Tag: #boardwalkandbeachesforall

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Save Asbury’s Waterfront Community Voices – Kerry Margaret Butch

Does Asbury Park really want to harken back to the “good old days” of the 1950’s? In advertising for the new development in the city some ads are showing video images of a 50’s car, and a curated mid-century vibe. But as Kerry Margaret Butch, the writer of this article says, the 50’s was a time when things were decidedly not great at all for minorities, people of color, gay, and women, or the poor.  We can do much better than that in 2019.

#boardwalkandbeachesforall

PLEASE ATTEND THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING FEB 13th. AP High School Auditorium.  Learn about development of the North Beach and share your thoughts in the public comment period.

“Let’s build a pool, but let’s make it public and affordable. Let’s make sure that our kids can enjoy it and that we aren’t creating an exclusive North Beach.” – Kerry Margaret Butch

Not Everybody into the Pool

“On Wednesday, February 13th at 6pm in the Asbury Park High School Auditorium, iStar will present it plans for a membership only Beach Club located on the east side of Ocean Avenue on 7th Avenue. The design is being promoted to be reminiscent of the 1950’s: a beach and bathing club complete with cabanas, restrooms, lockers and a large pool.

Remember the 50’s? Great for a lot of people, but not for all. Not women. Not people of color. Not gay people.

The vast majority of people that live in Asbury Park will not be able to afford membership in the Beach Club. The idea that the City will devote an entire city block of our waterfront to a club for 350 to 400 memberships doesn’t fit with the vision of an affordable, family friendly, diverse, “kind of edgy,” rock n’ roll progressive community.

Let’s build a pool, but let’s make it public and affordable. Let’s make sure that our kids can enjoy it and that we aren’t creating an exclusive North Beach. And let’s not build it east of Ocean Avenue.

Lately, there has been a renewed buzz about saving Bradley Cove – the area of North Beach by the fisherman’s lot in front of the senior building on Ocean Avenue. The beachfront has to be preserved from the slated development of 15 townhomes. Development rights will likely need to be “bought back” using public dollars. Taxpayers shouldn’t be footing the bill for an exclusive North Beach, but rather, investing in a public waterfront that is accessible and welcoming to all.

Please attend the meeting on February 13th and articulate the vision of an inclusive Asbury Park. The public is welcome to provide comments on the beach club starting at 7pm.”

 

 

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Save Asbury’s Waterfront Community Voices – Rev. Gil Caldwell

Development of a members-only beach/pool club on Asbury Park’s North Beach is an issue of social justice, potentially reestablishing what founder Bradley envisioned – a resort for the wealthy, in which he enforced segregation.  Bradley is considered to have set the scene for continuing inequity through decades.

Gil Caldwell is a national and Asbury Park icon working tirelessly throughout his lifetime as a champion of social justice.

“Asbury Park In 2019, a city that boasts of its racial, ethnic, cultural, and economic diversity, is on the verge of expanding its already evident economic segregation, by building beachfront, private pool clubs?” – Gil Caldwell

#boardwalkandbeachesforall

PLEASE ATTEND THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING FEB 13th. AP High School Auditorium.  Learn about development of the North Beach and share your thoughts in the public comment period.

Say it isn’t so!

Reverend Gil Caldwell

“At a time when our President flaunts his ownership of expensive Hotels and Golf Courses, Asbury Park continues to demonstrate that; “Those who have the Gold, Rule”? I believe that Asbury Park and iStar are better than that…I dare Asbury Park to be different! I believe we are, and we can be.” 

“Kay Harris in her letter writes of being excluded on the beachfront because of her race in the 1950’s. I remember my own New Jersey experience in the 1950’s. I was a student at North Carolina A & T College/Greensboro in the 1950’s. I had a part time job and walked 4 miles each day, walking back and forth to my college. Often I would walk by the Woolworth’s Store, wishing that I could sit at the counter to get a coke and a hot dog. But I knew that I would not be served because of my race. (In 1960, that store was the site of sit-ins by students from my college, that helped to integrate white only restaurants and lunch counters). My preacher father and my secretary mother did their best to contribute to the college educations of their four children. But, that was not enough.

My college in an effort to stay afloat economically, had a tradition of a staff person from the financial office coming to classrooms to read the list of students in arrears in their tuition payment. Students whose names were read were expected to get up from their seats and leave the classroom. The day my name was read, I left class with tears in my eyes and visited a Pawn Shop for the first time. One of my Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity brothers knew of my financial plight and invited me to go with him to work in Atlantic City during the summer. I was excited. My tuition needs would be met, and I would experience for the first time, northern racial integration.

Much to my surprise, the hotels in which I worked, and the restaurants where I washed dishes, pots and pans, would not accept blacks as customers. Hotels in which I could not sleep as a guest, and restaurants where I could not sit at a table and eat as a customer because of my race. In Atlantic City, New Jersey, “Up North”!

Fast forward. Asbury Park In 2019, a city that boasts of its racial, ethnic, cultural, and economic diversity, is on the verge of expanding its already evident economic segregation, by building beachfront, private
pool clubs? “Say it isn’t so!” At a time when our President flaunts his ownership of expensive Hotels and Golf Courses, Asbury Park continues to demonstrate that; “Those who have the Gold, Rule”? I believe that Asbury Park and iStar are better than that.

A win/win resolution to this debate would demonstrate that democracy in Asbury Park is not just talk, it is walk! Let us give Historians the opportunity to be able to write in the future, that, “In 2019, a corporate entity, iStar, and Asbury Park, initiated a plan/resolution that remembered the negative history of racial segregation in Asbury Park, by combating private sponsored economic segregation. They realized that if American capitalism did not break the back of economic segregation, the unknowing public would look toward the possibilities of socialism.” I dare Asbury Park to be different! I believe we are, and we can be.”

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Save Asbury’s Waterfront Community Voices – Kay Harris

Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition Supports Save Asbury’s Waterfront (SAW).  As a departure from our ongoing focus on safe and equitable access to streets, we’re focusing the next few posts on Asbury Park’s North Beach and equitable access to the boardwalk and beaches.

The boardwalk is a thoroughfare through the city, and beaches belong to everyone. Residents and visitors deserve access to the boardwalk and beaches, and we maintain that developers must respect that neither should be privatized in any way.

The contributors in these posts are members of the Asbury Park community, and share their thoughts about development though the lens of social justice.

#boardwalkandbeachesforall

PLEASE ATTEND THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING FEB 13th. AP High School Auditorium.  Learn about development of the North Beach and share your thoughts in the public comment period.

Preserve the Unique Diversity of Asbury Park’s Waterfront

by Kay Harris

Memories linger in my mind, of being denied access to the Monte Carlo Pool in the 1950s because I am African American. Of course, that would not be the case today in 2019. The new barrier would be based on income, a euphemism for class distinction. Do we really want to be defined as the beachfront which boasts amenities ensuring separation of the “haves” and “have nots”? – Kay Harris

The issue of Asbury Park’s waterfront development has brought about intense discussions within the community concerning the direction the development has been taking, amounting to the gentrification of Asbury Park. What defines the Jersey Shore is the miles of towns running from Sandy Hook to Cape May, each with its own characteristics; Cape May with its pristine beaches and grand Victorian homes, quiet upscale Spring Lake, fun, family amusements of Point Pleasant Beach and then there is Asbury Park.

Since 2005, the boardwalk and entire waterfront have been going through a succession of renovations, with thousands of visitors and residents once again enjoying all that the beach and bustling boardwalk have to offer.
As a boardwalk business owner for 14 seasons, many customers have walked through my store. The appeal of Asbury Park, as shared by these visitors and newly entrenched residents, regardless of income levels has been the edginess of Asbury Park as well as its diversity.

The waterfront master developer, iStar, has shared with the community that they intend to appeal to a cross section of clientele, specifically a high-end clientele at the north end of Asbury Park. Thus, the vision of the north end, is expected to include new townhomes right at the steps of the beach itself as well as a members only pool club. Already nearing completion, however, is iStar’s Asbury Ocean Club, Surfside Residences and Resort, with condo prices near $1 million upward to $5 million. It is located in the center of the waterfront on Ocean Avenue, between Third and Fourth Avenues and includes a members only 65 x 30-foot pool. This means that the north end pool to be built in the near future, would be the second private or members only pool built along our waterfront.

Memories linger in my mind, of being denied access to the Monte Carlo Pool in the 1950s because I am African American. Of course, that would not be the case today in 2019. The new barrier would be based on income, a euphemism for class distinction. Do we really want to be defined as the beachfront which boasts amenities ensuring separation of the “haves” and “have nots”?

I understand that the original plans were to include a public pool, 18 months after the private pool is built. This seems to be backwards to me. If there is going to be a members only pool, why not public pools first, with daily or seasonal admission fees that are affordable for families. Why a members only pool at all unless incorporated within a private development. Perhaps the members only pool club could be built a block or so inland so that the remaining and limited beach front property can be valued as a resource to be enjoyed by all – both residents and visitors.

I absolutely understand that the developers have made an investment in Asbury Park with the intentions of realizing a financial return. iStar has indicated that they want to work with our community, and on January 15, four proposals for the future boardwalk were presented with opportunity for public comment.

My hope is that the Asbury Park Waterfront developers can be open to input from the community in good faith and just as importantly, come to a meeting of the minds so that it can be a win/win for both the Developers and Community, as well as visitors to our jewel of the Jersey Shore.

Kay Harris

Asbury Park Business Owner