On October 4, 2016, we posted a letter from “Pastor John” DiGiamberardino, COO of the OGCMA. In it he reassured “friends and neighbors” that there would be no increase in residential ground rents. Below is the link to that Blogfinger post.
But the Pastor’s letter was not considered clear enough, so the OGHOA decided that they needed “clarification” regarding the CMA’s policies, so they sent an email querying the Pastor further about the ground rent intent.
“Pastor John” responded to them and said, “In short, nothing is going to change” with respect to lease fees.
“Addressing the question of ‘terms and conditions’ of a ground lease,” Pastor John stated that “this primarily relates to non-payment of ground rent”.
In an email today from the OGHOA “Board of Directors” (aka Board of Trustees; aka Board of Dubious Intentions) to the membership, the Directors said that they would “take the OGCMA at its word” regarding the ground rent issue. A little condescending perhaps?
Some residents remain distrustful of the CMA and they are encouraging everyone to pay their land rents on time each year.
In 2007, during the Pavilion controversy, there was concern in town that Ocean Grove would be seen as an intolerant community. This concern stemmed largely from media coverage which would often confuse the town of Ocean Grove with the Camp Meeting Association. The inaccurate reporting just made a bad situation worse.
In recent years, the question of discrimination has occasionally arisen, usually brought up by individuals who focus their attention on the CMA. The town of Ocean Grove has not been targeted in that way.
However, in today’s Coaster, two Ocean Grove citizens sent a Letter to the Editor which you can read below. What do you, our readers, think of that letter?
Letter to the Coaster. October 6, 2016:
As concerned residents of Ocean Grove we attended the QSpot town hall meeting pertaining to their possible eviction at the Jersey Shore Arts Center. For the last 20 years we have watched the town grow into a diverse community. We now have many full and part time homeowners of different religious, ethnic and social backgrounds, and financial status. So many new residents have brought us into the twenty-first century.
We also have a large LGBT community who have contributed immensely to the growth of this town. They have been discriminated against from the streets to the pulpit, and yet they still contribute in a positive manner.
Hopefully the prejudice of 2006 and 2007 does not rear its ugly head again. It is essential QSpot’s lease be renewed for Ocean Grove to progress as a diverse community.
Early in its life, the Warrington was an upstanding hotel facing Wesley Lake and Asbury Park. Its address was 22 Lake Avenue in Ocean Grove.
In 1939, Gibbons reported (History of Ocean Grove) that there were 75 hotels in town. Among them was the Warrington. H. W. Brown was the proprietor, and it offered the “European plan.” This means that meals were not included in the room rate.
In the summer of 1955, guests stayed there in order to hear Billy Graham preach in the Great Auditorium. An ad then from the Ocean Grove Record said:
“The Warrington: Convenient to all beach-front attractions and Auditorium. Rooms only, hot and cold running water, hot baths and showers, inner spring mattresses. Television. Write for folder and rates. Wm. Baumann, Owner-Manager.”
But over the years it sunk into becoming a run-down boarding home for veterans and physically challenged individuals. There was a long list of violations over the years including abuses of vulnerable residents, and finally the State of New Jersey Division of Community Affairs shut it down in 2012 because of those many “problems.” Blogfinger called it “an absolute horror show.”
The State said it had to be shut down because of “serious conditions affecting the health, safety and welfare of those who lived there.” The owner, Jack Ancona of Long Branch and New York City had bought the building in 2006 for $1,275,000 and he continued to get into trouble because of violations here and in other properties that he owned.
In 2012, a Blogfinger post said, “The Warrington is now an empty and deteriorating property.”
In 2014, the OGHOA reported on the neglect of the property including fire hazards and suspicious activities at night. They said that its notoriety was exceeded only by its derelict neighbor next door, the Park View Inn (now demolished) They also reported that the owner wanted to create a 20 suite boutique hotel, but that the hotel “does not border on any street” This is a violation of land use law in New Jersey
On 3/13/14, the following article appeared in Blogfinger:
Shirley and Ted Bell were married 62 years ago in the Park View Inn on Seaview Avenue in Ocean Grove which was owned by Shirley’s parents. It was a busy place and quite wonderful. There were porches in the back where guests could look out onto Wesley Lake and enjoy great hotel food. Lake Avenue ambled by, and walkers provided a parade for the Park Viewers. The Park was Founders Park.
Ted, an eminent Ocean Grove historian, recalls that Lake Avenue was “always a walkway.” The founders would not allow even a horse and buggy on that footpath. Lake Avenue actually had two levels, with the houses and hotels being elevated (see photo below). But for now, Ted and Shirley can sit on their porch on Seaview Avenue, look across the lake, and see real palm trees!
1896. Wesley Lake. Ocean Grove. Clearly the precedent for Lake Avenue is a walkway. Courtesy of Ted Bell, Ocean Grove historian. Look closely and you will see Ted walking over to Days Ice Cream Garden.
1896. OG. Lake Avenue had upper and a lower elevations. No one imagined that someone might want a roadway there. Courtesy of Ted Bell.
Now that the Inn is gone, the Township has approved plans to subdivide that narrow lot into 4 undersized house lots. Two would be on Seaview Avenue, while two would be on Lake Avenue. Those lots are currently for sale. The two lake front lots are $459,000 each. The two Seaview Avenue lots are $419,000 each. The four houses planned are said to have received approval for 3 stories each.
But since Lake Avenue is not a street or a road, land use law would forbid building those two lakeside houses. They should have never been given permission. We also need to determine if the lakeside houses are being built on Green Acres properties.
Municipal Land Use Law (New Jersey). Official record. Click to read it easier. Source: Jack Bredin.
The neighbors over there are concerned about parking and access issues. Supposedly a path between the houses would allow access to Lake Avenue from Sea View. Or the residents could walk around to Lake Avenue (aka Beach Avenue) by the boardwalk and then head west. But what about UPS, garbage trucks, mail delivery, etc.?
And won’t those houses be crowded together when built on small lots? Would they get any breezes or light? Aren’t OG lots small enough? Shouldn’t there be only two houses there, fronting on Seaview and with lovely rear yards and views of the lake?
Blogfinger will be investigating these issues. Please comment if you have any information.
Link to our 1/14/16 article about the land under the now demolished Park View Inn. It is very interesting:
If you actually attend a Neptune Township Committee meeting, you will hear only what is scripted in the agenda. After several hours of hanging around, you can go to the microphone and offer a 5 minute opinion, but none of the robots on the dais will actually have a conversation with you. They may say, “Your time is up.” Or they may ask a police officer to force you to sit down, or they may say something like, “We’ll look into that.” So no one really expects them to offer much in the way of explanations or opinions when they face the public. Luckily, whatever you might say is recorded and may actually be documented in the minutes
However, amazingly, on June 30. 2016, they sent a letter to the editor of the Coaster to explain some things to us Grovers. This is unprecedented , so it must really be important.
In the letter they explain that two members left early during the infamous Parking Committee meeting of a few weeks ago because they had to attend a memorial service for Orlando victims. Apparently the Committee doesn’t mind being accused of malfeasance ( eg the RSIS controversy), because they never respond to those opinions, but now they had to go public to say why they cut the meeting short.
Here are some quotes from that Coaster letter. You can judge it for yourselves. None of the Committeemen (and one woman) actually signed the letter using their actual names.
“It is a false impression that the concerns of Ocean Grove residents regarding parking were not being fully addressed”
“In relation to the parking issue, we take great pride in our efforts to make sure Neptune Township truly is a place where ‘community, business and tourism prosper.’ (Can anyone say “non sequitur?” )
“…we will continue to focus on this issue while considering the effect our actions will have on the entirety of Neptune Township” (Anyone want to explain this statement?)
“In addition to the establishment of this Advisory Board (ie the Parking Task Force) we have also requested that the Neptune Township Business Administrator seek immediate solutions that can be implemented in the short term, and not be held up due to the necessary process actions which the municipal Committee must go though. We expect residents will see some changes in the coming weeks.”
(So, one bureaucrat at the Mother Ship will prepare some sort of “immediate solutions” without letting those solutions be examined first by the citizens? Who’s to say we will like those “solutions?” Can you say “transparency?” Does the Committte now rule OG by edict? Is this the slippery slope in action? )
“As elected officials our jobs are to listen to, and act on, the concerns of all of the residents we serve…….We have no greater obligation than to make our Township an even better one to live and raise a family in.” (Editor’s note: “Really?”)
Can any of you find any specific information regarding parking in this letter which was entitled “Parking Changes will be Coming Soon.” Can you find anything besides platitudes and political double talk?
JACK JOHNSON “Anything but the Truth”
“What is this place? Who am I? Why did we come here?”
A statue of George Washington in Albany. Two of the most powerful men in the capital, Assemblyman Sheldon Silver and Senator Dean G. Skelos, go on trial this month. Photo: Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger
Recently we discussed how Neptune officials, engaging in irregularities and improprieties regarding the Ocean Grove North End Project might “get away with” such activities. We said that public apathy and a useless Home Owners Association could provide the opportunity for officials to successfully skirt or manipulate the law to achieve objectives which are not in the public’s best interest.
New Jersey has an infamous history of successful prosecution of elected officials who break the law, including cases in Neptune Township* and Asbury Park.
But with instances when there is just a suspicion of wrongdoing, the suspicion alone can result in loss of trust on the part of the electorate, and that loss of trust can produce a corrosive effect on our normal democratic processes which are supposed to result in justice and the public good.
In Ocean Grove, where Blogfinger and some citizens are suspicious of procedures being followed for the North End Redevelopment Plan and other issues, the situation has reached the point where there is mistrust of the Neptune Township Committee. We elected them to represent us and we loaned them the power to make decisions on our behalf. But their lack of transparency and possibly illegal behavior create a justified lack of confidence in them as our representatives. There already is one law suit in play naming the Neptune Township Committee.
It’s one thing to disagree with your Committeemen about policy, which is a normal part of our system, but it’s quite another if you don’t trust them. And it is not only a problem experienced at the local level of government.
Consider Meet the Press this past Sunday when the new Speaker of the House of Representatives, Paul Ryan, said, regarding working with the President, “I don’t trust the President on immigration.” Regardless of the merits, that charge has serious implications, and it illustrates how loss of trust may negatively affect our democratic processes even at that level of governance.
Let’s consider a shocking situation in NY State where loss of trust actually turned into indictments. In Albany two respected and powerful men, long distrusted by many, are now on trial for corruption. Consider what the NY Times** says about the “culture of corruption” in that state:
“In separate federal courthouses in Lower Manhattan this month, two of the most powerful men in New York are about to go on trial, an extraordinary spectacle centering on allegations of corruption, bribery and nepotism in the state’s highest chambers of political power.”
“The alleged acts are typical of a culture, according to the watchdog groups, that has made Albany practically synonymous with corruption and stubbornly resistant to reform, keeping citizens — and even most lawmakers — in the dark about much of the legislative work and spending done in their names.”
Because of these New York State cases, the electorate in that state has to wonder if the entire governance process in Albany cannot be trusted. This is the extent of the destructive effect on our democratic institutions when loss of trust evolves into criminal investigations.
The Times says, “This focus on Albany has already had a chilling effect in the Capitol and contributed to what was an anemic legislative session this year. Some lawmakers said this occurred, in part, because of their concern that investigators may view the normal, transactional nature of politics in Albany as crimes of corruption. And some lawmakers complain privately that the federal scrutiny has tainted the state’s many honest public servants.”
Locally, we have not gone on record to accuse anyone of a crime, but some of us are suspicious of what’s going on in the Municipal Building in Neptune, and we have every right to say so and to demand a transparent explanation of whatever is questioned and to insist on an outside investigation of the public processes.
Is there a “culture” at Neptune Town Hall which causes failure of trust? So it seems.
In 2005, the FBI indicted the Neptune Township Deputy Mayor for corruption. He served jail time. There also was another Neptune functionary, the Director of Code Enforcement, who got caught up in the same investigation which brought down numerous Monmouth County officials.
NEW BROADWAY CAST OF STEPHEN SONDHEIM’S “FOLLIES” “The Road You Didn’t Take”
Neptune Township Committee: It’s not too late to go down the better road; restore trust by pulling the plug on that North End Redevelopment Plan—-start over and earn back the trust.
By David Philo, Ocean Grove homeowner. David lives on Lake Avenue.
This picture of Wesley Lake shows the growth of Pondweed that has plagued the Lake the last three years. As a resident of the Lakefront I am asked many questions by visitors about what is going on and what is being done. I will relate what I know here.
The Wesley Lake Commission is a joint body consisting of Asbury Park and Neptune township officials. Recently some residents have been appointed. The CMA is mostly absent from the monthly meetings which are the 3rd Tuesday of every month at 5:30 PM at the Neptune Township building.
After the initial weed bloom the Commission hired a respected expert and business owner to analyze and treat the weeds, Dr. Souza. At that time an herbicide was sprayed and in time the weed bloom subsided. This year the bloom has been more intense and not responsive to the herbicide, which has been applied at least twice. I missed this month’s meeting so I cannot relate if the 3rd treatment was done. As anyone can see, the Pondweed persists.
Dr. Souza has stated that some nutrient source is likely responsible for the bloom, such as fertilizer, goose excrement, runoff, or even sewage.
The sad thing as far as I am concerned is that the trash/litter that floats in the weed islands is treated by the Commission as an inevitable result of the Lake’s being an “urban body of water”.
The Commission is planning to raise independent funds to further their efforts to improve the condition of Wesley Lake. The Friends of Wesley Lake is working with the Commission on this and other issues. To date the aerators that are now in place are the most visible results of the Commission’s ability to raise money.
There is a fall cleanup scheduled, and volunteers will be needed.
I also hope that anyone who can will participate in helping with the fundraising. I think the evidence is very visible that this is a Lake in crisis.
It turns out that Tony Campolo is a well known Baptist Evangelical preacher. He has been to the GA many times in the past and has a reputation for being a very entertaining speaker.
In recent times, he has caused some controversy because of his opinions about gays and about gay marriage. According to OGU, he is an “activist” who has “publicly expressed his support for the inclusion of same-sex couples in the church. ”
According to OGU, he has said, “I am finally ready to call for the full acceptance of Christian gay couples into the church.”
Rev. Tony Campolo. Internet photo.
Ordinarily Blogfinger would take no interest in the GA Sunday sermons, except this time a local organization, Ocean Grove United, has called for its members and friends to “welcome” Rev. Dr. Tony Campolo when he comes here Sunday to be the guest speaker.
Is this the first time that an organization other than the CMA has formally planned to “welcome” a speaker at the Sunday sermons?
But what interests us the most at Blogfinger is that OGU, in a follow-up email, has not only repeated its notice to supporters to “make every effort to attend” on Sunday, but now they say that Rev. Campolo “has received a great deal of flack for supporting the lgbt community, and those who disagree with him will not turn out for his program. It is extremely important for the CMA to see that Ministers who preach love will pack the house. Please tell friends and neighbors as well.”
Is that true that only Campolo’s supporters plan to show up?
In addition OGU asks its supporters to “gather outside the auditorium at 9:30” The service begins at 10:30 am.
So, without making any judgments, I have to say that this sounds like a political demonstration/message and thus meets our criteria as news. Even if a group gathers one hour before the event, and even if there are no signs or chants, their very presence will carry a powerful message as described above,
This is not the first time that a situation like this has occurred in the Grove, and this conflict will affect the entire town in one way or another. No matter how Sunday morning unfolds, Blogfinger will report on it. Those of you who attend can email us with your views or you can comment under this post.
THE MORMON TABERNACLE CHOIR WITH THE PHILADELPHIA BRASS ENSEMBLE: “Abide With Me; ‘Tis Eventide.”
