By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger
For a little town, Ocean Grove has quite a few unique neighborhoods. It was a planned community, sort of like New York City, but, like the Big Apple, there are a few parts that dissolve into geographic confusion. In Manhattan, you have Greenwich Village (try to find Jane Street), but in the Grove, we have the North End Mountains (Mt. Zion, Mt. Hermon, Mt Carmel, Mt. Tabor, and my favorite–Mt. Pisgah). That part of OG resembles a little New England village with its odd array of streets over by Wesley Lake — near the Great Auditorium and the tents.
Monday’s assault (read about it here) occurred at the intersection of Mt. Zion Way and New York Avenue. If you check the map, you will see that Lake Avenue (actually a walkway) and Asbury Avenue run parallel to Wesley Lake. Mt. Zion begins at Pennsylvania and Asbury. It then heads east for two blocks before it ends at New York Avenue and becomes a pathway between a row of tents which end at the Great Auditorium. The bridge to Asbury Park is between Mt. Zion and New Jersey Avenue. Little Mt. Pisgah Way isn’t even on the Camp Meeting map, above, but like Mt. Zion, it also winds up as a path between tents.
Standing on Mt. Zion Way looking across NY Avenue at the Mt. Zion Way row of tents. This is the scene of the crime.
You couldn’t ask for a more picturesque and seemingly safe neighborhood. Yet somehow a scary attack occurred there in broad daylight. You would think that such a neighborhood would be crime free, but don’t forget, once the tenters are gone, those areas become considerably less busy. Add to that the demographic fact that many houses in the Grove are owned by “second homers” who, unlike property owners of years ago, are not seeking winter renters. So those homes would likely be empty on a Monday morning.
I was involved in a project a few years ago in that area, when there was an attempt to photograph every house in town. We took pictures in the winter, when the trees were bare. I was amazed to find that no one was home in most of the houses we visited. Also you have the Great Auditorium and park area, which is “dark” in the off season.
The census has shown that the full-time population in town has dropped from 4,256 (2000) to 3,342 (2010), a 21.48% decrease. So, you can see that part of our problem may be the relative paucity of people off season, especially around Mt. Zion Way. Adding to that geographic situation is the proximity to Asbury Park and the notorious footbridge that is locked from midnight to 5 a.m.
So the crime issue in Ocean Grove continues to be worrisome, and the solutions will have to take into consideration the geographic/demographic aspects.