Committeeman Nicholas Williams gets a zero for the amount of times he said anything on Blogfinger. Paul Goldfinger photograph © 2018 when he was Mayor.
This Blogfinger piece is from January , 2019, but having just had an election this month, Nov. 8, 2022, where two Democrats were again elected to the one-party-rule Neptune Committee, the post below still has some relevance, and Nicholas Williams is still in office.
And the two who won, York and Lane, the least experienced committeemen regarding the Grove, were cynically assigned by Mayor Brantley to solve parking problems in OG. And that is why they sat near the front at this past Saturday’s HOA meeting. (11/26/22.)
And I also want to tap into the Blogfinger archive to when Dr. Brantley came to an HOA meeting and said that Ocean Grove was the “jewel in the crown” of Neptune Township. But he is so enamored of the Grove that he has led the atrocity known as the North End Redevelopment Plan. None of these Neptunite Commiteepersons give a damn about Ocean Grove, and this opinion is based on their actions governing the Township.
Paul Goldfinger, Editor@Blogfinger.net. 1/21/19
Committeeman Williams just finished a year as the Neptune Mayor. But he once said, a few years ago, that he would never comment on Blogfinger. Well this may be the only campaign promise that he ever lived up to in Ocean Grove.
Most politicians at local, state and national levels are looking to engage with the press as well as with the public in a way that would ensure that their views would not be misconstrued.
But not so in Neptune Township where one-party rule seems to permit elected politicians such as Williams to hide under their desks in order to avoid interacting with challenging media such as Blogfinger. But isn’t he supposed to represent and communicate with the people? Does he only represent the Grover-less parts of town?
As you approach Rt. 71 while driving to the end of Corlies Ave, have you seen the sign that says “Ocean Grove Historic District?” Neptuners like to think of the Grove as their historic district, but they wouldn’t mind if we lost our historic designations tomorrow.
Their indifference to our part of town has been evident at least since 2007 when they shut down single family home zoning at the OG North End in favor of preferences for connected others.
And for those few Grovers who attend the Committee meetings, they must sit on their hands for 2-3 hours until the “Public Portion” when they can have 5 minutes to say what’s on their minds, and with little or no response typically emanating from the “Lords and Lady” who sit elevated above them on the dais.
One time we reported on how Jack Bredin went to the microphone and was forced physically to sit down when the Mayor (MB Jahn then) literally called the cops.
In the Coaster, Williams handed out press releases which the Coastericans happily post verbatim without any challenges At BF we do not accept press releases. The Neptune Republicans asked us to do just that this week. They sent us a press release which they requested that we post word for word. We refused. When that press release does appear in the Coaster this week, we will report on it, but in our own words.
Why are those Neptune Committeemen so secretive? They routinely engage in practices which we routinely challenge in Blogfinger. But they won’t interact in our comments section with BF and interested Grovers, as well as with the many readers from here and elsewhere who go to our site on a daily basis. We often have over 500-1000 hits in a single day. This represents many more than the 50-60 Grovers who go to Groaners’ dopey meetings.
This smells of a coverup. How else can it be explained? The pols seem to fear interaction with the public. But why should they interact? They know that Democrats will continue to win locally without approval in the Grove.
There is a large African American voting block in mid-town who tend to vote according to party. But what have the elected Dems done for those Midtowners?
At the next Committee election** we may hear from two sides instead of just one, at least that is what the Repubs in town are saying now.
Unfortunately, ideology is replacing bipartisanship in America, and “all politics is local.”* If we Grovers can’t rely on our elected officials to represent us, and if our citizen based groups such as the Home Owners Association do not step in, then, as Jack Bredin recently said, “We are sunk.”
* Thomas “Tip” O’Neill, Democrat.
**November 2019, two Repubs lost to two Dem incumbents for seats on the Neptuner Committee. One party rule prevails. Bad news!
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