of the HOA parking committee, the Better Parking Alliance, the CMA (?) and the Chamber of Commercials. The pilot will last for one year.
It was difficult to understand the geography without a map, but the trial balloon will include mostly streets at the North End. One bordering street, Asbury Avenue, is so congested and compromised by A. Park employees, that they will be given permits, two per house, on one side of the street, for an entire year.
The other bordering streets include Heck Avenue to Pilgrim Pathway, and the enclosed streets will receive permits for May 15 to September 15. The plan will be enforced by The Neptune Police Department which will get to keep all ticket revenues.
Permits will be free, but having a permit would “never” guarantee a parking space according to Ms. Klein. She said, “You would have a better chance for getting a spot on your street.”
The devil will be in the details, but here are a few glaring issues evident already:
a. Neptune Township wants all of Neptune Township to be part of the plan, and the CMA has agreed with this idea. This is a joke! This plan has to be about Ocean Grove residents and their parking problems. The people of Neptune have no residential parking issues.
This should not be about who gets to park by the beach. The CMA would love this because it would promote even more beach goers.
Every shore town, including OG, understands that tourists will come to the beach and will find parking without any governmental assistance. This dopey idea is political subterfuge designed to sabotage any permit plan.
b. The Camp Meeting Association has long been opposed to permit parking for residents, and they probably still are.
c. The Neptune Committee will hide under their dais rather than agree to this plan, and many others will be opposed from the Grove. Committeemen Lane and York were at this HOA meeting. Is this political grandstanding? Let’s see how they vote at the Committee meetings.
d. As Ms Klein pointed out, and as Blogfinger has said for years, the main problem is that there are more cars than spaces, and that is a problem in season and especially when the CMA and the CC turn on their giant suction machines and fill our town with tourists all season long for 6 months each year robbing we-the-people from Ocean Grove of prime weekends in the prime months.
It would be a miracle if even a “pilot” plan gets off the ground. But if it happens, then every resident must be supplied with the details in writing and then public hearings should be held, but leave the Neptuner parkers out of it.
Mildred Hardeman’s historic home from 1876 at 76 Mt. Tabor Way was recently sold on Nov. 9, 2022. It had 2 bedrooms and 843 ft2. We don’t know when she died or when the house was vacated, but the selling price was $425,000.
It has a lovely location overlooking Greenleaf Park near New York Avenue. It’s interesting to trace a historic house in the Grove. Our 1880 home had two celebrities residing there (besides Blogfinger) which we reported on.
Eileen and I walked by Mildred’s home a few days ago. She had been living there in the past with caretakers. Now it is empty, but someone did buy it. Hopefully it will be preserved in its historic condition.
Today we walked by again; it is on our route from Auditorium Square Park to Mt. Hermon Way:
76 Mt. Tabor Way. 11/26/22. Eileen is playing the part of Mildred. Maybe we can reenact our interview with Mildred on that porch. Paul Goldfinger photo. 11/26/22. Click once to enlarge.
