Neptune Township Committee—starting five. Blogfinger file photo
We are currently running a poll regarding whether Grovers are pleased with the performance of the Township Committee. It’s only been up for two days, but already 67 people have voted, and most are dissatisfied. It doesn’t matter why they are dissatisfied, because there are probably a variety of reasons, but it is worrisome that so many feel that way.
There are those who say that the citizens have no right to complain, because they don’t go to the Committee meetings, but hardly anyone cares to go. You only get 5 minutes at the end to express an opinion, and there is no discussion. What a deal! Going to a meeting is not a prerequisite for having an opinion or even being irate. Not going doesn’t mean that the citizens don’t care. There must be a better way for these elected officials to communicate with the citizens. Any ideas?
Wouldn’t it be great if, at least, they posted the minutes online within 48 hours, but currently the last set of minutes available is dated October 9.
Blogfinger will not be sending a reporter to those meetings, and the officials do not participate in discussions on Blogfinger. They have no interest in communicating on-line with our citizen readers even though, in less than 48 hours, 67 of you have taken the time to participate in our poll. They can dismiss the OG 67, which will soon be more than that, but 67 is more than they get at 5 of their meetings put together. The Home Groaners Assoc. sends representatives to those meetings, but do they share what they hear there? They sent out a memo to the members today, but there is no mention of what you will see below.
You can request a CD recording of the latest meeting for about 6o cents, but who is going to do that? So what’s the answer?
BF will check the minutes once in a while and share some highlights with you. Below is a portion of the Oct. 9 minutes of the Neptune Township Committee. If any of you attend a meeting, please send us a report from the front lines.
At this Oct. 9 meeting, believe it or not, they were again discussing metered parking in the Grove. This matter is still unsettled, and the natives are still restless, especially after learning that Asbury earns $2 million from their meters and that nothing has been done about the vagabond parkers who flood our extremities north and south.
So here it is, with some minor punctuation and clarification editing (an impossible task) :
“Ken Buckley stated that Asbury Park has raised almost two million dollars in parking fees and expects to raise two and a half million dollars. He stated that he had no idea why the Township would not consider to generate revenue by doing this on the east side of Ocean Grove during beach season. If you are not going to put in the meters then why not limit parking on the ocean side of Ocean Avenue so the free loaders could not stay there all day. He stated they were hurting the residents in Ocean Grove because they could not park.
“Mr. Bishop stated when they talked of doing east side parking {in the past} people pelted the {Commitee} with bottles 16 (??) in the fourth of July parade. He stated it wasn’t worth it because the residents do not want limited parking on Main Avenue. He stated they looked at and can look at it again but people do not want it.
“He stated they were working with it and the residents. Mr. Buckley asked if they were serious in not considering this because you could not make everyone happy. He felt this was pathetic.
“Mr. Bishop stated he heard from him and fifty other people about this and he agreed he could not make everyone one happy. Richard Cuttrell stated when the whole parking meter discussion first came up the thought was let’s do the east side of Ocean Grove, and the folks that got most upset were the ones on the first {beach} block because instead of parking on the eastside of Ocean Avenue they would now park in the front of the homes and the eastside of Ocean Avenue would be the last to be filled. Mayor Brantley stated they would readdress this.”
So, are you citizens still against parking meters in the Grove? Also tell us how to change our form of local government for this new century so that citizens have more of a voice. The old way is broken, and who is responsible? In other words, who’s sorry now?
Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger
KAREN ELSON from Boardwalk Empire–a story of failed government in New Jersey.