Tents on the beach. That’s a good start, our beach looks like a campground every day. There is little to no consistent enforcement. What’s good today is bad tomorrow.
Besides tents, let’s talk about the drinking, smoking (pot), the garbage left behind by people sitting on the beach, the dozens of people I see walking across the dunes to get on the beach for free. Not only entering the beach but leaving by walking across the dunes and not at gates. The beach is our crown jewel. It’s turned into lawlessness and chaos. Where are the police? Try going down after the gate attendants and lifeguards leave. It’s scary and I don’t feel safe with my family because anything goes!
Chief Scott, I don’t know if there is a shortage of beach police but something needs to be done. Seems like we’re losing control of everything in this town the beach is our only sanctuary and we are rapidly losing control of that! Let’s start enforcing the rules and make it better!!
Long Time Resident, I am not sure what beach you are on in town but I have not seen anything that you have stated above. I see the police walking not only on the beach but the boardwalks all day long. In addition to that you will also see them in the streets on Bikes and in cars.
Is there garbage left behind, yes, because people **** and are ****** humans. But to make Belmar sound like the ghettos of God knows where is absurd. Go back to whatever Belmar beach you THOUGHT you were on and have a blast, you sound like a gem of a human.
I’m a fine human being, thank you. I am totally pro law enforcement. But the police I see on the beachfront just walk by violation after violation. Groups of them walk the boardwalk and not enforcing the rules on the sand. I’m not going to get into everything again. I just want them to do their jobs and not be oblivious.
Come out of your shell and sit on 8/9 ave for a while or any beach and you will see
The reason in a nutshell. Today there are no consequences for people’s actions. No accountability. I could go on and on and on with examples but I will **** off too many Democrats. And how dare you blame the Police. They do not, I repeat, do not make laws. They are the enforcers tasked with holding society to a gazillion of BS laws put out by your politicians. Remember “defund the Police”? How’s that going?
I don’t think anyone should be going to the beach when there are no lifeguards, but that’s just me. If you’re wondering where the police are, perhaps you should ask all those who support defunding the police, and all the lawmakers who make it almost impossible for the police to enforce the law. There is a huge shortage of police officers, which is a real shame, but at the same time I understand why. The only rights some seem to be concerned about are the rights of those who decide to break the law.
I’m not sure why no one is commenting on the fact that the Mayor was able to eliminate some members of the public appearing for the workshop about the redevelopment and affordable housing by misleading the public by posting an agenda with it on and then pulling it off the agenda posting (but not marking it as revised) and then announcing it was moving forward anyway at the meeting. I thought he was supposed to be transparent- and I’m sorry on such an important topic I don’t want to hear that was an innocent mistake. What I would like to ask everyone is if Mayor Gerry wasn’t Mayor and he was a resident and that “innocent mistake” occurred what would he be saying. He would be up there blasting everyone.
Very important BHA meeting Monday, July 1st at 5:15pm. BHA needs to thoroughly investigate if affordable housing units are worth a few $ from the broke Belmar Affordable Housing Trust Fund. There are other options BHA can look into to get funds for building repairs. Will they choose the cookie jar or sweat equity looking for funds?
More importantly they need to get answers (real answers that the Mayor and development attorney did not have) notwithstanding they took the time to author a very detailed letter enclosing the Resolution they could use to adopt this so the Borough could get its way.
The Belmar Housing Authority receives HUD money from the Federal Goverment every year and a substaintial amount- if this gets thrown into NJ Affordable Housing Count- will they still see the same amount from HUD or HUD monies at all? The Affordable Housing Trust that Belmar has does not seem to inidicate that as of right now they have alot of funds, so if the Belmar Housing Authority loses HUD monies- and Belmar can’t replace it what happens then???????? And the HUD money is annual- Belmar may be able to utilize some of the trust monies to BHA but not all and not constant that would be a project type assigning of money. And until they have collected money into that trust fund they don’t have much to give out—- I think the attorney said there was not even $100k into the trust
Also- a real answer needs to be determined of what happens to all the Belmar residents on the wait list for the Belmar Housing Authority will they still be given preference—— I think a real answer for certain needs to be acquired before decisions are made.
And it needs to be determined if the preference is lost for Belmar Housing Authority and they give the ok to make the units Affordable Housing- what will those qualifying requirements be- are they the same as what we have now? Who will read the applications and determine who is placed in the units- is it now a NJ State Office Dept that assigns them does the Belmar Housing Authority now not have the ability to take in applications directly? What happens if a tenant of one of the affordable units does not pay their rent, is it the same eviction procedures? Do they get extra time and protection? Will the Belmar Housing Authority receive the rents or will the State?
It was very clear from the workshop that the redeveloper attorney did not know those answers, nor did the Mayor. Notwithstanding they claim that this is a win win. How do you know that with none of these answers?????????
At the last Belmar Housing Authority meeting in the beginning of June the Mayor addressed the BHA and said that a few towns have done this but he did not name those towns. I would love to know the names of those towns that have done this and how it is really working out for them.
Don’t get me wrong I understand why NJ has affordable housing and I understood comments about how it helps people and I get it and I’m not saying people that utilize affordable housing are bad or not welcome. And thanks to Mayor B and his offensive lawsuit- within the next few years affordable housing units will go up and be included in those big developments—— that will happen with or without risking the Belmar Housing Authority preference.
And my strong feelings for being in favor of the preference is not to keep others out it’s to allow us to protect and help our Belmar Senior Residents as they age, and keep them in our community where we can help them. Putting them in a housing lottery where they can end up not only in Monmouth County, but Ocean or Mercer Counties- makes them vulnerable and may force them to be very far from the place they called home, the neighbors they had for years and years, BUT most importantly far from the doctors and healthcare community they have established, and as you age it is even more important to stay with the doctors and medical staff you know. Also, as you age it may not be as easy to get around, travel as far and/or some people get to a point where it’s not safe for them to drive anymore or if they do it’s only short distances and on local roads.
And my final point of this long comment- the reason why so many mistakes happen when you rush and push things through is because no one takes the time to think it through and get all the answers before making a final decision, which would allow you to make an educated, informed decision. This decision for the BHA to make can be made at some point in the future after facts and a better understanding and all questions are answered, if the Borough’s Development Attorneys answer to the questions is “I DONT KNOW THE ANSWER” then guess what, it’s too soon for anyone to act. And if we rush into something there is no going back, so better to take the time then to just move fast. I urge the BHA and the Commissioners of the BHA to get an attorney to act on their behalf, the redevelopment attorney/mayor has their own best interests at heart- you cannot rely upon the Boroughs attorney to be the say all. The BHA needs someone to make sure they are protected in this situation.
As for the police, its no secret that departments across New Jersey and America cannot recruit appropriate candidates for their positions. Belmar is no different. The current climate and pay rate is simply not attractive to qualified candidates. So yes, Belmar, like most other jurisdictions, is experiencing a shortage of summer officers. Think about this when you vote. Or don’t. As Tom says.
The only thing transparent about the mayor are his windows. This administration is right along the lines of the Doherty administration. I’m still waiting for responses to emails I’ve sent to the business administrator. Someone mentioned this at a town meeting a while ago, and one of the council members was going to look into it. Whatever happened with that?? Is this the “professionalism” the mayor wants?
The BA is too busy with Freehold Borough he isn’t really doing anything in Belmar besides collecting his very high salary. He wasn’t even at the Mayor and Council Meeting this last time when there were important topics to discuss. Him ignoring emails is just one of the many items on the list of things he isn’t doing for his paycheck. Another poor choice by Gerry for picking him as his BA-
Why isn’t Belmar’s history of satisfying My Laurel obligations from, for example Wall, not being factured into the current Murphy treasury supplement “affordable housing” 2024?
Treasury supplementing? What does that mean exactly? I think there is some confusion between affordable housing and subsidized housing. They are not the same thing. Subsidized housing is when the gov (or sometimes private companies financed by the gov) pay part of the rent. This can be poor people that qualify, or sometimes veterans. The rent is paid through gov checks to private landlords who, sometimes, take the gov money but don’t do repairs or maintenance. Not a great system.
Affordable housing is when a developer has to build a certain percentage of ‘affordable’ units in any given project. They get incentives to do so, but the units are bought and sold without gov assistance. The ‘affordable’ calculus for such units is tied to the local market. Therefore, the word ‘affordable’ is in the eye of the beholder.
There has been an affordable housing mandate in NJ towns for decades. It has just been easy to shirk responsibility by ‘selling’ to a different town. That’s just harder to do now.
Tents on the beach. That’s a good start, our beach looks like a campground every day. There is little to no consistent enforcement. What’s good today is bad tomorrow.
Besides tents, let’s talk about the drinking, smoking (pot), the garbage left behind by people sitting on the beach, the dozens of people I see walking across the dunes to get on the beach for free. Not only entering the beach but leaving by walking across the dunes and not at gates. The beach is our crown jewel. It’s turned into lawlessness and chaos. Where are the police? Try going down after the gate attendants and lifeguards leave. It’s scary and I don’t feel safe with my family because anything goes!
Chief Scott, I don’t know if there is a shortage of beach police but something needs to be done. Seems like we’re losing control of everything in this town the beach is our only sanctuary and we are rapidly losing control of that! Let’s start enforcing the rules and make it better!!
Long Time Resident, I am not sure what beach you are on in town but I have not seen anything that you have stated above. I see the police walking not only on the beach but the boardwalks all day long. In addition to that you will also see them in the streets on Bikes and in cars.
Is there garbage left behind, yes, because people **** and are ****** humans. But to make Belmar sound like the ghettos of God knows where is absurd. Go back to whatever Belmar beach you THOUGHT you were on and have a blast, you sound like a gem of a human.
(Asterisks are mine, Editor.)
I’m a fine human being, thank you. I am totally pro law enforcement. But the police I see on the beachfront just walk by violation after violation. Groups of them walk the boardwalk and not enforcing the rules on the sand. I’m not going to get into everything again. I just want them to do their jobs and not be oblivious.
Come out of your shell and sit on 8/9 ave for a while or any beach and you will see
The reason in a nutshell. Today there are no consequences for people’s actions. No accountability. I could go on and on and on with examples but I will **** off too many Democrats. And how dare you blame the Police. They do not, I repeat, do not make laws. They are the enforcers tasked with holding society to a gazillion of BS laws put out by your politicians. Remember “defund the Police”? How’s that going?
I don’t think anyone should be going to the beach when there are no lifeguards, but that’s just me. If you’re wondering where the police are, perhaps you should ask all those who support defunding the police, and all the lawmakers who make it almost impossible for the police to enforce the law. There is a huge shortage of police officers, which is a real shame, but at the same time I understand why. The only rights some seem to be concerned about are the rights of those who decide to break the law.
I’m not sure why no one is commenting on the fact that the Mayor was able to eliminate some members of the public appearing for the workshop about the redevelopment and affordable housing by misleading the public by posting an agenda with it on and then pulling it off the agenda posting (but not marking it as revised) and then announcing it was moving forward anyway at the meeting. I thought he was supposed to be transparent- and I’m sorry on such an important topic I don’t want to hear that was an innocent mistake. What I would like to ask everyone is if Mayor Gerry wasn’t Mayor and he was a resident and that “innocent mistake” occurred what would he be saying. He would be up there blasting everyone.
Very important BHA meeting Monday, July 1st at 5:15pm. BHA needs to thoroughly investigate if affordable housing units are worth a few $ from the broke Belmar Affordable Housing Trust Fund. There are other options BHA can look into to get funds for building repairs. Will they choose the cookie jar or sweat equity looking for funds?
More importantly they need to get answers (real answers that the Mayor and development attorney did not have) notwithstanding they took the time to author a very detailed letter enclosing the Resolution they could use to adopt this so the Borough could get its way.
The Belmar Housing Authority receives HUD money from the Federal Goverment every year and a substaintial amount- if this gets thrown into NJ Affordable Housing Count- will they still see the same amount from HUD or HUD monies at all? The Affordable Housing Trust that Belmar has does not seem to inidicate that as of right now they have alot of funds, so if the Belmar Housing Authority loses HUD monies- and Belmar can’t replace it what happens then???????? And the HUD money is annual- Belmar may be able to utilize some of the trust monies to BHA but not all and not constant that would be a project type assigning of money. And until they have collected money into that trust fund they don’t have much to give out—- I think the attorney said there was not even $100k into the trust
Also- a real answer needs to be determined of what happens to all the Belmar residents on the wait list for the Belmar Housing Authority will they still be given preference—— I think a real answer for certain needs to be acquired before decisions are made.
And it needs to be determined if the preference is lost for Belmar Housing Authority and they give the ok to make the units Affordable Housing- what will those qualifying requirements be- are they the same as what we have now? Who will read the applications and determine who is placed in the units- is it now a NJ State Office Dept that assigns them does the Belmar Housing Authority now not have the ability to take in applications directly? What happens if a tenant of one of the affordable units does not pay their rent, is it the same eviction procedures? Do they get extra time and protection? Will the Belmar Housing Authority receive the rents or will the State?
It was very clear from the workshop that the redeveloper attorney did not know those answers, nor did the Mayor. Notwithstanding they claim that this is a win win. How do you know that with none of these answers?????????
At the last Belmar Housing Authority meeting in the beginning of June the Mayor addressed the BHA and said that a few towns have done this but he did not name those towns. I would love to know the names of those towns that have done this and how it is really working out for them.
Don’t get me wrong I understand why NJ has affordable housing and I understood comments about how it helps people and I get it and I’m not saying people that utilize affordable housing are bad or not welcome. And thanks to Mayor B and his offensive lawsuit- within the next few years affordable housing units will go up and be included in those big developments—— that will happen with or without risking the Belmar Housing Authority preference.
And my strong feelings for being in favor of the preference is not to keep others out it’s to allow us to protect and help our Belmar Senior Residents as they age, and keep them in our community where we can help them. Putting them in a housing lottery where they can end up not only in Monmouth County, but Ocean or Mercer Counties- makes them vulnerable and may force them to be very far from the place they called home, the neighbors they had for years and years, BUT most importantly far from the doctors and healthcare community they have established, and as you age it is even more important to stay with the doctors and medical staff you know. Also, as you age it may not be as easy to get around, travel as far and/or some people get to a point where it’s not safe for them to drive anymore or if they do it’s only short distances and on local roads.
And my final point of this long comment- the reason why so many mistakes happen when you rush and push things through is because no one takes the time to think it through and get all the answers before making a final decision, which would allow you to make an educated, informed decision. This decision for the BHA to make can be made at some point in the future after facts and a better understanding and all questions are answered, if the Borough’s Development Attorneys answer to the questions is “I DONT KNOW THE ANSWER” then guess what, it’s too soon for anyone to act. And if we rush into something there is no going back, so better to take the time then to just move fast. I urge the BHA and the Commissioners of the BHA to get an attorney to act on their behalf, the redevelopment attorney/mayor has their own best interests at heart- you cannot rely upon the Boroughs attorney to be the say all. The BHA needs someone to make sure they are protected in this situation.
Of course Levis wasn’t there! 😭
Sounds like violation of the Sunshine Law.
As for the police, its no secret that departments across New Jersey and America cannot recruit appropriate candidates for their positions. Belmar is no different. The current climate and pay rate is simply not attractive to qualified candidates. So yes, Belmar, like most other jurisdictions, is experiencing a shortage of summer officers. Think about this when you vote. Or don’t. As Tom says.
Chief Scott spoke about this at the last Lake Como meeting.
Start listening around the 29 minute mark.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVsAe2AhDnM
The only thing transparent about the mayor are his windows. This administration is right along the lines of the Doherty administration. I’m still waiting for responses to emails I’ve sent to the business administrator. Someone mentioned this at a town meeting a while ago, and one of the council members was going to look into it. Whatever happened with that?? Is this the “professionalism” the mayor wants?
The BA is too busy with Freehold Borough he isn’t really doing anything in Belmar besides collecting his very high salary. He wasn’t even at the Mayor and Council Meeting this last time when there were important topics to discuss. Him ignoring emails is just one of the many items on the list of things he isn’t doing for his paycheck. Another poor choice by Gerry for picking him as his BA-
DON’T VOTE!!!
Why isn’t Belmar’s history of satisfying My Laurel obligations from, for example Wall, not being factured into the current Murphy treasury supplement “affordable housing” 2024?
Treasury supplementing? What does that mean exactly? I think there is some confusion between affordable housing and subsidized housing. They are not the same thing. Subsidized housing is when the gov (or sometimes private companies financed by the gov) pay part of the rent. This can be poor people that qualify, or sometimes veterans. The rent is paid through gov checks to private landlords who, sometimes, take the gov money but don’t do repairs or maintenance. Not a great system.
Affordable housing is when a developer has to build a certain percentage of ‘affordable’ units in any given project. They get incentives to do so, but the units are bought and sold without gov assistance. The ‘affordable’ calculus for such units is tied to the local market. Therefore, the word ‘affordable’ is in the eye of the beholder.
There has been an affordable housing mandate in NJ towns for decades. It has just been easy to shirk responsibility by ‘selling’ to a different town. That’s just harder to do now.