Nagle’s, Ocean Grove, New Jersey. April 15, 2012. By Tracey James, Blogfinger staff photographer.
MUSIC. Frank Sinatra with something lovely from South Pacific:
Archive for the ‘Music: The Power to Enchant’ Category
Modern OG history—2012: Things are hopping in the Grove on Sunday, April 15, 2012.
Posted in Music: The Power to Enchant, Photo News, tagged Music: Frank Sinatra, Photo: Spring has sprung in OG on August 2, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Guest Photographer: Helen Levitt. Presented by Blogfinger.net
Posted in Guest photographer, Music from the Broadway stage., Music: The Power to Enchant, tagged Guest photographer---Helen Levitt, Jerry Orbach sings on May 25, 2026| 2 Comments »
“Girl Lifts Boy” (1st and 3rd images courtesy Mina Son)
New York City (Internet photo)
Levitt’s most important book…
By Paul Goldfinger (re-posted from 2013 on Blogfinger) We have featured a group of important female photographers.
Those of you who follow photography on Blogfinger know that I am a big fan of black and white street photography. Some of the finest photographers in that genre were active in the 1930’s through the 1950’s in New York City and Paris. Among the best are Walker Evans, Eugene Atget, Andre Kertesz, Lee Friedlander and our guest photographer Helen Levitt, who was one of the pioneers.
Helen Levitt (1913-2009) photographed on the streets of New York City for over 70 years, both in black and white and color. She worked with Walker Evans in the 1930’s, and her work was shown at the first photo exhibit held at MOMA in 1939. She was an innovator in the street photography genre.
A documentary film maker named Tanya Sleiman has made a film, “95 Lives,” about Helen Levitt, and we heard about it from Mina Son, the producer, in November. Mina was kind enough to send us two photographs for our blog post and also a link to a very fine short film made by Tanya. I think you will enjoy it, as she tells us about her project. It is a unique treat for our blog. Thank you Tanya and Mina. The fund raising drive mentioned was completed in December 2012.
According to Mina Son, “95 Lives seeks to change the reality that Helen Levitt is a major female artist of the 20th century, someone who innovated in photography and film, yet is virtually unknown outside of elite art circles. This is why we are making this film.
“Through Helen Levitt’s lens, we have found magic and visual poetry in our everyday lives. In helping her legacy live on, we hope her work inspires countless more generations of photographers to introduce the work and life of Helen Levitt to audiences all over.” Note that Blogfinger has no connection to the fundraising elements of this post
SOUNDTRACK: I guess the thing that has fascinated me about photography, ever since childhood, is the magic—-the freezing of a moment. It is a way to capture that moment and preserve it. Wouldn’t it have been great if photography had been invented one century sooner? We could see Washington crossing the Delaware or Napoleon at Waterloo.
Or, in our own lives, we can see how life was over 50 years ago, as in these images by Helen Levitt where ordinary street scenes back then now become extraordinary. This song matches up with these photos.
Jerry Orbach from the Fantasticks:
MUSIC. Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks Orchestra: “A Fine Romance.”
Posted in Music: The Power to Enchant, tagged MUSIC. A Fine Romance, Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks on May 15, 2026| 1 Comment »
Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks performing at the Club Caché in Manhattan. Vince sings and plays tuba. Paul Goldfinger photo. 2018. Click once to enlarge.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor, Blogfinger.net.
Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks are a New York based “jazz repertory and society dance band.” They won a Grammy for the soundtrack of HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire.”
In their 1996 album Cheek to Cheek they have produced a collection of hits from the 1930’s that were made famous in the movies starring Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. Here’s one of them:
“A Fine Romance” was written by Dorothy Fields (lyrics) and Jerome Kern. This song was only one of two for which she wrote the lyrics before the music was composed. The song is from the 1936 movie Swing Time and is performed here by the Nighthawks.
We often post the Nighthawks music on Blogfinger.net; people love the nostalgia of that era.
Paul Goldfinger, Editor@Blogfinger.net
Light and air at the Bishop Janes Tabernacle. Repost from 2014
Posted in Classical Music on Blogfinger, Music: The Power to Enchant, Ocean Grove history, tagged Bishop Janes Tabernacle in Ocean Grove NJ on April 30, 2026| 3 Comments »
Windows at the top reaches of the Tabernacle. All photos by Paul Goldfinger © Click once on all photographs to enlarge them.
By Paul Goldfinger MD, Editor @Blogfinger.net Original 2014…
The Bishop Janes Tabernacle is the oldest permanent structure in Ocean Grove, built in 1877.
It is an airy, open building consisting basically of one room and a center section on top where a sweep of windows allows light to stream in from above and illuminate the seating below–symbolic perhaps, or very practical, or both.
Light and breezes come inside. ©
Ted Bell, Ocean Grove historian and author, showed us the 19th century ventilation system which keeps the place cool. Downstairs there is a ring of large doors and windows. The latter open in a curious way, but there is a purpose to the design. The window aims the warm breezes upward where they can stream through the top row of windows.
Ted Bell shows how the lower level windows open. ©
Outside, the light trickles and flows through the trees to hit the Tabernacle and creates moving patterns on its outside walls and illumination for the prayer books inside.
BACH: Double concerto in D minor for 2 violins and strings. With Yehudi Menuhin, Alberto Lysy, and Camerata Lysy Gstaad.
—- Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger
Modern music history in OG: BULLETIN FROM THE GREAT AUDITORIUM—- HE’S STILL GOT IT! 2011
Posted in Music: The Power to Enchant, tagged Bulletin from the Great Auditorium, Tony Bennett in Ocean Grove on April 28, 2026| 3 Comments »
Tony Bennett. Saturday, August 13, 2011. Photos by Tracey James, Blogfinger staff photographer
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor. Blogfinger.net. Great Auditorium. Ocean Grove, NJ.
I’m speechless!
The empty space here is for the indescribable wonder of Tony Bennett’s performance Saturday night in the Great Auditorium. Mr. Bennett’s voice is as wonderful as ever, complete with a full range of emotions, volumes, textures, rhythms and key changes.
He wore an off white sport jacket, a white shirt and tie, and black pants. He was animated and he even sang and waved to the folks in the cheap seats on the lawn. Nearly 4,000 tickets were sold, but it seemed like the place was packed. Tony Bennett did not let the crowd down; he performed many of his hits and he received a few standing ovations. He seemed genuinely happy to be in this venue. As expected, he arrived with four first rate musicians: piano, stand-up base, guitar and drums. 
Mr. Bennett, as gracious as always, complimented Ronald Naldi on his performance of the Star Spangled Banner and he told the audience that the Great Auditorium was a treasure, unlike any other theatre in the world. He said that we should protect and support this unique building.
Recalling a prior performance in the GA over twenty years ago, he sang “The Shadow of Your Smile” without any amplification.
For those who witnessed the performance, it will be something unforgettable. It was musical perfection by a star unlike any other.
Here is a song that Tony Bennett performed on Saturday that captures the feeling of something magical that happens and then eventually vanishes.
Modern OG history—2013. Phillip Smith and friends to perform in Ocean Grove’s Great Auditorium on July 4.
Posted in Blogfinger interviews, Event in the Great Auditorium, Music from the Broadway stage., Music: The Power to Enchant, Ocean Grove events, tagged July 4 concert features Phillip Smith, July 4 concert in Ocean Grove, NJ, Phil Smith and brass ensemble to perform in the Great Auditorium on April 21, 2026|
Phillip Smith. Photo by Chris Lee
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger. Re-post 2013.
Phillip Smith is no ordinary musician. He is known world wide as one of the finest classical trumpet players anywhere. When he isn’t performing as the principal trumpet for the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, he plays in a variety of brass ensembles, such as the Imperial Brass with whom he appeared in July 2011 at the Great Auditorium in Ocean Grove, New Jersey.* Phillip has performed with the greatest orchestras, brass bands and wind ensembles all over the world. He is on the faculty at Juilliard and the Manhattan School of Music.
Mr. Smith is good friends with Dr. Gordon Turk, who is the organist for our 11,000 pipe Hope-Jones organ and who is the producer of the incredible Summer Stars series held every July in the Great Auditorium.
Thanks to this relationship, as well as Phillip’s long history as a summer visitor and now part-time resident in Ocean Grove, we are going to have a unique opportunity to enjoy a Summer Stars concert organized by Mr. Smith for July 4.
In an interview this past week with Mr. Smith, we were able to discuss some special questions with him. Phil (we are now on a first name basis) has been coming to the Grove since childhood for the summer fun, and in 2005, he “took the plunge” and bought an OG cottage which he visits year-round with his wife, the soprano Sheila Smith. His other home is in north Jersey. He recalls playing in summer rock bands at Convention Hall in Asbury Park when he was a youngster in the Grove.
Phil describes himself as a Christian, and his faith has energized his artistry as well as some of his musical choices such as playing with the Salvation Army’s staff bands worldwide. During that 2011 concert in OG, he told the audience that there is “joy in Ocean Grove” and that being here “refreshes our spiritual souls.” He fondly recalls a musical moment when he stood in the far highest reaches of the Great Auditorium with Gordon Turk below on organ, and they played Bach’s “Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring.” Phil says that the sound was “other worldly.”
According to Phil, the Great Auditorium is a “fabulous building,” and the acclaim for its acoustics is well deserved. Phil looks forward to playing in the GA, although he admits that the heat can sometimes be a big issue for performers, especially those with delicate instruments whose tuning can be easily compromised.
The July 4 concert is called “I Love NY Brass Concert.” Phil is bringing some of the finest New York musicians (see below) for this celebration of America and its music. Phil said that he chose “people that I like and respect.” The group consists of seven brass players (plus Dr. Turk on organ) who will present a mixture of classical pieces, Americana, Broadway and Disney selections, marches, and patriotic tunes including a tribute to the armed forces. There will be some special treats including a trumpet solo by Phil Smith where you can hear his exquisite sound, as well as a two pieces where the brass and the Hope-Jones organ, with Dr. Turk on the console, join together—you can imagine what that will sound like. I can’t wait.
Phillip Smith played Gershwin’s “Someone to Watch Over Me.” when he performed here in 2011. That arrangement was written for Mr. Smith by his friend and colleague Joseph Turrin. Phil is not known as a performer of jazz, but this song was very special to him because it reminds him of “his faith” and is a tribute to his father, Derek Smith, a renowned cornet soloist, who was his first teacher. Phil said that many performers wanted to use the arrangement, but the Gershwin family wouldn’t allow it to be published. Below is a recording of Mr. Smith playing that arrangement with Mr. Turrin on piano.
PHILLIP SMITH (trumpet) and JOSEPH TURRIN (piano and arranger.) Instrumental version of George (music) and Ira Gershwin’s (lyrics) “Someone to Watch Over Me.” From the musical “Oh Kay” (1926)
The concert on Thursday, July 4, begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Great Auditorium . Tickets are $15.00 each at 800-590 4064 or WWW.oceangrove.org.
Here is a link* to the Blogfinger article about that 2011 concert in the GA including a video of Phillip performing Gershwin’s “Someone to Watch Over Me.” But the audio above is better quality.
THE AUDACITY OF MUSIC: PAUL ROBESON IN OCEAN GROVE, 1925. ( The 95th anniversary of that concert)
Posted in Blogfinger News, Music: The Power to Enchant, Ocean Grove history, tagged Black History month, NJ, Paul Robeson in Ocean Grove, The Audacity of Music on April 3, 2026| 8 Comments »
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger on Martin Luther King’s birthday—-Re-posted 2022. It was first presented on Blogfinger in July, 2014.
It was Saturday night, July 18, 1925, at 8:15 p.m., when vocalist Paul Robeson and his accompanist Lawrence Brown strode onto the stage of the Great Auditorium to present a concert of “Soul Stirring Negro Spirituals” (1) to an integrated audience of three thousand people. Mr. Robeson, an imposing black man, was twenty seven years old. He was already famous as a screen and stage actor as well as a singer. He was a true Renaissance man who would become one of the most popular performing artists of the 1930’s and 1940’s.
Robeson, who was born (1898) and raised in New Jersey, was an All-American football player and Phi Beta Kappa at Rutgers University and an honors graduate of the Columbia University Law School. As a college student, Robeson was friends with the Day family who owned Day’s Ice Cream “Gardens” in Asbury Park and Ocean Grove. He had a summer job as a singing waiter at Day’s. (3) When he came to Ocean Grove for his 1925 concert, he had just completed a triumphant run at The Provincetown Theater in New York, where he performed the lead role in Eugene O’Neill’s “All God’s Children Got Wings.”
He had friends at the Algonquin Round Table in New York City, and it was there, with the encouragement of his colleagues, that he decided to do a concert tour with an entire program of “Negro” spirituals and secular songs also known as “slave or plantation music.”
This would be the first time that this music would be performed in concert, and he would appear with his close friend Lawrence Brown, also an African-American, who was a gifted composer, pianist and singer. The two would work together for thirty years. The first stop on the tour was The Greenwich Village Theater in New York City, and then, three months later, he appeared in Ocean Grove.
The concert was reviewed by the Asbury Park Press, which said, “Robeson showed an intelligent appreciation of his task and a splendid voice.” They called him “a talented son of this state” and they described “great applause” in the Auditorium. Among the songs which he and Lawrence Brown sang were “Go Down Moses,” “Weepin’ Mary” and “Swing Low Sweet Chariot.”
The following month he performed his concert in Spring Lake. They would tour for five years, all over the world, with this program. Later, Robeson would become the third most popular radio artist in the USA in the 20’s and 30’s. In the 1940’s he was the highest paid concert performer in the country and he was also successful as a recording artist. He would sing in the first production of “Showboat” and he would play Othello on Broadway and in England. He would star in eleven movies.
But his visit to OG that night was not only about music; it was also about recognition of African-American culture and the elevation of that folk music to high art. In addition, Robeson always was about hope for African-Americans, and performing that music was his way to offer pride and encouragement to his people. In 2004, when Barack Obama gave his “Audacity of Hope” speech at the Democratic convention, the first example he cited was, “…the hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom songs.”
Robeson would accomplish much in his life, but his greatest contribution would be his tireless and life-long advocacy for civil rights. In 1925, Martin Luther King wasn’t born yet, and the “civil rights movement” would not begin until the 1950’s. Imagine how much courage was required for a black man to step forward publicly on behalf of racial justice at a time when lynchings were still occurring in this country. In 1921 a race riot in Tulsa, Oklahoma resulted in the deaths of 20 whites and 60 blacks. In 1922, an anti-lynching bill was defeated by filibuster in the US Senate. In 1925, the year of the concert, there were 17 reported lynchings in the US. Jim Crow laws could be found in many states, but Paul Robeson pressed for racial justice wherever he went and for his entire life.
Robeson had been “eagerly” (1) looking forward to his concert in The Great Auditorium. It is likely that he was aware that many “extraordinary African Americans” (2) had appeared there in the past, including the famous Marian Anderson (1921), Booker T Washington (1908), the singing evangelist Amanda Berry Smith (late 1800’s) and many renowned black preachers. The Ocean Grove Historical Society has documented the African-American History Trail in our town. (2)
In 1998, the Ocean Grove Historical Society celebrated the 100th anniversary of Robeson’s birth by a day-long commemoration featuring lectures, dance, a book signing and an exhibition. The centerpiece of the program was a re-creation of the 1925 concert in the Auditorium. They brought the noted African-American bass Kevin Maynor, who used the original program and reproduced the concert from 73 years earlier. This remarkable event was made possible by a committee of Ocean Grovers led by Rhoda Newman (chairman), Kevin Chambers, Phillip May, Jr., and others.
Paul Robeson’s contributions have been recognized many times in the form of tributes at Carnegie Hall and NJPAC, plus many articles, books, exhibits and documentaries. He is a part of Ocean Grove’s musical heritage which includes Enrico Caruso, Duke Ellington, John Phillip Sousa, and Pearl Bailey (2). Paul Robeson died in 1976 at age 77. Five thousand people attended the funeral in Harlem.
Paul Robeson sings “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” from The Complete EMI Sessions 1928-1939, remastered 2008.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:
1. Asbury Park Press Archives (Asbury Park Library)
2. Ocean Grove Historical Society Archives (Ms. Rhoda Newman)
3. Mr. Kevin Chambers, Ocean Grove Historian
4. Ocean Grove Times Archives (Neptune Township Library: Mrs. Marian R. Bauman, Director)
Current comments are welcome; Just write me at Blogfinger@verizon.net. 4/02/2026
Kevin Chambers still lives in the Grove and he sometimes has something to say for Blogfinger.net. He is a true hero of this town.
Through the rear view mirror in Asbury Park–2024: The Belmont Hotel, historic turn-of-the-century hotel burns to the ground in 2006.
Posted in Asbury Connection, Music: The Power to Enchant, Photography: The Other Side of Asbury, tagged George Tice, The Belmont Hotel in Asbury Park on February 7, 2026| 7 Comments »
George Tice.* Belmont Hotel, Asbury Park. 1974. This is a selenium-toned silver gelatin print. Print and image by GT.
By Paul Goldfinger. Blogfinger.net. Rear view. Photo taken before the Belmont was destroyed by fire in 2006.
Paul Goldfinger, MD. Editor @Blogfinger. Re-posted 2024. The Editor’s note (Paul Goldfinger MD ) below still rings true and has been updated.
There were two historic (over 100 years old) hotels in A. Park which were adjacent to each other—-The Belmont and the Atlantic.
The Belmont had 50 rooms, but it was vacant in December 2006. The entire block was scheduled for demolition, but it burned down then during a 5 alarm fire along with the Atlantic. The balloon construction made for a deluge with quick destruction up and down the buildings.
An Asbury historian said, in an APP article, that the buildings were considered historically significant to Asbury Park and Monmouth County. “This site is one of the small remaining number of turn-of-the-century hotels that once flourished,” he said.
He said, “The local historical society wanted to save the Atlantic and Belmont Hotels and have them refurbished to be used for residential purposes, but the society’s efforts were thwarted some years ago by the City Council and re-developers”
“And, now that the fire has destroyed the hotels, there is nothing left to do but start from the ground up. They could have been adapted to modern uses, but now they are gone,” said the historian.
Residents said they were upset to see history disappear so quickly. “I hate to see it go,” Robert Razminas, 48, an Asbury Park resident for 25 years, said as the buildings burned. “These old places are Asbury Park history. They should be restored and kept up.”
George Tice* is one of America’s most famous photographers. He is especially known for his work in his native New Jersey. His specialty is documenting historic old buildings and neighborhoods, as in his photographs of Paterson, an old immigrant-based blue- collar city.
The Tice photograph above of the Belmont is from an on-line gallery web site (Paddle8). In 1974 he photographed two Victorian houses in Ocean Grove.
Tice has published about 20 photographic books including one about the Amish in Pennsylvania and another in Ireland and England called Stone Walls, Grey Skies.
An original platinum print from that latter book resides in Ocean Grove. Contact us if you want to view it. One of his most important books is Paterson. H died in 2025.
Here is a link to a BF piece in 2013 which shows some of his images:
PHILLIP SMITH ( of Ocean Grove and the NY Philharmonic) on trumpet along with JOSEPH TURIN on piano play Gershwin’s “Someone to Watch Over Me” Note: I spotted Phil—Phil Smith and the NY Philharmonic–on TV for the Live From Lincoln Center New Years Eve show on PBS. The camera caught him having a string of rests and gazing ahead as Yo Yo Ma played a tango. He has since retired from the Phil, but he still spends summers in the Grove and plays in the Great Auditorium.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article rings true as we think about historic preservation in Ocean Grove. These two Asburian hotels could have been re-purposed into residences while maintaining their historic “bones.”
As noted before by Blogfinger, Asbury has an advantage for preservation because of the available land for parking, but that didn’t save these two structures—they were destined to be replaced by condominiums.
Evidently the idea of remodeling them into residences was not considered because AP has turned over that entire oceanfront area to trash-and -build-new developers without any worry about history. They don’t seem to care about AP’s history and they don’t mind turning much of their reclaimed property into condominiums.
I recall when the beautiful old Metropolitan Hotel, a nostalgic place, which I visited before it’s death spiral, with much history, was allowed to rot and then be demolished.
However there is a huge difference between the two towns: Ocean Grove is on the National and State Historic Registers, so we have an obligation to try and save historic buildings and not mow them down like dead ducks. But turning old hotels into condos here is contrary to our Master Plan which has a vision that is totally different than Asbury’s, and we really shouldn’t allow more space-clogging condo conversions of old hotels to occur, especially in defiance of RSIS parking standards.
Our old hotels need to be dealt with in ways that meet the special needs of our town, with the interests of the people and the history placed ahead of the developers and the politicians who want more money from the Cash-Cow-By-The-Sea. (Think of this comment when considering the 2024 discussion of the Albatross.)
Current related issues in 2018 directs our attention to the Aurora Hotel and the Warrington.* We have posted articles about both, and both face an uncertain future in Ocean Grove; and the best we can hope for in both cases would be single family Victorian designer homes.
Phil Smith’s solo above (“Someone to Watch over Me”) reminds us to protect our town’s historic treasures.
—Paul Goldfinger, Editor.
*The Warrington was destroyed in a fire on March 3, 2017. Its burned-out foundation is hanging around awaiting the results of some legal action related to the fire and its damages to the nearby neighborhood.
The ocean—-it never gets tired. See it in September.
Posted in Music from the Broadway stage., Music: The Power to Enchant, Ocean Grove beachfront, tagged Moe Demby photograph, Ocean Grove beach on January 26, 2026|
Ocean Grove beach. September 29, 2015. By Michael Goldfinger. Blogfinger.net staff. © Click to enlarge
LEONARD BERNSTEIN “On the Waterfront. Moving Forward.” with the ISRAEL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA. Album is the Essential Leonard Bernstein, Disc 2
Notre Dame, Paris
Posted in Blogfinger Presents, Music: The Power to Enchant, Photographic Gallery, Black and White, tagged Choral music by Mendelssohn, Notre Dame--Paris on December 22, 2025|
By Paul Goldfinger, MD. Notre Dame, Paris. Silver gelatin darkroom print by PG. Blogfinger.net. Click once to enlarge.
MENDELSSOHN. Psalm 42, op. 42. Performed by the St. Thomas Choir, Leipzig.
The Christmas Waltz : Auditorium Park. Ocean Grove, New Jersey
Posted in Music: The Power to Enchant, Ocean Grove photographs, tagged Auditorium Square, The Christmas Waltz on December 18, 2025| 4 Comments »
Photograph: Auditorium Square Park. Silver gelatin print by Paul Goldfinger photo. Click once to enlarge.
SOUNDTRACK: “The Christmas Waltz.” Sir George Shearing (1919-2011) and his quintet in three-quarter time :
Modern OG history—2009: “Sweet Songs of Christmas” by the Canadian Brass
Posted in Music: The Power to Enchant, tagged Sweet Songs of Christmas, The Canadian Brass on December 18, 2025|
Ocean Grove, New Jersey. December 21, 2009. By Paul Goldfinger. Click for full view.
By Paul Goldfinger, MD. Editor Blogfinger.net. Ocean Grove, NJ. 2009
We’ve had recent winters with no snow and other times we’ve had big snow. But the town of Ocean Grove looks especially beautiful right after the snow falls. Somebody recently said that they have never seen a photograph of the Great Auditorium in the snow, but they do exist.
This view shows the “tents” in their winter garb: no canvas, just the wood framing of those structures.
Most photos of the tents are taken in season, but these little buildings have a special look in the winter. I love the multiple colors that they are dressed in. You can see how a “tent” might be converted to a cottage, which is how many of the Grove’s small houses began.
SOUNDTRACK: Here are our Canadian friends again—the Canadian Brass whom we have heard perform live many times. This piece is lovely and is called: “Sweet Songs of Christmas.”
Modern OG history–March 2013: Camp Meeting Association meets with Township organizations and expresses optimism 5 months after Sandy.
Posted in Hurricane Sandy recovery, Music: The Power to Enchant, tagged Progress at the beachfront, Rebuilding Ocean Grove on December 18, 2025| 6 Comments »
Work progresses near the wisdom bench. Were they wise enough to evacuate? March 20. 2013 (first day of spring). PG photo
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor Blogfinger.net
The OG Camp Meeting Assoc. is determined to have the community involved in the process of restoring the ocean front. So last night, several CMA officials met for the third time with leaders of OG organizations including Home Owners, Chamber of Commerce, Ocean Grove United, Beautification Project and the Fishing Club. The purpose of the transparency offensive is to keep the town informed with the latest news of Phase One and to elicit all sorts of cooperation including sharing ideas, moving benches, raising money, and spreading the word.
Ralph del Campo, interim CMA administrator, chaired the meeting. He said that he was interviewed on New Jersey television (NJ 12) today where he announced that “our target” is in sight and, even though money is a large issue, “we are taking a step of faith and moving ahead.” All the CMA officers present, including President Dale Whilden, revealed an optimistic view of the situation. They spoke about the volunteers who have saved the project many thousands of dollars including the Calvary relief group and the American Fence Company of Whitehall, Pennsylvania whose workers continue to help even after installing the snow fences (currently named “sand fences.”)
Bill Bailey, the Director of Operations, reported on the news from the trenches. The sinking of 30 foot pilings 25 feet into the sand at the South End has gone well, although they had a scare when they ran into some old concrete holding tanks. That problem was surmounted, and the pilings are “almost done.” Building materials will be delivered in a couple of weeks for the beach offices .
Reclaimed wood from the storm is being put to use building ramps and stairs to the beach and boardwalk. Railings are being restored at the South End, and some of those were donated by the Borough of Sea Girt. The composite materials being used to surface the boardwalk will be the latest technology which reduces slipperiness and are made from recycled plastic.
Sand removal and relocation continues to be a challenge. Recently 23 loads of sand were taken from the grassy areas and placed on the growing mountains at the north end. All that sand will eventually be sifted and brought back onto the beach. The Army Corps of Engineers surveyed the sand situation two weeks ago and they will be engaged in doing whatever is needed for the beach replenishment.
Dr Whilden pointed out that there are always issues that occur which are not visible. For example, the work on the Great Auditorium roof seems to be standing still, but there is only one company which can manufacture the stainless steel roofing which needs to be coated with zinc. But manufacturing that material cannot begin until May.
Mr. Bailey was candid when he admitted “feeling the pressure” as spring arrives and the target date looms closer for reopening the OG beach. “We are on a tight schedule.” he said. But he had a smile on his face and he seemed ready and able to keep the promise of a Memorial Day target. He pointed out that some area towns had “over-promised” their completion dates and underestimated their costs. Ocean Grove’s phased strategy is proving to be more realistic, and so we have a good chance of actually reaching the goal.
Stay tuned to Blogfinger….
SARAH VAUGHAN: