This spectacular photograph was provided to us by Grover John Gallagher who was quickly at the scene of the massive Surf Avenue fire on March11, 2011 in Ocean Grove NJ.
By Paul Goldfinger, editor
The dissemination of information in a small town like Ocean Grove should be a community activity. Newspapers, TV, or radio can’t do the job; the Internet is the way to make it happen, and blogs are the ideal mechanism.
Citizens need local news and information to be provided in a timely manner, so a publication like the Coaster is of limited value. Like other large newspapers, the Asbury Park Press is struggling and cannot afford to provide reporters for coverage of towns like Ocean Grove.
Until someone comes along and starts a money-making blog with paid reporters, like the Patch blogs (patch.com) that are blossoming all over the country, Blogfinger is all we have in the Grove.
For Blogfinger to be the place for news, we need to have cooperation by citizens and public officials, participating in a shared activity: telling the public what is going on. You would hope that every elected official would agree that part of the job is to keep the public informed. Those who enjoy back room politics while ignoring the folks should be voted out. Mary Beth Jahn used to make it her business to share information with us and she was rewarded by Grovers at the last election.
So this is why we should be thrilled that Mayor Houghtaling sent us an email yesterday. We had asked him to keep us in mind when he has information, and shortly thereafter, he sent us an email filled with the latest news as he sees it. Why did he do that? Because he’s a regular guy who sincerely wants us to know his views. He has just set a fresh and honest example by reaching out to us instead of having a reporter chase him down at the next Committee meeting.
Let’s all get behind the idea that sharing local information is a community activity.