Blogfinger

Ocean Grove boardwalk 2022. Paul Goldfinger photo. © Click to enlarge.  Blogfinger.net

Teens at Days. Ocean Grove. 7/22. Blogfinger photo.

Independence Day Parade. Ocean Grove. 2022. Paul Goldfinger photo.  Click once to enlarge.

Paul Goldfinger, MD.   Editor Blogfinger.net.  2022 re-post.

The first time I saw Ocean Grove  was when  I visited Neptune Hospital many years ago for a medical conference. I drove to the beach. It was in the winter, and everything looked grey. I wondered if the town had been abandoned.  I thought, “Who would live in such a place?”   I didn’t even get out of my car.

Years later, when we moved here, first in 1998, we found Ocean Grove to actually be a  dreary place.  People often called it “Ocean Grave.”

We came for a variety reasons, but I initially noticed that there were few children, teenagers, young couples, and college age kids, and that made this town different from other Jersey Shore towns where my friends and I caroused each summer, having grown up in North Jersey, frequenting Seaside Heights.

One reason we took a chance on the Grove was that we saw that the town was changing  and we expected that it would continue in a direction that we would like.

And now its outlook continues to improve and come to life partly because of those young people whose presence in the Grove becomes more evident.  I call it “The OG Underground.”

Another big reason for a better prognosis  is Asbury Park:

Bonney Read restaurant on Cookman Avenue in A. Park. OG newbies love to go there for the food, music, bar scene and lively character.  Paul Goldfinger photo. July, 2022..

However, I do wonder about OG’s future.  It is absent a functioning master plan, and there is no strong sense of community among the secular residents who own most of the homes here and those who are renters. It is more about individual neighborhoods, and that’s glorious, but they don’t come together politically  as one voice.

Neptune Township shows little interest in us except for collecting taxes, providing essential services  and conspiring with developers.   They call us their “Historic District,  but that ‘s baloney.  And look what they’re bringing us at the North End.

Meanwhile the Camp Meeting Association has continued its grand  plan to expand a religious prevalence here both in-season and year round,  They want to change the character of the town.

But I do see some potential strength in the new second homers and  year- round residents who  offer the possibility of a strong  activist generation in the Grove;   shades of Herb Herbst and his Grovarian warriors.

FRANK SINATRA:

Odyssey Coffee. Paul Goldfinger Ocean Grove NJ.

It was Monday  October 6,  2  pm.  Few customers but only one worker.   Some got tired of waiting and left. Food was largely depleted, but we had honey buns which were very good.  We had intentionally cold coffee, and it was excellent.

Keep trying as Odyssey continues to find its way.

BEVERLY KENNEY:

Paul Goldfinger You Tube still photo.

You Tube still. Paul Goldfinger photo.

JENNIFER LOVE HEWITT.   “A Place Called Home.”

Heck Ave witches convention 2018.  Halloween. Paul Goldfinger official witches photog.

JIMMY BUFFET

Coneflower, aka echinacea.  From Eileen’s garden. October 13, 2025.  Ocean Grove, NJ, USA Paul Goldfinger photo.

“Flower Songs From Carmen.”    André Kostelanetz with the New York Philharmonic

Paul Goldfinger, Editor, Blogfinger.net. 2023.

Mr. Ingato is a lawyer who is a year round resident of Ocean Grove.  Today he gave a talk and then took questions. The quality of the ZOOM sound was poor, but I was able to obtain information on a variety of beach issues.

a. Many beach questions  have been resolved through court cases and state (DEP) regulations, but some issues remain uncertain such as the Sunday morning beach closures in OG. Mr. Ingato went through some specific shore cases that have solved a variety of differences: Neptune City vs Avon,  Deal, Long Branch, and Wildwood.

b. One fact: The public can access any beach including private ones.

c. He presented a slide which shows who owns the beaches:

Slide by Mr. Ingato.  Note the beach portions OWNED BY THE STATE OF NJ (representing the public ownership)

d.  Tidelands are always under water. Wetlands are sometimes under water and others not.  Public beaches were first for fishing and navigation open to all; later for recreation.

Fees can be charged to get on a public beach, and everyone who goes gets charged the same fee—citizen or not.   Public Trust Doctrine can be changed over time, but always the beaches are open to everyone.

e. Even if there is a private club like the Deal Casino, that beach must be open to the public.

f. If the beach is replenished, all those additional dry sand areas are owned by the state.

g. The DEP is the ultimate regulator of beaches.

h. Fees must be used to cover costs such as lifeguards, and no profit may be made.

i. Some towns have citizens “beach advocacy” groups.

j. Badges are freely transferable from one person to another.

k. Regarding the concern about crosses on the badges, you can carry your badge onto the beach; just to show the badge checker. This solves that problem, so fuhgetaboutit. You could also place a sticker to cover the cross.

l. Sunday morning beach closures: Mr. Ingato believes that would  be disallowed if it went to court.  He said that he would take that case.  “An argument could be made.”   Mr. Badger should not be allowed to offer “special permission” as occurred with Ms. Valentine.

m.   Green Acres provides tax relief, eg to a beach or boardwalk, but the public rights have to be enforced.

n. The dunes in OG block  the view of the beach and ocean from the boardwalk.  Maybe they are too high.The  Asbury boardwalk has full view of the beach.

Most of us  have noticed that the dunes have produced a significant lifestyle change in the experience of being on the boardwalk.  Perhaps the dunes could legally be lowered in height so we can see the beach life and the ocean while preserving the protection.

Mr. Ingato did a fine job in publicly wrestling with these difficult issues. It’s too bad that he didn’t offer ways to correct some beach problems that he discussed.

Also he didn’t mention the poor and disadvantaged who don’t come to our beach for financial reasons.  And how can the Groaners strategize to get rid of the Sunday morning beach ban?

Addendum:   At the end of the meeting the OGHOA President mentioned some events coming up.  He especially talked about the next giant Chamber of Commercials  tourist mish-mash.

But he failed to mention that two June events are being sponsored by OG residents–these are  the sorts of events  that the HOA should encourage and support, but they don’t:   The “Art on the Porches” and the “Town-Wide Yard Sales.”

This is our 12th year doing the Town-Wide Yard Sale, run by We the People, and the Groaners never offer any help or encouragement. But here they are patting the Chamber on the head.

Why is the HOA so tight with the Chamber and the Township?   It needs to recognigze and focus on the largest factions in town:  The secular residential and the OG Underground youth movement.

How many young people were at this Groaner meeting and where do the renters go to be represented?   The entire leadership of the HOA should be overthrown in a coup and replaced by citizens under the age of 50. They should have a new name and a new vision, and renters should immediately be given membership.

Mr Ingato mentioned “advocacy groups.”   We need some of those here  to represent new ideas. The Groaners are old news. Besides all talk, what exactly have they accomplished lately for the people of the Grove?  They are ineffective as exemplified by today’s meeting.

REGGIE PAUL.   “Shake Señora.”

This song is called “II Most Wanted.”  The album is called Cowboy Carter;  I like it. This brilliant new achievement  will reverse a number of stereotypes. It is terrific and shot to the top of music charts.

Roaring wind and surf.  Ocean Grove 10:40 am   10/13/25. Paul Goldfinger photo.  Blogfinger.net.  Click once to enlarge.

By Paul Goldfinger, Editor, Blogfinger.net

It was a gray and miserable morning on Monday, October 13, 2025. A nor’easter was bearing down at the Jersey Shore.  Rain was coming down hard, and the tempestuous wind was raging.

But I decided to drive to the beachfront.  I hoped to get a photo of surfers returning from those massive waves.   But I saw no surfers.

Very few people were around, and a few showed up to take some hurried  photos. One couple took a few quick shots, then they hugged each other and then they hurried to their auto.

George Tice, the famous New Jersey photographer, used a large format camera on a tripod to make his photos. He would disappear under that black curtain and he might spend an hour on one negative.  But he never photographed a tumultuous scene like this.

It was dramatic as massive waves banged into shore and against the pier, and the deafening wind nearly knocked me over as I tried to get out of my car.   But as I took a few steps eastward,  I quickly decided that it was too dangerous.

I took tiny steps heading back to my car telling myself  over and over, “I can do it.”  I truly thought I might fall down, and how would I get up?

Interestingly, the pier managed to stay vertical. What will the structural engineers say about our OG  non-fishing pier being able to withstand the abuse of this nor’easter?

Ironically we posted a piece about the pier just a few days ago:

OG pier Oct. 9, 2025

Looking back:    I was at the pier opening on April 15, 2023.  Even then there were concerns about structural inegrity.

At that time people returning from their walk to the end and back told me that the pier was shaking, so I did an about face and I went down to the beach to get a few shots.  Most photographers were shooting from the boardwalk.

April 15, 2023. New OG pier withstands large crowd of heavy explorers searching for bragging rights.   Paul Goldfinger photo. Blogfinger.net

Here is a link below (xxx)  to our Blogfinger post about the pier dated February 2024:

xxx

BOB DYLAN:   From his album The Essential Bob Dylan.    “Blowin’ In The Wind”

Will Grovers open their eyes to what’s going on in our town? Paul Goldfinger photo. 2021. Blogfinger.net.    Tent Village.  Ocean Grove.

By Paul Goldfinger, Editor.   Blogfinger.net.   March 17, 2025 re-post:

The BS meter in Ocean Grove just blew up after today’s Coaster front page story justifying $500,000 of public funds to the CMA for a “fitness project.”

Our State Senator Gopal is behind this, and he says, “..The goal was to support a project that would benefit the entire Ocean Grove community, Monmouth County, and the State as a whole…I am confident that the funds will be spent to achieve that objective.”

Really?

Blogfinger has learned from an anonymous source that Sen. Gopal has been a member (honorary) of the Camp Meeting Association Board of Trustees.   Does this smell like something fishy, even before our new OG Pier has been built?

In his statement to the Coaster, Gopal did not mention this.  Do you think he will contact us to deny this information?  There are others in the Grove who are investigating this concern.

This is the fourth front-page article promoting the CMA’s projects in recent weeks in the Coaster, all containing glowing quotes from Michael Badger.

You would think that he controlled the paper and maybe wrote the articles himself.  But the Coaster wouldn’t stoop that low…would it?

According to the Coastericans, Badger is quoted as saying, “In fiscal year 2023, the State appropriations act granted the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, the only religious non-profit,  to receive funding.”   If so, why did they get special treatment?

And here is another absurd Coaster  quote which should make your head spin:

” Badger said he believes that while the state legislature has always recognized the uniqueness of the community created by Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, the community has long put the safety, recreation and beautification of the area first.”

What freakin’ “community” is he talking about?

This nonsense raises the question:  How does the CMA acquire such influence in Neptune, Trenton, Asbury Park (Coaster,) and even Washington DC. (FEMA?)

They even have influence over the OGHOA:  The President of that Groaner group went out of his way last week to personally kiss up to Badger.  Details of this report remain to be released.

Back in 2014, after two denials by FEMA to use Federal funds to rebuild the OG boards,  in an unprecedented chain of events, FEMA made a total about-face and gave public money to the CMA.

At the time Blogfinger supported all that, but now, in reviewing the history, that same fishy aroma rises to the surface.  And Governor Christy and other NJ officials showed up in the Grove to claim credit.

Then we learn that the pier design  was chosen without any consultation/approval  with the OG public, the Historical Society of Ocean Grove,  or the Neptune government including zoning officials or HPC.

Also  there is the North End, where the CMA persuaded the Neptuners  to pass over the Master Plan and change the zoning to benefit the CMA, Neptune, and the secretive OGNED “developers.”

The residential community in the Grove was  ignored.

And even though Badger claims that he always has placed the “area’s safety , recreation and  beatification first,”  all the advantages described above were to benefit the CMA.

At Blogfinger we expect that this “fitness” project will be torn apart by Grovarian critics, and they are welcome to hit our “comment” button below.  Yesterday we had nearly 1,000 “hits” on Blogfinger, mostly about these issues.

There may be something rotten in Denmark, but keep your eyes open in the Grove. The NJ Attorney General should investigate  our concerns, and you may be hearing more about that fitness trail from other sources.

ORIGINAL BROADWAY CAST OF FIORELLO:  Act 2–“Gentleman Jimmy.”    Can Gopal fit into these shoes?

EDITOR’S UPDATE :  3/17/25:

It looks like we will have a sidewalk along the boardwalk side of Ocean Avenue. But why do we need that?  And who is paying?  Senator Gopal?  And what happened to that $500,000 Senator?

Also, the grass is starting to appear, but will that lawn succeed?  This is not an ideal time to plant grass seeds.

Blogfinger at the proposed “fitness path” at the project now showing by the OG boardwalk. Paul Goldfinger photo 3/17/25. The lady with the dog did not think the grassy area would succeed. “It was tried before..”

OG beach March 17, 2025. It was cold and windy. Dog walkers  are out.  Blogfinger photo.   Click once to enlarge.

But the CMA usually gets its way; they just follow the “Company  Way:”

Robert Morse in How to Succeed in Business—

Here is “The Company Way” from the Broadway show:

OG Boardwalk near the boardwalk pavilion. All photos by Blogfinger.net 6/21/21   Click to read the blue sign which is stuck in the sand adjacent to the boardwalk near the Pavilion. It says, “Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, God’s Square Mile at the Jersey Shore.”

By Paul Goldfinger, MD.   Editor  Blogfinger.net.  6/21/21.    Re-post  October 2025.

” The Green Acres program requires that privately owned land be dedicated to public recreation and/or conservation purposes.”

In exchange, the land owner receives a tax exemption.

What “privately owned land” in Ocean Grove does the sign above refer to?   Does it include the boardwalk, the beach, the land just west of the boardwalk (where the Green Acres sign resides)  and the ocean out a certain distance?

Is it OK to have baptisms on the beach and open religious services in the boardwalk pavilion?   Is that appropriate under the heading of “public recreation?”

What if the Hare Krishnas wanted to have a festival open to the public on the OG beach or boardwalk?  Can the CMA say “no?”  Would the Neptuners say “yes” in order to be fair and equal to everyone?  It’s likely that the Neptuners would defer to the CMA.

Hare Krishna International. Their web site.

Is  the OG boardwalk  a private property  or a public recreational thoroughfare?   If it is for the public*,  then there should be separation of church and state.  Yes?     Hello you lawyers out there.  I know that there are some OG residents who are attorneys and who have a keen interest in this subject.

And, whenever a new pier is built, it will also have memorials and may be in the shape of a cross. Will that be a “public thoroughfare?”

The lines are blurred and confusing. We can look back to the 2007  gay brouhaha on the boards,  but there is no clarity there.   Take a look at the “Ocean Grove 2021 Summer  Program Guide” to see the density of religious events all over town.

Memorials on the OG boardwalk. 6/21/21  They are getting more obvious. Blogfinger photo.

In 2007, the Camp Meeting Association  lost its Green Acres tax exemption for the Boardwalk Pavilion over a charge of discrimination related to refusing a gay civil ceremony in the Pavilion.

I think the question of religious events on CMA lands earmarked for public use was not discussed as part of that discrimination charge.  And it should be specifically examined now on behalf of the residents of Ocean Grove.

* In 2012 the CMA won its appeals  with the FEMA program by claiming that our boardwalk  is a ” public thoroughfare.”  As a result it was awarded public money to help repair the storm damaged boardwalk.  But wouldn’t that designation mean that there should be separation of church and state there?  Even the Feds were confused since they agreed to include the pier for federal funds at first, but later they reneged.

I was present then, and Blogfinger posted more pro-CMA articles than any other media outlet anywhere.  However, the subject of church vs state, never came up.

STEVE EARLE  AND THE PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND (NEW ORLEANS)