Opening Ocean Ave. will benefit developers
Keep all of Old Ocean Avenue closed! Long Branch strikes again! On March 11, Resolution 89-08 will be voted on to open a portion of Old Ocean Avenue.

Last summer we raised over 3,500 signatures in a few weeks when the city council wanted to open up all the closed areas of Old Ocean Avenue to vehicular traffic. People from all over were against the opening. This property is Green Acres property not the City of Long Branch's and it is for recreational uses and has been for 20-plus years! The mayor and city council backed down from the idea during the summer and now they are trying again. This time they are looking at a portion of Old Ocean Avenue from the Promenade Beach Club to Seaview Avenue.

It appears that the city is in litigation with the property owners (TBD Associates) of the empty lot(s) at the southeast portion of the MTOTSA neighborhood. It appears that the litigation may be over street access and supposedly that is one reason they want to open Old Ocean Avenue.

Resolution 89-08 will be up for vote for one day only, on Tuesday. We keep talking about having transparency in our government and once again the city council did not go that extra step. There was no public hearing on this matter and none of the property owners in the MTOTSA neighborhood nor the nearby condominium owners were notified of this resolution! They once again want to pass this quietly and have no input from the public. A road through the MTOTSA neighborhood and opening Old Ocean Avenue to vehicular traffic could adversely affect surrounding property owners and their families, therefore they should have a say so regarding this proposal prior to any final votes from the city council.

Readers may say, "Oh it's only a small portion of Old Ocean Avenue and doesn't have any effect on me," but that's just the start … do you really think the city will stop there? They want to take your recreational area away along the entire oceanfront and bring vehicular traffic back. Ask yourself, who will this benefit? Opening Old Ocean Avenue will only benefit the developers and their pockets, not the residents of Long Branch!

Step up and have your voices heard!

Lori Ann Vendetti

Long Branch