the previous Administration put up a fight,
that’s how the Verizon complaint/lawsuit happened,
and that’s how the settlement happened.
Belmar Council Meeting of April 11, 2023
the previous Administration put up a fight,
that’s how the Verizon complaint/lawsuit happened,
and that’s how the settlement happened.
I thought the meeting was going to be short but I was mistaken. Mostly what was talked about was the Verizon towers that are going to be installed along Ocean Ave. Long drawn out seeming astute remarks about fighting Verizon in the “courts” and enlisting our politicians to help in the fight, ect.
———————————–
My only input was it ain’t going to work (fighting Verizon) and to get the skate park back and running, which is something even this sorry lot, “mayor and council,” might be able to accomplish.
Thank you Editor for the info above, I was going to mention the same thing because I don’t think it was clear at the meeting. Maybe at the next meeting the Mayor, BA and Council can be more prepared about the Verizon litigation history so we can get a better understanding. It was clear last night they had not taken a hard look at the history of the Verizon litigation which led to the settlement. For all we know Verizon could have wanted to put 30 poles and a substation or something and we did fight it down. I wish Mr. Brennan (Council President) would have spoken up more being he was around for it all and should have some knowledge.
Perhaps if the Mayor and/or Council Members are checking this blog: Fight this with everything you have, or we will elect a new slate of leaders.
People. Life is about priorities. Adults and children are dying EVERY day due to fentanyl. Schools and workplaces are being shot up. People are a lot poorer than they were 2 1/2 years ago. Crime is rampant. Whales are washing up on the beaches. And on and on. And we are concerned about a few poles? Time to step back and look at the bigger issues. Next
#3 No the borough should NOT use our tax money to do that. Do you even know the history of this issue?
#5 Correct. It will happen. Don’t waste our tax dollars.
I believe 1 iteration would have the poles located on the West side of Ocean Ave and with more than 20 poles. This would move them closer to all the residential buildings on Ocean Ave. If placed on the East side at the intersection of each Ave with Ocean Ave, there was a discussion of adding a street light arm to each pole, extended into the intersection to provide an overhead light. This would ‘disguise’ the 5G pole as a street lamp, add light and some safety benefit. I don’t know what happened with that negotiation. Maybe you can’t add things to the pole that would affect the 5G signal. But I liked that idea.
What is it that people don’t understand here. They have been talking about these towers FOR YEARS. There were presentations and animated visuals and all sorts of articles written. And now that there’s a settlement, and these towers look like a done deal, people are saying, “What do you mean, where did this come from!?” Kudos to one of the ladies at the mic for pointing that out. I suppose the previous administration could have been more forthcoming with final details when the lawsuit was settled, but you can’t put the horse back in the barn, as they say. I was particularly amused by the lady who just moved here from North Jersey, who was concerned for her Ocean Avenue property value and then proceeded to whine about everything else in town that she suddenly has to put up with, oh woe is me.
If you want to vote people out, vote out your federal senators and congresspeople who allowed this to happen in the first place. A quick internet search will show we are not the first to deal with this issue and will not be the last.
Kudos to the guy from the zoning board who said these politicians won’t do anything because Verizon and all big companies line their pockets when it’s time for re election!
Remember John Szeliga’s Verizon speech?
How did Belmar get selected by Verizon is my question?
Asbury draws huge summer crowds too and even our neighboring towns – so did Belmar court Verizon for the money they will pay us when this all began?
Why not other beach towns getting a number of poles proportional to the crowds that they draw?
at the meeting someone asked and the council didn’t give a clear answer
On 1/22/18 Tap into Belmar quotes Matt Doherty as saying “this is a homerun” for Belmar. Thanks again Matt! John Szeliga, director of external affairs for Verizon and a former Belmar councilman, has been trying for years to get this approved and is also quoted in this article. I just have some questions:
How can you be in favor of this to the beautiful beachfront Matt?
John Z., How can you do this to the beautiful beachfront of Belmar and after you moved out of Belmar and moved to Spring Lake, why didn’t you propose it there?
I think everyone deserves these questions answered. Thanks.
Verizon enjoys FCC preemption of state and local regulation … but, not the Federal Coastal Zone Management Act (aka CAFRA)
My request would be for the Mayor and Council and the BA and Borough Attorney to come with more of the facts and less of the guessing as to what happened in the past, they had plenty of time to look at and have more educated responses to questions and comments from the public. To just say it wasn’t us or there is nothing we can do without offering what was reviewed and what professionals were spoken to and what their game plan is just kinda sets the tone they don’t care because they will blame others before. I would like to have heard them say although we do not know that we would be successful in changing this settlement agreement, we have a meeting scheduled to understand more, we spoke with other towns. Perhaps maybe the cell towers go up in phases, ie 5 this year see if that is enough before putting up all 20. What did the Borough engineer think when they reviewed the plans from verizon? An important issue should not just be googled by the mayor for answers, we have alot of resources in the Belmar community ask around to other towns even if they are in North Jersey. A gentleman at the meeting from North Jersey started to explain his experience with verizon when he was a councilman why not say sir can you educate us and we sit down together and I can pick your brain.
Fact: The Mayor ran boasting he was an attorney and had a law degree correct? So why isn’t he even utilizing his legal research skills and abilities to provide us with more intelligent responses?
#4 yes, there are problems in the world (you left out a few). But some of us are able to walk and chew gum at the same time. Just because I am fed up with children being slaughtered by military grade weapons, or with self described freedom loving politicians telling people what they can and can’t read, or with a single activist judge trying to stop people from accessing safe and reliable medication, doesn’t mean I can’t also be pissed about Verizon’s bully tactics for saddling us with a pointless eyesore. Yes life is about priorities. But it is also about the freedom to take a stand.
#12 you’re right. This has Matt’s ***** all over it. But the last admin did not fight nearly hard enough in my view. John Z didn’t propose this nonsense in SL because he knows, like the rest of us know, that it didn’t stand a chance there. We are the recipients of the garbage because we don’t elect leaders that will fight for us.
(Asterisks are mine, Editor.)
This link contains an article to similar situation Rehoboth Beach faced with 17 Verizon cell towers along the beach. Their negotiated design looks much better and is only 15′ vice the 35′ being proposed for Belmar.
https://www.delawarepublic.org/news/2020-12-28/seventeen-cell-antennas-coming-to-the-rehoboth-boardwalk-in-2021
#12 you have correctly followed the scent… The defining moments will come from CAFRA as our resident crusader EC wisely informed the readers. Did the dais sitters consult Monmouth County Board of Commissions or, let’s be remote and ask the DEP? Shades of darkness are being lifted.
Reading the lead 2018 articles the clever wizards don’t need to get Cafra of County input. Conduits there. Hopefully it’s outdated or poles rotten