The entrance to Ocean Grove at the intersection of Rt 71 and Main Avenue. The first impression. Blogfinger photo. May 16, 2014. Click on the image to get a good look.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger
Do you know of any town that people commonly call “beautiful” which has an entrance like this one that looks like the on-ramp for a route 1-9 truck route? Can you imagine Spring Lake allowing the use of their town’s entrance as a bill board jungle?
Our schlocky entrance at Main Avenue is in stark contrast to our Broadway entrance, which looks great.
This crummy-looking area contains a billboard for a baseball game in June; the pink-o-rama “paint the town pink” and renaming our town “Pink Grove” banners and bows which are a triumph of symbolism over substance; an ad for Meridian; an ugly olive banner that champions a politically-correct art event for women only; and the “arts center” signs that promote everything from A to Z. And the backdrop is the lovely backside of old Neptune High, the former home of the Scarlet Fliers whose current beautiful campus on Neptune Boulevard is devoid of public advertising. Finally, in the right lower corner is something that looks like a giant gray tombstone. (Will we have a cemetery there next?)
You won’t find anything like this in front of the Municipal Building (or at its rear end either) or at the Marina area at Shark River ; and let’s be sure to check the entrances to other residential areas in Neptune Township to see if the town fathers and mother permitted similar commercialization there.
This ugliness is the first impression that visitors to our town see. It’s not good for morale or property values in Ocean Grove. It sends a message that suggests a certain bleakness in the Grove which belies the truth of our town.
Why isn’t the Homeowners Association making a fuss about this? One of their main goals is to promote our property values. They are not dependable as promoters of our town. It’s fine to worry about derelict houses, but how about the derelict entrance to OG?
I suggest that we all write, call, or email our committeemen and tell them to do something about the transformation of our entrance way into a commercial advertising district instead of something a historic town on the National Register can be proud of.
If you go to the township web site Township web site you will find “contact us” and then you will find the township directory which has the Neptune municipal government phone extensions. If you click on the blue name of anyone there, you will get their email address and a ready-made email form suitable for mailing with no postage necessary.
The phone number is 732 988 5200. The address for regular mail or for visiting is 25 Neptune Boulevard.
email addresses of the Neptune Township Committee:
drmbrantley@neptunetownship.org (Dr Brantley is the mayor)
rbishop@neptunetownship.org
kmcmillan@neptunetownship.org
mjahn@neptunetownship.org
ehoughtaling@neptunetownship.org
THE MILLS BROTHERS: