1. The Township Committee has approved a new handicapped parking stall in front of 97 Abbott Avenue and is removing one in front of 148 Abbott. The same ordinance also creates a loading zone on Ocean Avenue adjacent to the boardwalk pavilion.
2. Committeewoman Mary Beth Jahn has been recovering from encephalitis at Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia. She writes to say that she “spent several weeks in critical care on a ventilator, which has temporarily paralyzed my vocal cords (stop cheering, folks!),” but that she has saved her backlog of email, text messages and snail mail and is now responding.
3. New Jersey American Water customers are no longer restricted to watering their lawns on certain days of the week. The company announced on Wednesday that the odd/even outdoor watering scheme in effect since early July is ended. (Bet you’d forgotten all about it anyway. We had.)
Defendants (l to r) James Turetzkin, Lauren Magaw and Philip Williams waiting to plead guilty. Photos by Mary Walton
By Charles Layton
Four defendants in the Monmouth County rock-throwing vandalism case pleaded guilty to criminal mischief on Thursday and agreed to pay a total of $115,096 in restitution to 180 victims in Ocean Grove and elsewhere.
Each defendant also agreed to perform 75 hours of supervised community service.
By affirming their guilt under a negotiated plea agreement, they avoided the possibility of a jury trial and, if convicted, possible imprisonment for up to five years.
The acts of vandalism — the smashing of windows of cars and houses — took place between early November of last year and April 13, when they were caught in the act and arrested by police in Spring Lake.
Prosecutor Kathleen Bycsek said the late-night window-smashing incidents took place in 17 different Monmouth County towns, including Neptune Township. Police have said that 33 of those crimes occurred in Ocean Grove from January through March of this year.
Each defendant stood separately before Judge Thomas Scully in Monmouth County Superior Court and testified to his or her part in the months-long rampage. Philip Williams, 25, of Neptune Township admitted to driving the car while his co-defendants hurled rocks through the windows of houses and parked vehicles.
Tyler Emmons. Threw rocks.
Tyler Emmons, 18, of Neptune Township and James Turetzkin, 20, of Neptune City testified that they participated in the rock throwing.
Lauren Magaw, 21, of Neptune said under questioning by her attorney that she did not actually throw rocks but agreed that she had accompanied the others, “egged them on” and “helped facilitate” the crimes by handing rocks to the others, and that she was “as culpable” as the others. Turetzkin, however, testified that Magaw threw rocks as well.
The four agreed to be “jointly and severally” liable for the $115,096 in damages. If any of the four prove unable to pay their share, due to death, disappearance or other circumstances, the others would be required to make up the difference.
Insurance companies are to receive $38,234 of the restitution money. The other $76,862 will go directly to victims. Bycsek said the amount of the damages was determined in consultation with the victims “through numerous phone conversations.”
It was unclear over what time period the restitution must be paid.
Philip Williams. Drove the car.
Judge Scully said the defendants are to remain on probation. As part of the plea agreement they must apply to Pretrial Intervention, a program designed for first-time offenders. If they violate the plea agreement they could still be indicted and tried. However, by complying fully with the conditions of the Pretrial Intervention program and staying out of trouble they will have an opportunity to avoid the stigma of a criminal conviction on their permanent records.
The four defendants are all legal adults, although Emmons was 17 until April 3 of this year and therefore a juvenile during most of the crime spree. In exchange for his pleading guilty as an adult, along with the others, the state dismissed the juvenile complaints against him.
A fifth participant in the crimes was 17 at the time of the arrests. His name has not been released, and he is being treated as a juvenile.
The five were arrested in Spring Lake shortly after midnight on April 13 following reports of broken windows. According to Spring Lake police, all the defendants confessed in video interviews to the entire months-long rash of window-breaking incidents. Police said they recovered a bag filled with large rocks in the defendants’ SUV at the time of their arrest.
Their vandalism began, attorneys said, in early November of last year.
Lauren Magaw. Handed out rocks and “egged on” the others.
Wednesday, Aug. 15, Broadway and Pilgrim Pathway. Photo by Darrell Dufresne
By Charles Layton
The primary cause of last Wednesday’s unusually severe flooding, Neptune Township officials say, was the collapse, one day earlier, of an old culvert beneath the intersection of Broadway and Central Avenue.
That culvert carries storm runoff to an outlet at Fletcher Lake.
They say that the culvert – which is a one-foot by eight-foot box — became clogged with debris carried by the fast-running water. Eventually, workers managed to clear that debris, after which the water level on the flooded streets receded.
However, the collapsed culvert must now be repaired, which will take additional time and add to the cost of the Broadway drainage project, which has been plagued with unforeseen delays since late last year. The project — to replace an antiquated drainage system down the entire length of Broadway and then into Fletcher Lake — was already scheduled to cost just over $1 million.
Leanne Hoffman, Neptune’s director of Engineering and Planning, said in an interview on Monday that she was working with the contractor, James R. Ientile Inc., to arrive at a price for replacing the failed culvert. The Township Committee, which meets next Monday, will then need to authorize the work. She said it might then take the contractor four to six weeks to get the materials on site.
The work itself will involve digging up the Broadway-Central intersection, which will be another inconvenience to those living nearby. At present, the collapsed culvert is covered by large sheets of steel in the middle of the intersection.
The caved-in culvert at Broadway and Central. Photo by Charles Layton
The Broadway project has involved the laying of a new system of drains and underground pipes all the way from Lawrence Avenue eastward to Central Avenue. That system of pipes conducts water downhill to Central, then makes a right turn and runs underneath the tennis courts. At the playground beside Fletcher Lake, the system turns left and empties into the lake.
The original conduit to the lake is very old. The project includes the addition of a new conduit, running alongside it, consisting of twin pipes, which will carry 30 percent more water than the old conduit. The old and new conduits combined will therefore have a carrying capacity 130 percent greater than the old system alone.
Even so, Hoffman and Assistant Business Administrator Vito Gadaleta, who was also present during the interview, said they could not guarantee that the new system – once complete – will put an end to all flooding in the Broadway-Central area. Gadaleta said last week’s storm produced 1½ inches of rain in 30 minutes, “which is beyond a 25-year storm.”
“You really can’t design any system to handle that flow,” he said.
Hoffman said workers were forced to react quickly last week when they learned that a major rainstorm was on the way. Their task was complicated by the unexpected collapse of the culvert underneath Broadway.
Workers made a temporary connection between another box culvert, on the north side of Broadway, and the twin pipes of the new conduit system, Hoffman said. In doing so, they patched around a conflicting sewer pipe in a way that partially obstructed the flow of storm water coming into the box culvert – an arrangement some of the area’s residents have criticized. Hoffmann said that temporary connection will now be removed and a new arrangement made so as not to constrict the drainage pipe.
Another problem of concern to residents is the way debris carried by storm water tends to clog the street drains, particularly at the intersection of Beach and Broadway. Hoffman said an extra drainage system will be installed there, which should be of some help.
In short, the main tasks remaining are (1) to fix the culvert that collapsed, (2) to reconstruct the box culvert on the north side of Broadway near Central, (3) to provide additional drainage at Beach and Broadway, (4) to complete the work on curbs and handicapped sidewalk ramps all down the street and (5) to repave the entire length of Broadway.
All of this, said Gadaleta, will produce a system that is intended to handle a 25-year storm. However, said Hoffmann, “I can’t guarantee that it’s never going to flood there again.”
The time frame for the remaining work remains unclear, but Hoffmann said the Township is working under an end-of-the-year deadline, which it must meet in order to retain the DOT funds allocated to the project.
Equality flag, symbol of Human Rights Campaign. Photo by Charles Layton
At least three equality flags were stolen from homes in Ocean Grove over the weekend.
A man named John, who lives on New York Avenue, said he and his daughter went out to dinner on Saturday night, and when they got home he noticed that his flag had been ripped off. “They literally ripped it off the side of the house with such force that the metal of the flag holder was broken in half.”
He said the next day, when he called the police, a neighbor said, “Oh my gosh, mine is missing too.”
He figures the thefts occurred between 8 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Saturday.
Irene, who lives on the western end of Heck Avenue, said she only noticed the theft of her flag, along with its pole, on Sunday, while looking at photographs. She said she had taken a photo of her granddaughter’s lemonade stand on Saturday and the flag was in the picture. Then she took a photo of a flower in front of her house on Sunday and saw that the flag was missing. “So I’m pretty sure it happened Saturday night,” she said.
Both Irene and John said that when they reported the thefts the police asked questions that led them to think the police were trying to establish whether or not the thefts could be classified as hate crimes. The blue and yellow flags are the symbol of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the country’s largest civil rights organization for gay equality.
Irene said she was particularly disturbed because the thief had to unlatch her gate and come into the yard, “and he came right up to my front steps and took it.”
“And my dog didn’t bark, which I’m not too thrilled about either,” she added.
After hearing of these three thefts, Harriet Bernstein, co-chair of Ocean Grove United, sent out emails asking whether others may have had their flags stolen. If so, she was urging that they report the thefts to the Neptune police.
“A number of people have had flags stolen in the past,” Bernstein said, “but it hasn’t happened in a few years.”
The Park View, seen from the Wesley Lake side. Photo by Charles Layton
It’s been more than two years since neighbors presented Neptune Township with a petition, asking that something be done about the dangerously derelict Park View Inn at 23 Sea View Avenue.
Although the Township has since taken the owner, Marshall Koplitz, to court and forced him to agree to rehab the building, little tangible progress has been made in the building itself. It remains an eyesore. Neighbors still live in fear that it could catch fire and burn them out of their homes. One elderly man who lives nearby is said to keep a packed bag beside his door in case he suddenly has to flee for his life.
But now these neighbors have a new concern. They say that paint, possibly contaminated with lead, is spreading from the Park View onto their properties. “You’ve got paint peeling, chips are blowing off the building, and the neighbors are getting it on their porches, it’s on the street, it’s in the alleys,” one man said.
This man, who wishes to remain anonymous for now, recently bought a lead detection kit and used it to test samples of the paint chips from the Park View. Most of those samples tested positive for lead, he said.
He and some friends are now circulating a new petition, which they hope to deliver soon to the Township Committee. It asks that the Township perform its own independent testing to confirm the existence of lead. “If lead paint is found,” the petition says, “we would ask that the Township of Neptune take steps to correct this situation immediately.”
“Our concern is for little kids, for pets, you know,” one of the petitioners said. “I don’t know what danger that paint is to adults unless you actually eat it, but I suspect if the town found out about it they would have to do something to get rid of the lead paint.”
The test kit these neighbors used contains pencil-like swabs. When a swab is pressed against a surface, such as the surface of a paint chip, a liquid chemical causes its tip to turn red if lead is present. If no lead is present, the tip of the swab remains white.
When this test was applied to the paint samples from The Park View, neighbors said, most of the samples turned the swabs red.
This swab turned red, indicating lead, when it was touched to one of the paint chips from the Park View Inn. Photo by Mary Walton
Some of the neighbors along Sea View Avenue are losing faith that the Township has the determination to force Koplitz to fix up his property. Back in June of 2010, when 33 of these neighbors submitted their previous petition, they were given to understand that the Township would keep them informed from that point forward. But this has not happened. “We’re getting no feedback from the Township,” one of the petitioners — the man with the lead test kit — said.
They worry that Koplitz will continue to make excuses and stall, just as he has done for years — and just as he did with The Sampler Inn, another of his derelict buildings that became a public nuisance and was finally demolished in 2009. Their greatest fear is of a fire breaking out inside the Park View and spreading to nearby homes, which has happened on two other occasions in the same general vicinity in recent years.
Marshall Koplitz
Koplitz is under a court order to rehab the Park View on a specific schedule, but the neighbors have yet to see many visible signs of improvement. He was, this spring, twice declared in default of the court agreement, although the Township’s head of code and construction, Bill Doolittle, has since said he is back in compliance. Still, so far as anyone in the neighborhood knows, he has not yet obtained bank financing for this rehab project, as the court order requires. A workman who has entered the building in recent months told one of the neighbors that the place remains a total mess inside.
To be fair, though, there was one positive development this week. Workers showed up and cut the grass and then edged all around the property.
Neighbors say chips of paint, like those shown here, are peeling off and blowing onto adjacent properties. Photo by Mary Walton
The four adults accused of a months-long spree of rock-throwing vandalism in Ocean Grove and elsewhere plan to apply to Pretrial Intervention, a program designed for first-time offenders.
According to a letter from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, the program “will include community service as well [as] an agreement to pay full restitution to all victims over a period of time.”
If the four defendants are allowed into this program, and if they comply fully with its conditions, they “will have the opportunity to have the matter dismissed,” the letter says. This would spare the defendants the stigma of a criminal conviction. “Should anyone fail to comply with conditions imposed by the program, then he/she will be facing an indictable conviction for a third-degree crime,” the letter says.
A third-degree crime in New Jersey can draw a sentence of 3 to 5 years in prison plus a large fine.
The four adult defendants are charged with criminal mischief. (A fifth defendant is a juvenile.) Police have said that during the past winter and spring the defendants cruised around numerous towns late at night, smashing the windows of homes and parked cars and committing other acts of vandalism. More than 150 of these incidents were reported in more than 20 towns, all of them, except Brick, in Monmouth County.
Neptune Police have cited 33 acts of window smashing in Ocean Grove alone from January through March.
The prosecutor’s office had earlier contacted the victims of these crimes by mail, asking for details, including receipts for repair of damages. This information has served as a basis for plea bargain negotiations with the four adult defendants.
In its latest letter, explaining the Pretrial Intervention Program, the prosecutor’s office informs the victims that they “are entitled to input on the disposition of the case.”
One victim we spoke with was unhappy at the prospect of having the defendants treated as first-time offenders. “The first time they threw a rock was the first offense,” this person said, “but the 150th time?”
The four defendants in question are Philip David Williams, 24; James Joseph Turetzkin, 19; Lauren Ashley Magaw, 21, and Tyler Emmons, 18. All are from Neptune Township except Turetzkin, who is from Neptune City.
These defendants had been scheduled for a pre-indictment court appearance on June 14, but that court date has been postponed until August 9 to give more time for negotiations aimed at a settlement. If no settlement is reached and the defendants do not plead guilty, the case would go before a grand jury and, in the event of an indictment, be tried by a jury.
New Jersey’s Pretrial Intervention Program provides defendants, generally first-time offenders, an opportunity for alternatives to traditional criminal prosecution. According to an online explanation provided by the state (go here to read it) the PTI program “is based on a rehabilitative model that recognizes that there may be an apparent causal connection between the offense charged and the rehabilitative needs of a defendant. Further, the rehabilitative model emphasizes that social, cultural, and economic conditions often result in a defendant’s decision to commit crime… Any defendant who is charged with an indictable offense may apply.”
For previous stories, containing more background on this case, go here and here.
The Neptune Township Committee voted Monday night to implement single stream recycling, under which residents will no longer need to separate their recyclables into different categories.
Instead, they will simply place cans, bottles, cardboard, paper and plastic in the same container and leave it at the curb. These various items will be separated out later by special processing equipment.
Deputy Mayor Eric Houghtaling said the new system should go into effect in about one year.
The ordinance approved on Monday night authorizes the purchase of two new automated recycling trucks and a large quantity of special new recycling cans, at an overall initial cost of $1.1 million. All but $55,000 of that will be financed through a bond issue.
These trucks are equipped with an automated arm that lifts the cans off the curb and empties them into the truck beds.
However, Houghtaling explained, these trucks are too large to navigate the narrow streets of Ocean Grove. Therefore, in Ocean Grove, as opposed to the rest of Neptune, recyclables will continue to be collected manually, as at present. But once the new system is implemented, OG residents will no longer need to separate their recyclables; everything can be placed at the curb in the same green containers that are already being used here — or in any similar containers, for that matter.
Ocean Grove recyclables will continue to be collected once a week, Houghtaling said.
Mayor Randy Bishop said the expense of the new trucks will be reduced by the fact that the Township needs to replace two of its garbage trucks anyway. Neptune’s chief financial officer, Michael Bascom, said he thought the Township would actually save money by switching to single stream — perhaps anywhere from $60,000 to $150,000 per year, he said.
Houghtaling said the single stream system, because of its convenience, should encourage more people to recycle, thus lessening the amount of regular garbage and trash requiring disposal. This, he said, should save on landfill tipping fees. Monmouth County landfills charge Neptune $73.50 a ton for garbage and trash, he said.
Site of the North End project, looking north toward Asbury Park. Photo by Paul Goldfinger
By Charles Layton, Editor @Blogfinger
Committeewoman Mary Beth Jahn’s recent victory in the Democratic primary has made one thing clear. The Township is more likely now than ever before to try to restrict the building of condos at the North End.
Although Neptune Township previously approved a plan that would allow for between 70 and 80 new condos along Wesley Lake near the boardwalk, Jahn told the Ocean Grove Home Owners Association on Saturday that the plan might now be scaled back dramatically.
Many of the members seemed elated when Jahn spoke of “the condos [the developers] think they’re going to build,” and then added, “I think they are going to build 12 single-family homes.”
Ever since the Township Committee formally approved a redevelopment plan in 2008, many Ocean Grovers have regretted and feared its implementation, an opinion Jahn has shared. At the time, she called the plan “a travesty” and a detriment to the quality of life of OG residents. Now that she is all but assured of reelection in November, Jahn is predicting that the plan could be changed during negotiations between the developers and the Township Committee. Jahn and Mayor Randy Bishop are the Township Committee’s designated negotiators in those talks.
Jahn’s opponent in the primary election, Nick Williams, never took a public position on the North End Project. However, Williams’ supporter and campaign manager, James Manning Jr., is a long-time proponent of heavy condo development as part of the North End project. Had Williams unseated Jahn on the Township Committee, he could have altered the balance of power in the government and undone efforts by Jahn and Bishop to prevent an overly-massive development.
The North End redevelopment plan, as presently written, would allow for up to 85 residential units, most of them condos, plus a hotel with a maximum of 80 rooms. The developers are the Camp Meeting Association, which owns the 5.6-acre site, and a company run by Ocean Grove developer William Gannon.
But before construction can begin, the developers and the Township must sign a contract spelling out the details much more specifically. Jahn told the Home Owners that the Township holds considerable power over the final shape of that deal. “Plans change,” she said. “We’re going to go through probably ten or twelve versions of this redevelopment [plan].” Financing, feasibility and other considerations may force the plan to change, she said.
One crucial issue is whether it will be possible to build the large underground parking garage called for in the plan. Because the site is beside the ocean and a lake, there is serious doubt as to how deep it will be possible for the developers to excavate. Without the off-street parking for the condos, the Township might be in a position to force the developers to scale back or even entirely give up their condo plans. Or so it seemed from Jahn’s remarks.
She also predicted that the financing of a luxury hotel at the site might be difficult in today’s market, especially given that the hotel would not have a liquor license. She said she had heard that the hotel portion of the project alone could cost between $30 million and $50 million.
Another “sticking point” in the upcoming negotiations will be a traffic study, Jahn said. Before any construction begins, she and Bishop want the developers to conduct a study of the impact on traffic in Ocean Grove during peak periods, such as the 4th of July weekend.
She also cautioned that the developers would have to find acceptable ways to bring in supplies to the construction site and to situate heavy equipment within the confines of that area. She also said the developers would be required to rebuild the portion of the Wesley Lake retaining wall along the northern edge of the site.
These are all issues the Home Owners Association’s own north end committee has raised in the recent past.
Although negotiations between the developers and the Township have been stalled since an initial meeting in February of 2011, Jahn said the developers are now saying they want to resume those talks.
For a refresher course on the North End project, go here and here.
The four adult defendants accused of rock-throwing vandalism in Ocean Grove and elsewhere are scheduled to appear in court next week for a pre-indictment conference.
They and a fifth person, a juvenile, are accused of cruising around numerous towns late at night, smashing the windows of parked cars and committing other acts of vandalism. Police have said more than 150 separate incidents were reported from January through April of this year, spanning more than 20 different towns, all of them, except for Brick, in Monmouth County.
Neptune police have cited 33 acts of window smashing in Ocean Grove alone from January through March.
The defendants were arrested on April 12 in Spring Lake. Police stopped their car after they had allegedly broken a car window and a house window. A backpack full of softball-size paving stones was discovered in the car. All the defendants made confessions during video interviews on the night of their arrest, police said.
Two of the defendants are Lauren Magaw and Philip Williams. Photo from Facebook
The adult defendants are Philip David Williams, 24; James Joseph Turetzkin, 19; Lauren Ashley Magaw, 21, and Tyler Emmons, 18. All are from Neptune Township except for Turetzkin, who is from Neptune City.
Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Anita White-Gillyard said Thursday that the pre-indictment court date is tentatively set for June 14 before Judge Thomas F. Scully.
She said the investigation is not yet completed, but that so far investigators have accumulated evidence from Atlantic Highlands, Avon, Brielle, Deal, Howell, Manasquan, Neptune, Rumson, Sea Girt, Spring Lake, Loch Arbour Village, West Long Branch, Tinton Falls and Wall.
Unless the defendants plead guilty, their case will likely go before a grand jury. If the case goes to trial, it would be before a jury.
Mary Beth Jahn told the Ocean Grove Home Owners Association on Saturday that she should be re-elected to a third term on the Township Committee because of her hard work for constituents.
“I am someone who is more dynamic, I go to more functions, I respond to more emails, more constituent problems,” she said.
Jahn: “I respond to more … constituent problems.”
The audience of approximately 50 Ocean Grovers seemed to agree. In comments from the floor, they responded with an outpouring of support, including specific examples of Jahn’s quick responses to their particular problems.
“I’ve never had a public official respond to me the way you do,” Susan Taylor said. “For one thing, it’s instantaneous.”
Ray DeFaria gave Jahn credit for the quick response by police following the theft of a treasured family heirloom, a wedding ring. He said Jahn took a personal, hands-on interest in the theft, and the ring was recovered.
Joan Cruz suggested that, although the Home Owners Association is a non-partisan group, individual members should write letters to local newspapers supporting Jahn.
Jahn is engaged in a tough fight in the June 5 Democratic primary. She is one of three candidates competing for two seats on the Township Committee — a race that has split the Neptune Democratic Party bitterly. (For background, go here and here and here.) The Neptune Democrats have not endorsed Jahn; the Monmouth County Democratic Party has endorsed her.
Saturday’s meeting had been billed as a “candidates’ forum,” but the other two candidates in the primary race, Dr. Michael Brantley and Nicholas Williams, declined to appear. The audience expressed some resentment that these candidates were unwilling to speak to their organization, although their refusals were somewhat understandable given the degree of Jahn’s support among the membership. Not a single person had a negative word to say against her.
Jahn declined several opportunities to criticize Brantley and Williams because they were not present and “it wouldn’t be fair.” Instead, she emphasized some of her own history as a committeewoman. She cited her opposition to condo development at the North End, her support for a strong police force (she has twice served as police commissioner) and her work as the Township Committee’s liaison to the Township’s finance department.
She said the reason she has taken the lead on the issue of derelict buildings in Ocean Grove is that Mayor Randy Bishop had been criticized by one particularly intractable owner, Marshall Koplitz, as having a conflict of interest because he lives in Ocean Grove and owns a bed and breakfast here.
Committeeman Eric Houghtaling. Photos by Mary Walton
Asked by people in the audience why she and Neptune party officials had parted ways, Jahn repeated her assertion that the split was mainly over her refusal to back James Manning Jr., a former Neptune mayor, for the position of business administrator. Many party leaders have sided with Manning, whom Jahn says she considers unqualified for the post.
Another member of the Township Committee, Eric Houghtaling, spoke briefly in support of Jahn, calling her “a vital asset to the township.” Another Township Committee member, Kevin McMillan, is working for Jahn’s two opponents. Mayor Bishop, on the other hand, is backing Jahn. Neither Bishop nor McMillan were at Saturday’s meeting.
Almost ready: Here’s the main stage plus two large towers, seen from the boardwalk facing north. Photos by Mary Walton taken on Thursday morning
By Charles Layton
“I have floor and couch space available this weekend for the Bamboozle,” writes an Asbury Park resident on craigslist. “I’ll cook you breakfast each morning.”
It has come to this: people renting out their floors, couches and spare rooms.
According to press reports, there really aren’t any regular rooms left near the site of this giant music festival, unless you’re willing to pay through the nose. (Or unless you want to stay in Ocean Grove, where rooms were still available as of Wednesday. See Paul Goldfinger’s report on that unexpected situation, below.)
Because of anticipated traffic problems, people are being urged to stay far away and commute into Asbury by rail or shuttle bus. But although NJ Transit is adding extra rail service, its officials are also warning people to expect a huge crush at the stations and in the trains.
Tens of thousands of music fans – no one really knows how many – are about to descend on the Asbury Park beachfront for this festival, which begins at 5 p.m. Friday and doesn’t end until 11 p.m. Sunday. The “after parties” will no doubt extend into the wee hours on all three nights.
“I can’t recall an event of this size in recent times in Asbury Park,” Neptune Police Chief Robert Adams told me.
In past years, Adams pointed out, the annual Bamboozle festival has been held in large stadiums, such as the one in East Rutherford, where the concert space is contained and parking is ample. This weekend’s event is different; it’s in an urban space where parking can be difficult even on a normal weekend.
At left along the boardwalk, spaces for concessions and an ATM
The fact that there’s no real precedent makes planning more problematic than usual. For instance, some restaurant owners in Asbury Park are uncertain whether they’ll be snowed under with customers from the festival, or whether diners will stay away because of traffic and the lack of parking. (It’s like the old joke: Nobody will go there because there are too many people.) Also, how will their employees get to and from work?
The latest estimates on crowds are in the neighborhood of 90,000, broken down as follows: 20,000 on Friday, 40,000 on Saturday and 30,000 on Sunday.
Most of the festival action will be along the Asbury Park boardwalk between Convention Hall and Eighth Avenue, where some 80 bands will perform on seven stages. Traffic will converge on that area via all major thoroughfares, including Route 33 and Route 71, which run through Neptune Township and right to the gates of Ocean Grove.
Chief Adams said the police will be well-staffed for this. “Our major concern is the increase in vehicular traffic,” he said.
Electronic signage will be placed outside the Broadway and Main Avenue entrances to Ocean Grove, directing drivers to keep going toward Asbury Park (that is to say, don’t turn in to Ocean Grove).
Adams said another police priority will be keeping Route 33 flowing so emergency vehicles can get to the Jersey Shore emergency room. A special police command post will be established at the Midtown School on Corlies Avenue.
Within Ocean Grove, he said, police will have a greater than normal presence, including normal patrols but also officers on bikes, on Segways and on foot.
Ocean Grovers can expect aggressive ticketing of illegally parked cars, he said, and cars blocking the paths of emergency vehicles will be towed.
Adams was uncertain how difficult the weekend might turn out to be. “Very possibly this could be less of an event than we anticipate, or it could be more of an event than we anticipate.”
Other Township officials have strongly advised that Ocean Grovers stay put this weekend and not give up their parking spaces unless they have to.
It might be best to think of it as like a really big event at the Great Auditorium, but one that runs non-stop for three days and nights.
Postscript: A question came up earlier on this site as to how much of Asbury’s boardwalk will be closed off during the festival. Tom Gilmour, Asbury’s director of commerce, tells me that the portion of the boardwalk from Convention Hall south to Ocean Grove will remain open to the general public throughout the weekend. The boardwalk north of Convention Hall, and also Convention Hall itself, will be closed to those not attending Bamboozle.
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Here’s a song to put you in the mood for the weekend: “Bridge Burning” by Foo Fighters.
With the project delayed — weeds among the pipes. Photo by Mary Walton
1. Not much has been done for the past couple of weeks on the Broadway storm drainage project, and the natives are getting restless. Township officials say the delay has to do with unmarked utility pipes discovered underground, and that we’re waiting for New Jersey Natural Gas to relocate some of that stuff. The contractor is also awaiting delivery of some pieces of pipe for the storm drains, in order to avoid additional conflicts with what’s been found underground. Meanwhile, the Township engineer says the contractor will be working on the outfall at the Fletcher Lake bulkhead on or about May 21. Prior to that, we are told, they’ll be stabilizing an existing trench and cleaning up the site this week.
2. About a week ago we told you the Township had declared Park View Inn owner Marshall Koplitz in default of his court agreement. (Go here for details. ) Well, the head of code and construction, Bill Doolittle, told Blogfinger on Monday that Koplitz is back in compliance. He is under a court order to follow a set of specific steps aimed at rehabbing the nuisance property at 23 Seaview Avenue. He was declared in default of that agreement as of April 30 for having failed to submit architectural plans to the Township. Doolittle said Koplitz has now submitted those plans and is again on schedule.
What if the Ocean Grove Home Owners Association held a candidates forum and the only candidate who showed up was Mary Beth Jahn?
That possibility arose on Thursday after the Neptune Democratic chairman, James Mowczan, tried to avoid having his two endorsed candidates appear on the same Ocean Grove stage with Jahn.
In the June 5 Democratic primary, the three candidates — Jahn, Michael Brantley and Nicholas Williams — will compete for two seats on the Township Committee. In a bitter intraparty squabble, the county party has endorsed Jahn while Mowczan and his Neptune organization back Williams. (Both the county and Neptune branches of the party have endorsed Brantley.)
James Mowczan. Photo by Mary Walton
So now the president of the Home Owners Association is inviting those three candidates to speak at the HOA’s May 26 meeting. Jahn is eager to appear, but Mowczan said on Thursday that he was advising all three candidates not to appear.
The HOA’s president, Denis McCarthy, says the forum will happen in spite of Mowczan’s opposition. “The forum is scheduled, the forum will take place,” McCarthy said. “If one, two or all three of the candidates show up, the forum will take place.”
Jahn told me: “I will be there on the 26th, whether they [Williams and Brantley] show up or not. If I have no one to debate, I can do a Q&A session with residents.” While Jahn has already accepted the HOA’s invitation, Williams and Brantley had not replied as of the end of the day Thursday.
This debate about a debate kicked off on Wednesday afternoon, when McCarthy sent the following email to Mowczan:
Mr. Mowczan,
The HOA will conduct a candidates forum on Saturday, May 26th at 10am in the Community Room in Ocean Grove. We will send out invitations as soon as we obtain contact info, but for now would you please notify the three candidates.
Thanks, Denis
On Thursday, Mowczan sent McCarthy this reply:
On behalf of the Neptune Township Democratic Organization, I would like to thank the Ocean Grove Home Owners Association for offering to host a debate for the three candidates running in the June 5th Democratic Primary Election. However, it is my understanding that the OGHOA is a politically non-partisan organization. Furthermore it is probably a safe assumption that the majority of your membership is either undeclared voters or registered Republicans, both of whom are ineligible to vote for any of the three candidates in the June Primary. For these two reasons, I am advising all three candidates to honor your non-partisan tradition and not to participate in the planned May 26th debate.
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Editor’s note: For background on the primary race, go here and here and here.
