This lucky bug, Mr. Blue, sits contentedly in a rare OG driveway. Don’t be rude and block his egress, or his people will be very mad. His theme song, by the Fleetwoods,, is below Paul Goldfinger photo. 2015
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor@Blogfinger.net
This conversation was begun in the context of storm news, as a snow storm hit Ocean Grove on January 27, 2015. Comments are posted chronologically here instead of the usual location. Editing might be required for clarity, grammar, spelling, and sanity.
Mr. Right Jan. 27, 2015 —–“Something needs to be said about parking etiquette. If one neighbor spends 30 minutes digging his car out only for his **#$@% neighbor to pull into that spot as soon as he leaves, that is wrong! In the past, diggers have placed garbage cans, cones, etc. to hold their spot, and as far as I am concerned, that is perfectly ethical to do, even though the police will not back you up if someone removes the can and parks there anyhow.”
Marie Coppinger. Jan. 27, 2015—- “May I comment on “parking etiquette”? I have been in O.G. for many years and this comes up every year. These are public streets. You cannot “hold” a parking space just because you shoveled it out. How would I know who shoveled any given space? And if I do park in my neighbor’s spot, it is because some one has parked in the space I recently shoveled. Let’s be reasonable.”
Blogfinger. Marie is correct that this topic has appeared before, but some subjects are worth rehashing. Here is a link to July 2013 when there were many comments about this subject. holding spaces link
Plump Mike. Jan 28. “I guess Marie took her neighbor’s parking spot. If each homeowner took the time to dig out one space near their home, making it easy to enter and exit, then this wouldn’t be as much an issue. It’s a shame that OG taxpayers don’t have a space reserved for each home like they have in many north Jersey towns. If you could dig out your space, it would be there for you when you get home from the grocery store. Taxpayers should get a break from the town on the parking situation, especially in the winter where it can be a hardship to walk four blocks in the cold.”
Pam. Jan 28. “It is a shame that as tax payers we aren’t entitled to one parking spot. Nevertheless my husband and I try to show courtesy to our neighbors even in the summer and other seasons. We try very hard to park in the same spots every time thus leaving spots free for our neighbors to park in front of their houses.
“I wish something could be done for our OG elderly who should be able to park in their spot. It’s hard for them to have to carry groceries or maneuver in the snow if their car is a ways from their houses; and they shouldn’t have to search for a parking spot during the height of the summer. If only a little civility could be shown to our neighbors and the elderly. Then we could get busy figuring out a way to provide parking for tourists and for those owning commercial trucks so they don’t take our spots away.”
Mary Lou. Jan 28. “We are all pretty respectful of each others “parking territory” on my street. I like to park in the usual space nearest to my front door because I leave for work at 6 am in the morning. On a dark, icy winter morning, I appreciate the fact that I have a short distance to get to my car. During the summer, I don’t care if I’m parked at a distance.”
Doubting Thomas. Jan 28. This reminds me of internet etiquette, which is still evolving. Rules of politeness must be written down and acknowledged by most civilized citizens if they are to be honored, but such rules don’t exist for Grovers with snow drifts. So we must rely on the instincts of residents who perhaps have certain values in their DNA, or, at, least in their subconscious where common themes exist based on our culture. Having said that, do unto others as you would have them do unto you, because the NTPD won’t get in the middle of this unless there is blood on the snow.
Embury Resident. Jan. 29. This is intended for the parking etiquette conversation. I have a driveway and only come down on weekends. I try to be a good neighbor and pay someone to clean my (empty) driveway & sidewalk after a snow fall. I did this yesterday. He cleaned everything, only to call me today to let me know that one of my “neighbors” threw all the snow he shoveled from his property onto my driveway. Not very neighborly.
Paul Devine. Jan. 30. I am not in OG many weekends in the winter. Without reserved spots neighbors are able to use the spot which eases parking for our wonderful neighbors. I do agree that something should be done with cars that are warehoused on the street and not used.
Jo Ann Marino. Jan 30. Homeowners in Lavallette who do not have a driveway pay an annual fee to the town for a designated parking space on the street near or outside their home. A win win situation.
Paul Goldfinger. Jan 30. Jo Ann—There are a number of constituencies in Ocean Grove including tourists, renters, merchants and others. The group that is ignored in this conversation are the homeowners who live here year round or part time. They have been ignored as far as the parking situation is concerned. I totally agree that we too should receive a reserved space in front of our homes. This is a common solution around the state of New Jersey.
Wisher. Feb. 1—I am bothered that few people shovel. Now ice and snow have solidified around cars, and cannot be removed. So instead of winter in New England, the scene looks more like Arctic Station Ocean Grove. There are many able-bodied hipsters renting in my Asbury Ave. neighborhood with nice cars and no shovel. Out of the whole two blocks around me, it was just me and another older guy shoveling our spaces. Then we pull out, and someone is there in the space when we get back.
It is a shame because it is great exercise and a way to meet people through simple acts of kindness.
Scene: Internist office in Neptune. I have been ushered into an examining room by a woman who is dressed in a colorful uniform with flowery pants and top—like pajamas. She doesn’t identify herself or her job description (eg nurse? aide? proctologist?). She takes my BP and my pulse. While she is doing that, I say “70,” amusing myself while trying to predict my heart rate. She looks up and says “75.” She is not impressed with my accurate guess. She then says that she will take my temperature in my ear. She sticks a probe into my ear and says, “96.5” She doesn’t know that I am a physician.
Me: 96.5?
She: Yes
Me: What happened to 98.6?
She: You’re normal.
Me (incredulous) What?
She: Oh yes, out of 500 patients here, most are 96 or 97.
Me: What do you do if you get 98.6?
She: Oh, that’s fever.
Me: 98.6 is fever?
She: Yes
Me: (to myself—–“Should I find another doctor? Should I complain to the doctor? How can I start a ruckus over this inane conversation when I am constantly finding things wrong whenever I go to a doctor? Medical practice is going to hell in a hand basket. What does that mean anyhow?”)
Me: Thank you.
BEE GEES:. FRom the movie Saturday Night Fever. “Night Fever.”
Conversation: NYC Street Series. By Paul Goldfinger. Click left for full view
By Paul Goldfinger (Some of us miss that Wegmans Café on the second floor; Will it ever return?)
Scene: Wegmans, Ocean. Upstairs café where they have numerous tables and chairs. It is a weekday morning, about 8:30 am. No one else is there. I arrive with my coffee, bagel, iPhone (to check BF) and The New York Times paper edition — looking forward to my mellow morning routine. I find a table with a view overlooking the store. I set everything on the table and sit down.
Disembodied female voice: “With all the tables up here, did you have to sit near me?”
I look around. There is a column facing me, and behind the column I see a woman sitting at a laptop computer. I didn’t notice her before, but now she is quite obvious.
She is about 40 years old and is staring at me, with a slight but (am I imagining this?) menacing smile. I instinctively react negatively to her voice, her tone and her appearance.
Men, I think, always incorporate an assessment of a woman’s appearance whenever they get to talk to one. I thought she was pretty unattractive, although, if it weren’t for her bad attitude, I might have found something to admire.
I stand up and step closer to her.
Me: “Are you kidding?” (I was incredulous, but I also considered the small possibility that she was just teasing.)
She: “No!”
Me: “Well then, I don’t care.” (I mean, really….is she nuts? — thought I. But maybe I do care…a little.)
She: “I’m putting my ear phones on.”
Me: Silence. I resume my morning activities.
Postscript: About 20 minutes later I look up and see that she is gone, but she left a souvenir: all her breakfast detritus. Normally I might have tossed it into the garbage, but it is, in an odd way, part of her, and I didn’t want to think about her for another moment. The busboy will get it.
Scene: People leaving the beach in Ocean Grove. Before climbing the stairs at Main Avenue, many stop to wash their feet. The water spray is close to the exit, causing some congestion. A family was leaving, and one of that group was a little superhero with a bright green cape.
He was struggling a bit because the cape was getting in the way of washing his feet.
Mom : “Superhero, you have to lift your cape.”
Finally Superhero made it onto the boardwalk where he ran around, a mile a minute, so that his cape would fly through the air behind him.
We have no idea of the impact of coronavirus so far in Ocean Grove. Exactly what is the CMA’s Badger monitoring “every hour?” Do we have any test results for the Grove?
This APP article offers very little of substance, but this is what was said in their 4/30 piece today:
a. The reporter says that the CMA and not the Township decides if the boardwalk remains open. What is the truth? According to Jack Bredin, it’s the other way around.
b. Andy Levine, the head of the Better Parking Alliance in OG, who likes to jog on the boards, says that he agrees with keeping our boards open, but he believes that as the weather gets warmer, the CMA “will have to follow everyone else and probably shut things down.”
Hey Andy—stick to parking. “No comment” would have been a better choice for you.
c. ” Barbara Burns, President of the Home Groaners, said she was supportive of the approach taken by the CMA.”
She also is a mind reader saying, “Most people I think are pretty comfortable with following whatever guidance we get from the state.”
It seems she thinks the state has offered “guidance” about our boardwalk, but they have actually shown no interest in the subject.
d. Michael Badger of the CMA said, “We are monitoring it hourly.” He explained the CMA’s plan “is to keep the boardwalk and beach open, with a phased approach to events as the summer months approach, but he cautioned that if there is any danger to public health, that approach could change quickly.”
So, the CMA is monitoring the situation “hourly,” but has he noticed that New Jersey has more cases and more deaths every day?
Evidently he doesn’t see any danger to public health in the Grove. Is he so ignorant of the infectiousness of this virus that he thinks that so far, it’s all fine?
Badger still has not mentioned publicly that there are thousands of people who live in the Grove and who can be impacted by his policies. He doesn’t want to recognize that we have a community of residents who live here and should be factored into his plans which seem to ignore the priority of public health.
And the APP also has also not recognized the community of residents who are most vulnerable to out-of- control tourism. This is journalism at its worst. The reporter couldn’t even come up with stats (cases and deaths) about the virus in Ocean Grove and neither has his paper. He doesn’t seem to understand the public health issues here as well as the clash of opinions.
Why not take the most careful approach and close the boards, like our neighbors, and then, later, if the numbers work out, to consider opening along with other towns around us?
Who in this town is paying attention to the health risks for our citizens? Certainly not the ding dings quoted above.
