It’s easier to fly than to find parking in this town. Sue Gioulis cartoon for Blogfinger.net
Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger.
Talk about fake news, the Coaster has created a front page article (March 2020) about a parking study which has yet to be done. According to Don Stine, a Coasterican who writes about the Grove, the CMA’s parking study is “much-anticipated.” Really? Who is much anticipating it besides Michael Badger, President of the CMA. Badger is using a much-expensive national company, Kimley-Horn to do the study, so we guess that Kimley-Horn is anticipating the study at least as much as the CMA.
And it is likely that any such company with a hyphenated name would be quite expensive. Badger hasn’t revealed how expensive, but the City of Lancaster had this firm do a parking study for $150,000.
So Badger will be having a big bill to pay, so why is he willing to pay it, when a parking study for OG should be done by Neptune, and they budgeted for $8,000? It looks like the Badger Study will be gold-plated while the Neptune study will be coated with Wesley Lake sludge. Evidently Badger doesn’t trust the Neptuners to do the job properly, and he seems determined to find parking for those who come to all those CMA events, both current and future. Otherwise, why spend the money? The CMA has not been known to concern itself about secular Grovers who actually live in town.
By rights, no study to benefit the Grove should be done by the CMA since they have their own agenda and are a private organization.
Of course the Neptuners themselves have concerns about parking that don’t seem to include Grover residents; after all the Township previously rebuked a permit proposal by the HOA Parking Committee, and Mayor Rizzo spit in the eye of the Better Parking Alliance which started out to help the residents of our town and wound up as a tool of Neptune, trying to solve the problems of everyone and anyone besides those of us who actually live here.
The Coaster quotes the new Neptune Mayor Robert Lane, Jr.. who said, “The study is a great thing that will look at all aspects of parking in Ocean Grove.” How can the Mayor say that when the study is not done, and he has no control over its objectives and methods?
Do you believe that Lane thinks that the “study is a great thing?” You think he is OK with the CMA elbowing him and his Committee out of the way in shaping public policy? Badger can do as he pleases with the CMA, but he has no power in implementing a parking plan for the Grove, so why does Badger think he should spend the money?
Stine reports that Kimley-Horn “has met with OGCMA members to confirm the goals of the parking study….” How many OGCMA “members” actually live in OG? Why are those “members” the ones for K-H to interview?
Golly, do you think that those “goals” will include an effort to help the residents of the Grove who suffer the most when mega-events frequently flood our town with cars ? Badger says that “I am really hopeful we can find ways to make parking better for the people of Ocean Grove.” But who are those “people of Ocean Grove” whom he wants to help? Our town has a number of discrete factions, each with its own concerns, including the largest group—the residents who live here.
The Coaster tells us that the CMA has issued a press release. So why didn’t Blogfinger get a copy? In it, they say that Kimley-Horn will begin to meet with “stakeholders” who will be interviewed regarding “the current parking conditions in OG.” These stakeholders include the Chamber of Commercials, the HOA Groaners, “and Neptune residents including members of the Better Parking Alliance (BPA.”)
This reference to “Neptune residents” is very interesting because Badger once said that Neptuners need to be provided for as well as OG residents because, after all, OG is their beach. I am paraphrasing, but that happened. The reference is lost at this time, but keep your eye on that ball as well.
Who is representing the residents of OG when these interviews occur? Certainly not the dopey HOA whose idea of Grovarian public service is to have meetings about climate change, nonexistent antisemitism, and OG history.
So now, the BPA is being lumped in the category of “Neptune residents.” That is an ignominious end for the BPA which so far has not earned the adjective “better.” And notice how the CMA has inserted the Neptuners into our problem. After all, what kind of “fair” solution would we have in the Grove without providing special parking for Neptuners to come to the beach?
Editor’s note: Any effort to make parking better for all by increasing the number of parking spaces is wasting time because all they can do is redistribute the existing inadequate number of spaces. As Blogfinger has said in the past, the only solution is to reduce the demand, for example by limiting the number of big events in town such as the Giant Flea Market and Bridgefest among others.
And any plan must play favorites among all who drive into town. But the one faction which overwhelms all of us in season is the Camp Meeting Association, and they are increasing the number of their religious based events. Did you ever take their summer booklet and count the events—there are hundreds each season.
It will be fascinating to see the result of the CMA parking study, if they release it. Meanwhile it will be every man, woman and undetermined gender for themselves.
HANK WILLIAMS, JR