Merry Christmas, happy Chanukah, and joyous Kwanzaa to all! Can you believe it's December already? It feels like we were just at the Fourth of July parade! Where to begin?

Let's start with the blackout. While we're still waiting on a report of the root cause, we all have to be proud of how it was handled in Neptune. The Police Department, fire departments, EMS, fire police, and OEM did a great job of controlling traffic, responding to the scene, and assisting citizens and business owners. The Ocean Grove Citizens Patrol was on standby if needed, and the county provided air and traffic support. Our communications operators fielded many calls to reassure residents.

A lot of times, people complain about how much Neptune spends on emergency equipment, but it's situations like this where we see its value.

The Ocean Grove Parking Committee had its first meeting on December 10, with representatives of the Township Committee, the OGHA, the Ocean Grove Fire Department, the Police Department, the Camp Meeting Association, the Historical Society, the Chamber of Commerce, and citizens.

After our initial venting, we began looking at the task at hand. This will not be easy, or a short-term task. We are going to look at short-term and long-term options, parking enforcement, and expectations. We dig in at our January meeting, after which there will be more to report.

The Township Committee reviewed an online magazine-type website at our December 1 meeting that would tie in to our existing website (which is finally back up and running at full speed after being hacked by a Bulgarian code-eating virus). The webizine, for lack of a better term, included information and statistics about all the diverse neighborhoods, job, recreation and shopping opportunities in Neptune. It also comes with a $10,000 price tag. The EDC and the Township are looking at ways to better market our community, but we need to talk about whether this is the right approach (and the right price). We started off with just the videos, and somehow ended up with a webizine.

I personally am not sure we should be spending that much money on this type of project right now. We have recently bonded for major infrastructure projects, like the road program, Phase V of the flooding control project in Ocean Grove, and a few other things. Why now, in this climate?

For one thing, we received a favorable interest rate, due to the town's good history of payment, and also because we were able to do so, in this tight credit climate. With this unpredictable economy, we couldn't guarantee we would be able to bond in January. And why would that be a bad thing, you ask?

Well, these are not "wants" we are bonding for; they are needs. These are infrastructure improvements that will cost us even more to fix, replace, or complete if we push them off. If the worst happened and we needed to bond on an emergency basis, we would pay egregiously high interest rates and fees. For what you pay in taxes, you deserve good roads, a sewer system that works, and to not have your house flooded.

The groundbreaking for West Lake Avenue takes place on December 16! You may have seen all the demolition that has taken place so far. Join us at the Midtown Community School on the 16th at 10:30 am to see the beginning of the fresh start for Midtown.

Take care, folks, be well and no matter what your holiday, have a safe and happy one! See you in the New Year! - Regards, Mary Beth