a. Saturday noon organ recital 7/28 with Dr. Gordon Turk.. Wonderful! One hour with the Hope-Jones organ.
b. Summer Stars: Thursday July 26: Alex and Wesley Park, young guitarist brothers. Go to OceanGrove.org
c. Organ recital with Gordon Turk.. Wednesday July 25, 7:30 pm Guest artist Carol Williams.
d. Fun to watch: 50th Annual OG Lifeguard Tournament. 6 PM Thursday, July 26. North End beach.
e. Ladies Aux. BAZAAR PRE-SALE 4 PM T0 7 PM Then the event continues on Friday and Saturday 10 am to 2 pm
f. Sunday July 29 opening of Camp Meeting Week.
g. Coffee bulletin. We had coffee at the OG bakery yesterday, and it was very good.. Try it. And, for a diner, the Blue Swan on Rt. 35 has very good coffee (cuppa Joe in diner talk)
h. Blogfinger site-stats: On July 21, we had 1.058 visits, and the most popular topics, in descending order, were: The Parking Derangement Syndrome (PDS); Warrington investigation to be re-opened—the investigators gave up too soon last year.; Why wasn’t a parking garage built at the west end of town? And morning at the Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge in Fla Fla Land .
i. Song of the week: TIM TIMEBOMB with “Saturday Night at the Movies.”
Conversation from the Township Committee meeting on May 24: (From our reporter on the scene)
Q. A member of the Public asked “Have you heard anything from WAVE?” (WAVE is the secretive group of investors that would develop the North End.)
A. Gene Anthony (Township lawyer) : “No. It’s strange.”
A. Randy Bishop : “Very strange.”
Note: About a year ago, Dr. Michael Brantley (Committeeman) said: “It’s time we take a look at all our redevelopment zones to see what we really want to do”
–The jailbird panhandler has returned to the North End near Main Avenue. Last week BF received two complaints. The mo is the same: tall, well dressed black man shows up out of nowhere and says he just got out of jail and wants to work. Or course, he really wants money. This has been going on for several years with the same guy. He uses a subtle form of intimidation, and Grovers should not have to put up with that. NTPD says do not give him money; instead call them. 732 988 8000.
Song of the week: DJ Sam Feelgood “Up All Night Long.”
Wake up and smell the roses: The beach roses are in full bloom. Go down there and take a whiff. (When I was a kid, a whiff was a strikeout, but now it’s a different aroma altogether.)
Moo Goo Guy is our Wassup? cow. She thinks a Chinese restaurant should open in the Grove. She loves hot and sour soup. She always orders takeout and she is a big tipper. Yummy, Yummy.
Wassup song of the week. For the departing Randy Bishop. By Groucho Marx
2. Neptune offices closed Monday Jan 18. MLK birthday.
3. Blogfinger stats: On January 11, 2016, Blogfinger received 1,309 visits. The most linked posts were the poll about dissolving the NERP, editorial on scuttling the NERP, Randy Bishop, and Park View Inn subdivision. Visitors from 11 foreign countries showed up among which were Sri Lanka, Russia, Australia, and Norway.
4. From the CMA (JP Gradone): “I am happy to announce that the work on the North Boardwalk commenced this week. The contractor, Bird Construction, estimates the construction time to be 2-3 month, weather permitting. There is a temporary walkway around the construction site to allow pedestrians to move between Asbury Park and Ocean Grove.”
5. Planning Board met on Jan 13. New members were sworn in. Committeeman Brantley was sworn in as the new liaison to the Board. The Mayor is also on the Planning Board, but he was not present.
There was no action to pass a resolution to finalize the approval for the Park View site subdivision. At the last meeting there was a vote to approve the 4 lot subdivision, but it is not a done deal without a resolution, and before that happens, more votes could be taken. The neighbors on Seaview and Lake Avenues could still lobby the Planning Board to reduce the density over there.
6. According to the Coaster,Randy Bishop has been appointed Deputy Commissioner for Administration of Elections for Monmouth County. He will step down as Committeeman in Neptune in February, so his replacement will be announced in March.
Bishop is quoted in the Coaster as saying, “I will miss the constant interaction with people, listening to not only their concerns but also their triumphs.” The Coaster article does not explain who appointed Bishop to this job, where he will be based, what his job description will be, and to whom he will report. The article says that his job is with “county government.”
In the article, the Township Attorney says that the “Monmouth County Democratic Party” will pick three candidates each for the Houghtaling and Bishop Committee seats, and then the Committee will make the choices.
Bulletin: Liz Ogden, President of the Historical Society of Ocean Grove has resigned, effective immediately. No other information is available at this time
Steve Mandeville of the Comfort Zone sends this request:
“Im trying to get a group together to spend maybe half hour to forty five minutes this Friday Caroling at Francis Asbury Manor meeting at about 5:45 PM. I have song sheets. We all know he music and it would give a lot of pleasure to the residents there many of whom have no family. Please let me know. Just being there would give a lot of people joy. Thanks, Steve ” Phone: 732 869 9990.
Wassup song of the week. From the Grammy nominated score of Hamilton: “Dear Theodosia.”
The Planning Board will meet on December 23. On the agenda is Connieann Acquisitions, the company which owns the Park View Inn on Sea View Avenue. They are asking to demolish the Inn and then to be permitted to subdivide the property ino 4 residential lots. The owner has told the neighbors that he will put up single family houses. Hooray for Connie Ann!
Blogfinger: We report on the udderly important moo news. Are you mooing at me? Got milk?
We now probably have enough signatures for the class action law suit against Neptune Township. For those of you who volunteered, we are waiting to hear from Kevin and his lawyer regarding the next step. Thanks to those who stepped to the plate. If more of you want to enter your names, please do so by email to Blogfinger@verizon.net. I will keep you informed as to the progress of this suit. —Paul @blogfinger
2. Park View Inn update sentry Stephanie Ackerman of Ocean Grove:
“The gentleman who owns the property of the Park View Inn, is planning on four individual homes. He went around to all of the neighbors attending the township meeting to explain his process. He has to apply to the township first for a subdivision, and then he can begin the demolition process. He is planning on having one house built available by May so that he can use it as a model in order to sell the other three. He gave all of us his business card. ”
(Editor’s note: We need more citizen reporters like Stephanie and Charlie Bridge. Please help us with Blogfinger and send information. Feel free to do some research for us.)
3. Independent candidates for Township Committee, Dianna Harris and Kevin Sheehan did not respond to the Blogfinger email request to interview them regarding their views about Ocean Grove issues. We did not get even a “no thank you” or “get your cow out of my face.” They are welcome to contact us (2nd invitation) to share their views regarding OG with our readers. (Blogfinger @Verizon.net)
If these two candidates are depending on the Home Groaners Ass. to provide a venue for their views, they are making a mistake. Those meetings rarely have more than 50 people in attendance. Yesterday we had nearly 1,300 visits mostly from people who live in OG, visit OG or care about OG. Maybe these candidates don’t care about the vote from the Grove because our population and voting numbers are relatively small, but how about the good will and how about the idea that they should concern themselves with all citizens if they get elected?
4. Cow in the snow news: Snow removal ordinance in Neptune (the town, not the planet)
13-2 REMOVAL OF SNOW AND ICE ORDINANCE
13-2.1 Responsibility for Removal; Time. The tenants of lands abutting or bordering upon the sidewalks of
the public streets and highways in the Township shall remove, or cause to be removed, from the sidewalks
in front of or bordering on their lands all snow and ice within twelve (12) hours of daylight after the same
shall be formed or fall thereon. (Ord. No. 1369 § 1)
13-2.2 Township May Remove. In case such owner or owners, tenant or tenants of any land abutting or
bordering upon any street, avenue or highway in said Township shall neglect or refuse to remove such
snow and ice within twelve (12) hours of daylight after the same shall have fallen or formed, it shall be the
duty of the duly authorized officer having charge of the streets and highways of the Township to remove or
cause to be removed such snow and ice from the sidewalks in front of or bordering on such lands.
(Ord. No. 1369 § 2)
13-2.3 Cost of Removal by Township; Lien Against Property. The cost paid and incurred by such officer
for removing snow and ice from any sidewalk shall be certified by him/her to the Township Committee,
which shall examine such certificate and shall cause the cost as shown thereon to be charged against the
lands abutting or bordering such sidewalk; and the amount so charged shall forthwith become a lien upon
such lands and shall be added to and become and form part of the taxes then next assessed and levied upon
such lands and shall be collected and enforced according to law. (Ord. No. 1369 § 3)
4. Wassup song of the week: What’s it all about? Just click below:
The Wassup? bug says, “We are not no-see-ums. We are see-ums and we report the news.”
1. Mosquito control. Patrol your property after every rain to get rid of collections of water (garbage can lids, wrappers, containers) or standing water (as in bird baths.) You can get information from the Monmouth County Mosquito Commission
3. Breakfast (and lunch): Don’t forget the Buttered Biscuiton 700 Main Street in Bradley Beach. The place is light and airy having been redone last fall. They have first rate food including flap jacks, egg dishes, corned beef hash, Manhattan chowder, cornbread, blueberry pancakes, famous grilled crumb cake, eggs Benedict and many more great items. Strangely, the biscuits do not come with butter; well, they come with a cinnamon and honey butter, but if you want some actual butter, you have to ask. But it’s all good. Inside and outside seating. Weekends there are lines to go in. Go during the week. They also have installed a counter for quick but tight service.
4. Tuesday July 14. Fish and Chip dinner Ladies Aux.s 5-7:30 pm;; Audit. Pav.
5. the 5th Annual Axelrod Israel Film Fesitival will be held from Sunday July 12 to Sunday July 19. It is held at three locations: (Deal, Freehold, and Monroe Township.) For more information: 732 858 8106 Axelrod link
7. Join the Ocean Grove Citizens Patrol. Minimum requirement is 2 hours, once per month. Contact 732 774 6582. Link: http://ogcp.org
8. Excellent job with Tally’s Folly at the new Herbst Theatre on the third floor of the JSAC. It’s a love story with just two characters. It’s engaging, fascinating, funny, intense. Well done JSAC. This song seems to me to fit for Tally’s Folly.
1. HPC meeting October 28 at 7 pm. They will be discussing a demolition request (initial hearing) for Broadway #5 1/2
2. Gardening advice from Miss Pegi : Good Morning Clubbers,
What a gorgeous fall weekend we just had! Remember to keep your eye on the weather forecasts. Plants you want to keep over the winter need to come in before a frost. Balancing the lower light conditions of many OG homes with the onset of frost can be tricky. Leaving them in happy outdoor light is not worth losing them with one drop in temps below 32. On the other hand, the longer they can stay out, the less time they will have to endure winter indoor low light and the better their chances of making it through until spring. It is a fine line so tread carefully.
1. The October meeting of the OGHOA will feature this year’s Candidates Forum.October 25 at 10:00 am in the Community Room. The following candidates have been invited to participate:
For election to the United States Congress from the 4th New Jersey Congressional District:
Chris Smith (R)*
Reuben Scolavino (D)
Scott Neuman (Democratic Republican Party)
For election to the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders:
Lillian Burry (R)*
Gary Rich (R)*
Joseph Grillo (D)
Lawrence Lutrell (D)
For election to the Neptune Township Committee:
Kevin McMillan (D)*
Richard Carlson (R)
*Incumbent
2. Crime issues: Now is a good time to install motion detector lighting around your house and also to consider surveillance video cameras. Note that there are different quality cameras, and some of them, from big box stores may be of poor quality. Hard wiring is better for outdoor use and can tie into your existing alarm systems. Don’t forget how dark some of our streets are in winter, so make sure, at least, that you have timer controlled porch lighting, especially if your house is vacant a lot. —PG
3. Wassup music—–must be a song that asks a question like “wassup?”
THE CARTER FAMILY with JUNE CARTER. “Will the Circle be Unbroken?” from the album Gospel Gold
4. News shortage in Ocean Grove. As with most small towns, news items are rare, at least as defined by a newspaper such as the Asbury Park Press. The last time they published an OG story was exactly one month ago, and that was a filler piece about the tents. Media love to write about the tents—-more often than FEMA which we covered ruthlessly since Sandy hit.
On Blogfinger we believe that OG citizens enjoy the small talk as well as the big talk. It is true that we are not focusing on politics or news such as who’s on first for the next Committee slot, but we are always looking for stories about OG. Despite our going on a news diet, we will not shrink from stories that interest us, and we will not shirk controversy if it seems important enough or fascinating enough, and we will continue to be the go-to media source for Ocean Grove news and information.
We specialize in speed humps, OG photographs, downtown floods, OG celebrities, live music in town, wildlife such as the visitor dolphins or the hot Eastern European girls in bikinis on our non-fishing pier, or Grovers who are fascinating, etc. You won’t find those things anywhere else.
So please continue sending us tips, comments and “Just Wondering” inquiries, and letters to the editor. As for comments, some of you think that we should never edit or reject comments, but newspapers do it all the time, and so do we.
1. OCEAN GROVE TOWN-WIDE YARD SALE on May 10: For information click on “yard sale” tab at the top of this page. This is where the LIST OF YARD SALE ADDRESSES can be found. We are breaking the record. 47 families as of May 3 You can still join through May 9 (Blogfinger@verizon.net)
Craig’s List ad for the Jersey Shore was posted May 2. Asbury Park ad will appear on May 9 and May 10. Coaster ad will appear on May 8. All will refer the reader to Blogfinger for the list of addresses.
To be fair to those who paid their $5.00, any who didn’t pay will be removed from the list as of Thursday when the ads kick in.
We have have extra posters. If any of you have an idea as to where to place them, please volunteer to help. We even have one Grover who is placing posters in the Guatemalan and Mexican shops in Asbury. She says that they like yard sales, so brush up on your Spanish.
Wanted: A couple of volunteers to ride around on bikes and monitor the sales. We can communicate by cell phones. You will be deputized as Blogfinger interns.
2 . Blogfinger 101 WordPress has provided us with a new music player. You may have to click the start arrow more than once to get it going.
3. Gov Christy once again visited the Seasides’ boardwalksa few days ago to see how construction was going. He was quoted by an APP reporter ,
“Christie noted that with construction just beginning on Ocean Grove’s boardwalk, all 33 of the state’s boardwalks that were damaged by Sandy will have been rebuilt by this summer.”
Isn’t it curious that he has never visited the OG boardwalk since Sandy. This is the first time that he actually has publicly uttered the words “Ocean Grove.” It seems to me that he doesn’t want to associate himself with our issues in the Grove. He is lacking in courage–not a desirable trait for a possible presidential candidate, or even for a governor.
4. There was a short work stoppage at the Boardwalk project. JP Gradone (COO, CMA) said that it was a minor bureaucratic glitch:
He said, “It was initially our understanding that FEMA had everything from State Historical Preservation, but they were missing some paperwork so they asked us to stop construction for a few days until everything was in order.”
However, are things ever minor with any bureaucracy, especially one so huge? It’s interesting that FEMA is watching so closely. I’d like to think that all government agencies are so careful when spending the taxpayer’s money. REALLY??? NOT!!!
In addition, we like to post small news items like this because in Ocean Grove (and I guess as in other small towns,) small talk is like big talk. —PG
