CM Keady's August Newsletter

Dear Constituents,

I am writing to update you on the progress of the various committees on which I serve and on other initiatives I am pursuing on behalf of the citizens of Asbury Park. After posting this to my blog and sending an e-mail alert, I will be taking a much needed break from work to rest and rejuvenate. I will respond to any of your replies or questions when I return to the office on September 5th.

I hope you enjoy the remaining days of summer!

Peace, JWK

SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFFORDABLE HOUSING
At the August 16th City Council meeting, the Council agreed (with the recommendation made by myself and Mayor Sanders on behalf of the Subcommittee on Affordable Housing) to send out a “Request for Proposals” for Area 1 of the STARS Redevelopment Plan. Area 1 is made up of the properties bordered by Atkins Avenue, Adams Avenue, Borden Avenue and the Asbury/Neptune City line. The goal for this area is to create 60-100 affordable housing opportunities with a heavy focus on homeownership.

Along with action on Area 1 of STARS, we are also ready to move forward on redevelopment in Area 3 (Ridge Avenue) of the plan as well as on two Bangs Avenue properties. We have a little more legwork to do to get Area 2 (Borden Avenue) of the STARS plan online, but I am confident that this will be addressed in the coming weeks. When completed, these redevelopment areas should create close to 20 affordable housing opportunities with homeownership as the primary goal.

SPRINGWOOD AVENUE ADVISORY COMMITTEE
The excitement and momentum continues to build regarding the redevelopment of Springwood Avenue. On Friday, August 11th, myself, Councilman Johnson, City Staff and members of the Advisory Committee spent the day at the Berkeley Carteret Hotel for a marathon planning session. Throughout the day we covered the following: the vision, goals and objectives for the plan, land use, identifying specific district elements, cataloging existing assets, design guidelines, utilities, green building projects, retail and commercial opportunities, housing, open/public space, education and recreation opportunities, and community resources.

The overriding goal for this session, which we achieved, was to give Don Sammet, our Director of Planning and Redevelopment, the information he will need to write the redevelopment plan for the Springwood Avenue corridor. Our hope is to have this plan ready for public review, comment and revisions in early Fall.

SUBCOMMITTEE ON HOMELESSNESS
At the August 16th City Council meeting, the Council agreed with the recommendation made by myself and Mayor Sanders to establish a Subcommittee on Homelessness. The committee will be chaired by myself and Councilman Loffredo and will consist of representatives from our Social Services Department, Monmouth County Social Services, NJ Department of Supportive Housing, local service providers, and city residents.

My vision for this committee is to create and execute a plan of action that will end homelessness in Asbury Park. I believe we can do this by a more efficient delivery of services and by demanding that communities from Brielle to the Atlantic Highlands share in the responsibility for the caretaking and rehabilitation of homeless individuals.

ADVISORY BOARD FOR ASBURY WORKS
Much of the recent energy of the Advisory Board for Asbury Works has been spent on supporting our Summer Youth Jobs Initiative. Our goal for this program was to put 80 city youth to work this summer. To date, we have had approximately 120 youth take part in the program – 120 of Asbury Park’s youth working in summer jobs, earning money, learning important skills, and being productive members of society.


RECREATION INITIATIVES
New Senior Swim Program:
I am happy to announce that via my new role as a Board Member of the Community YMCA, I was able to help create our new Asbury Park Senior Swim Program. Sessions will be held at the Red Bank YMCA from 2-3pm on the first and third Thursdays of each month. There will be lanes for swimming as well as water aerobics with an instructor. I would like to thank Wendy Lukowitz from the Asbury Park Senior Center and Kristen Weber from the Community YMCA for helping to coordinate this program. Seniors can sign up for this FREE program by contacting the Senior Center at 848-992-1334.

Summer Soccer Program:
I would also like to report that the Fourth Annual Asbury Park Summer Soccer Program was a rousing success. This year we had over 75 children and adults participate in the program. I would like to thank my wife, Leslie Kretzu, who co-directed the program with me this year. I would also like to thank Dolan Williams who helped with coaching, as well as TJ’s Pizza and the Shore Wellness Center for their financial support.

Upgrading our Athletic Fields:
In the past few weeks I have been in conversation with our High School Athletic Director about the possibility of upgrading our athletic fields at the High School and the Middle School. My vision is to have each of our fields surfaced with cutting edge “Field Turf” or artificial surface used on many professional, college and high school fields across the country. This vision also includes installing lights at the High School stadium. Such an upgrade, coupled with increased community and police supervision, would do wonders for our City, particularly for our youth. Imagine having three first class athletic fields that were available for year-round programming. (An added bonus with regard to the artificial surface will be that Canadian geese will no longer be able to feed on the grass of the athletic fields and therefore, will not linger about and defecate on the athletic fields, which has been a problem in the past.) To make this vision a reality, we are going to need the cooperation of both the City Council and the Asbury Park School Board. As we move into the Fall, I plan to continue researching and dialoguing on this issue and my hope is that by the winter, we will have a plan in place to execute this vision.

Re-establishing a YMCA Presence in Asbury Park:
This past week I met with a fellow Community YMCA board member about how we can re-establish a presence for the YMCA in Asbury Park. We agreed that the best approach is to start with some programming initiatives. In the coming weeks, we will be meeting with YMCA staff to create a plan of action to bring the following programs to Asbury Park: an After-school Program, a Learning Center Program, an Adult Life-Skills Program, and “Beyond Asbury.” “Beyond Asbury” is an idea that I have been developing for about two years now. My vision is to create a program where we can bring kids from our city to locations and events that they would not normally have access to. The hope is that by exposing them to what is literally “Beyond Asbury” that they will be inspired to greater levels of achievement academically and socially.

WESLEY LAKE COMMISSION
On August 23rd, as a Representative of the Wesley Lake Commission, I attended the Citizen’s for Wesley Lake meeting at Neptune Township Town Hall. It was a very productive work session. By the end of the meeting, five subcommittees were created and tasked with pulling together resources for a plan of action that will be presented jointly to the Asbury Park City Council and the Neptune Township Committee. The subcommittees would focus on: revisiting the existing Wesley Lake Commission enabling ordinance and making suggestions for revisions to the ordinance; possible Commission restructuring; creating a plan for infrastructure restoration; targeting funding sources for project work; immediate clean-up and rehabilitation projects; creating a plan for community education and outreach about Wesley Lake.

I volunteered to serve on the subcommittee focusing on immediate clean-up and rehabilitation projects along with Neptune’s Deputy Mayor, Mike Golub. At the moment, my short list for this work includes clearing out the storm drains of silt on Lake Avenue, upgrading the lighting along the lake and on the footbridges, and re-landscaping the entrances to the bridges. I am sure that once the evaluation is complete this list will have grown significantly.

WATERFRONT REDEVELOPMENT
There are two timely issues regarding the Waterfront Redevelopment Plan that I would like to report on:

Baronet Theater:
At the August 16th City Council meeting there was to have been a vote to condemn the Baronet Theater by eminent domain. During the deliberations on this matter, I asked what I believed were some key questions. I asked the Councilmembers on the Waterfront Redevelopment Subcommittee – CM Johnson and DM Bruno – if Asbury Partners had presented any materials that I was unaware of that detailed their plans for this particular block. They responded that Asbury Partners had not presented any such materials. I also asked, in light of this, why there was the current urgency to condemn these two particular properties. There did not seem to be any clear answer to this question from anyone.

Councilman Johnson and I, as well as many supporters in the pubic, felt that there was no clear reason that we should be condemning the Baronet at this time. Despite that, it seemed that this was the direction that things were going in. Then Councilman John Loffredo read a letter into the record from Larry Fishman of Asbury Partners that detailed Asbury Partners’ commitment to maintaining film programming in Asbury Park at a number of venues. Upon the reading of this letter, I asked Councilman Loffredo if he would support having the commitments that Asbury Partners outlined “memorialized” via contract. He agreed. The vote was then tabled until September 6th and direction was given by the Council for the Waterfront Redevelopment Subcommittee to negotiate this issue with Asbury Partners. Ultimately, will this save the Baronet? I am not sure. However, it now gives the Waterfront Redevelopment Subcommittee some leverage going into a negotiating session. My hope is that they come out with a commitment from Asbury Partners to save the Baronet.

5th Avenue Pavillion:
They say that a picture says a thousand words. Click here to see an artist’s rendering for the rehabilitation of the 5th Avenue Pavilion.

http://thecoaster.net/wordpress/?p=774#more-774

If Asbury Partners delivers on this, it would be the most significant project on the City’s Waterfront in 30 years in my opinion. As I did at the City Council meeting, I will again congratulate them for what appears to be a “home run.” It is now the responsibility of the City Council to hold Asbury Partners to their word and ensure that the project is delivered in a timely fashion.


MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS FOR AUGUST
On August 1st I had a great time reading to the kids at the Westside Community Center’s “Freedom School” program and then attending the Westside’s community event later that evening.

On August 7th I was honored to have witnessed the swearing in of Kevin Keddy, our new Fire Chief, as well as the promotions of a number of our City Firefighters.

On August 11th I enjoyed a wonderful evening at a fundraiser for Asbury’s own Garden State Film Festival.

On August 19th I was honored to co-Chair the “Back to School Block Party” with CM Johnson. For those of you who did not attend, you missed your chance to dunk me in the dunking booth. But don’t worry, the kids more than made up for your absence.

Later that afternoon on August 19th I “went green,” and took in all that the Clearwater Festival had to offer. This is one of my favorite annual events in Asbury Park and I enjoyed every minute - especially reliving some high school memories listening to the Smithereens perform.

On August 22nd, I attended the monthly meeting of the Asbury Park Senior Center. I updated them on the swim program and I discussed the possibility of free matinees for Seniors at the Baronet Theater.

On August 24th, I attended a very exciting meeting for the “Improving the Odds” initiative at the Asbury Park Middle School. This initiative is working to create a plan of action for increasing involvement among students and parents and increasing academic performance at the Middle School.

On August 25th, I started a much needed break from work! As I wrote above, I will be out of the office until September 5th. I hope that anything you might need from me can wait until my return; however, if there is an emergency, please call me at home at 732.988.9985.