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The latest stories from The Press of Atlantic City, in case you missed them.
1
Atlantic City councilman apologizes for 'spit on mayor' remarks on radio
- Michelle Brunetti Post
ATLANTIC CITY — Several city employees criticized at-large Councilman George Tibbitt during Wednesday’s City Council meeting over comments he made on a local radio show encouraging city workers to “spit on” Mayor Marty Small Sr. over allegations in a child abuse case.
“The part that said public works and city workers, when they see the mayor they should spit on him,” said Floyd Tally, a city resident who works in the city’s anti-violence program. “That is way far overboard.”
Tibbitt said repeatedly he was wrong to say it, and that he immediately told listeners of Harry Hurley’s radio show not to do it.
“I agree and corrected myself and apologized when it happened,” Tibbitt said.
Small declined to comment.
Tibbitt was on the show May 3 talking about allegations recently made against Small, claiming the mayor tried to misrepresent the actions of his daughter’s boyfriend to get the boyfriend in trouble with the law.
“I want all of you in public works, how do you have a young Black male living in Atlantic City struggling to survive like all of us ... and you have a mayor go try to press charges against this kid over a teen romance? To try and get this kid put in jail and change a complaint ... to try to change the date,” Tibbitt said. “Every one of you should be pissed and spit on him when you see him, to do that to a young child.”
Earlier this year, the mayor’s teenage daughter told officials at Atlantic City High School she was being physically and mentally abused at home, according to an affidavit of probable cause. The affidavit said Marty and his wife, schools Superintendent La’Quetta Small, disapproved of their daughter’s boyfriend, who allegedly had audio recordings of the alleged abuse on an iPad.
The mayor, 50, was charged with terroristic threats, aggravated assault and disorderly persons simple assault. La’Quetta Small, 47, was charged with three counts of disorderly persons simple assault.
A $2 million tort claim filed against the Smalls on behalf of the boyfriend, identified in court papers as E.L., claimed the couple attempted to destroy evidence to cover up alleged child abuse.
Among other things, the tort claims Mayor Small filed false criminal charges against the boyfriend, which were dismissed last month for a lack of evidence.
“I came to speak on the radio broadcast, too. It was alarming and disrespectful,” said Assistant Director of Public Works Ahmid A. Abdullah Sr. “To say every public works employee should spit on the mayor. You think that low of us? Like we’re nothing?”
Abdullah said Small has raised their salaries and given them the tools they need to succeed.
“I said I shouldn’t have said it. I can’t do no more,” Tibbitt said. “I was wrong to say that.”
Tibbitt, a onetime ally and running mate of Small, had a falling out with the mayor almost two years ago, and the two have since been highly critical of each other.
On the radio show, Tibbitt also said those interested in the city’s future should “start yelling” to demand action from Gov. Phil Murphy.
“You could fix this, Mr. Murphy, you’ve got a clown in Atlantic City with a budget that’s ballooning out of control,” Tibbitt said.
He called on state Sen. Vince Polistina, R-Atlantic, to pressure the governor to take more control of the city.
“The governor has to start being called out,” Tibbitt said. “You are allowing this stuff to happen.”
2
Sen. Bob Menendez reveals his wife has breast cancer as his trial focuses on FBI raid of his home
- MIKE CATALINI & LARRY NEUMEISTERAssociated Press
NEW YORK — Sen.Bob Menendezsaid Thursday that his wife will undergo a mastectomy after she was diagnosed with breast cancer, a revelation made just as the first evidence — pictures of 13 gold bars and over $480,000 in cash seized from the couple's home — was shown to jurors at his New York bribery trial.
The New Jersey Democrat said he was revealing his wife's health crisis at her request after repeated inquiries from the media.
“We are, of course, concerned about the seriousness and advanced stage of the disease,” the senator said in a statement.
He added: “She will require follow up surgery and possibly radiation treatment. We hope and pray for the best results.”
Previously, lawyers for Nadine Menendez had requested her trial on charges in the case be delayed after she was diagnosed with what was only previously described publicly as a serious health issue.
Judge Sidney H. Stein had postponed her trial until at least July. Nadine Menendez, who married the senator two years after she began dating him in 2018, has pleaded not guilty.
One of her lawyers declined comment in response to Bob Menendez's disclosure Thursday.
The senator, on trial with two of three businessmen who allegedly paid him bribes, has pleaded not guilty to charges of bribery, fraud, extortion, obstruction of justice and acting as a foreign agent of Egypt. A third businessman has pleaded guilty in the case and will testify against the others.
Menendez's statement about his wife was released just after opening statements were completed and the presentation of evidence began at his trial in Manhattan federal court.
The trial's first witness was an FBI agent, Aristotelis Kougemitros, who described leading a June 2022 raid on the couple's Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, home.
He testified that two 1-kilogram (2.2-pound) gold bars, 11 1-ounce gold bars and $486,461 in cash were among valuables found in the home, along with cellphones and jewelry. In all, 52 items were seized.
At first, Kougemitros said, the FBI had directed agents to photograph any cash that was found, but not necessarily to seize it.
But he said that based on his experience and training, along with the “totality of the circ*mstances,” that he decided the amount of cash was so voluminous that it would be seized.
“I believed there was evidence potentially of a crime,” he said, drawing an objection from Menendez's lawyer that was sustained by the judge.
Through dozens of photographs and the agent's testimony, jurors were taken on a tour of the home as Kougemitros described where cash and the gold bars were discovered by a team of eight agents that was later supplemented by two Manhattan agents who brought cash-counting machines.
The gold bars were found in a safe and on the floor nearby inside locked closets in a bedroom, he said. Much of the cash was found stuffed in jacket pockets, in two pairs of boots and on a shelf in the home's basem*nt, he said.
One pair of Timberland boots contained $14,500 in cash nearly evenly divided while another set of boots also had cash stuffed in each boot, he said.
A black jacket, which was among four jackets found to contain cash, had $21,000 in envelopes in its pockets, Kougemitros said. The other jackets, he added, had $4,300, $6,000 and $8,000.
On a shelf nearby, he said, a plastic bag contained $100,000, while another bag held $95,000.
Earlier in the day, lawyers for New Jersey real estate developer Fred Daibes and businessman Wael Hana delivered their opening remarks to jurors a day after a prosecutor and Menendez’s lawyergave opening statements.
Attorney Lawrence Lustberg, representing Hana, said prosecutors had built their case against his client on “innocent acts.”
He said Hana was longtime friends since 2009 with Nadine Menendez and that Hana and Nadine Menendez had exchanged expensive gifts over the years. He said there was never a time when Hana either directly to Bob Menendez or indirectly through Nadine Menendez gave a bribe in exchange for official acts by the senator.
Attorney Cesar De Castro, representing Daibes, told jurors the case was about relationships and prosecutors were trying to exploit facts about a three-decade friendship between the senator and Daibes to claim crimes occurred. He said they will conclude his client was not guilty.
On Wednesday, attorney Avi Weitzman, representing Bob Menendez, told jurors his client was unaware that his spouse had accepted gifts from the three businessmen and did not know about cash and gold bars hidden in a closet at their home.
The statement came after an opening statement by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Pomerantz in which the prosecutor repeatedly highlighted the gold bars and cash found in the home.
Menendez has held public office continuously since 1986, serving as a state legislator before 14 years as a U.S. congressman. In 2006, then-Gov. Jon Corzine appointed Menendez to the Senate seat he vacated when he became governor.
The trial, which began Monday, is projected to last up to two months.
3
DCA commissioner open to discussing Atlantic City takeover extension, public housing woes
- Michelle Brunetti Post
TRENTON — The state Department of Community Affairs is open to discussing an extension of the state takeover of Atlantic City past 2026, and is working with another state agency and the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to help fund improvements to public housing in the resort, its acting commissioner said Thursday.
In response to questions from state Sen. Vince Polistina, R-Atlantic, Jacquelyn Suárez also said her department is open to discussing future changes in how the city is funded.
The questioning happened during a Judiciary Committee hearing in which her nomination to be DCA commissioner passed. Her nomination is expected to be voted on in the full state Senate on Monday.
Some residents of the Atlantic City Housing Authority's 420-unit Stanley Holmes Village have been living without reliable heat and hot water for two years, Polistina said. He asked Suarez what the DCA can do to help.
"HUD has told us to stay out of it, that we have no oversight or purview of the Housing Authority, and I respect that," Suarez, of Sea Girt, Monmouth County, said in response to questions by Polistina. "However, I'm not comfortable to have folks living in Atlantic City in conditions I wouldn't want anybody from my family living in."
Suarez said she is working with DCA Assistant Commissioner Janelle Winter, Executive Director of the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency Melanie Walter and HUD to find ways to assist.
"We have been sitting down (and) conversing about ... how we can overlay resources to come up with a solution to move residents forward," Suarez said.
She and Walter also havebeen discussing ways the mortgage finance agency can help rehab some of the Housing Authority's properties, Suarez said.
Gov. Phil Murphy named Suarez, also director of the Division of Local Government Services, acting commissioner after the death last year of DCA Commissioner Sheila Oliver, who also was the lieutenant governor.
The DCA oversees the state takeover of Atlantic City under the Municipal Stabilization and Revitalization Act of 2016 and 2022.
Moody's recently upgraded the city's bond rating one notch, Suarez said, citing the state's oversight through MSRA and the continuation of the casino payment-in-lieu-of-taxes plan, which guarantees a consistent funding stream.
Both are due to sunset in 18 months, or be renewed.
"Moody's also said if it was clear they would continue beyond 2026 the city would have seen a two-tier increase as opposed to one," Suarez said.
Investment Alternative Tax revenues that used to go to the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority have gone to the city for years to pay down debt, and that has stabilized finances, Polistina said.
"That should be ending in about 18 months," he said.
Suarez said she is open to talking about the future of IAT use as well.
The Legislature first passed MSRA in 2016 because the city was facing bankruptcy.
"MSRA was absolutely necessary for fiscal stability ... in tandem with the PILOT of 2017. They are inextricably intertwined," Suarez said.
4
Madison Resorts cuts ribbon on new 200-room resort in Wildwood Crest
- John O'Connor
WILDWOOD CREST— Madison Resorts cut the ribbon Thursday on the area's newest and largest beach resort.
Madison Resort Wildwood Crest, located at 7201 Ocean Ave., opened to the public with a ceremony featuring remarks from Madison Resorts President Don Alicea, Mayor Donald Cabrera and borough commissioners.
“We’re thrilled to bring our Madison Resorts family to the Wildwood Crest community,” Alicea said in a news release. “With this opening, we’re excited to help save and preserve an important piece of Wildwood Crest history, while bringing the Jersey Shore its largest new resort.”
The resort combines the doo-wop stylings of the former Oceanview Motel with the formerRoyal Hawaiian property next door, creating one giant resort that will feature 200 guest rooms, three restaurants, two pools, a cabana and poolside seating for 100-plus guests. It also features two hot tubs, space for beachfront weddings, two fitness centers, five conference rooms and two rooftop event spaces. The resort is pet friendly.
“We have watched the progression of a once dilapidated motel evolve into a first-class resort in the hub of our community right before our eyes," Cabrera said. "Its transformation maintains some of the original architectural features with a modern-day feel. I wish them much success.”
The $52 million project took two years to complete and began after Alicea purchased the Oceanview in August 2022. The goal was to combine retro with modern, giving the property a look and feel that blends with the Wildwoods' doo-wop aesthetic.
“We made a promise to preserve the architecture of the past with our renovation of this property,” Alicea said. “2024 marks 60 years since this property was built. There’s no way that we would stand for anything but a full restoration of this iconic structure.”
In December of last year, Alicea purchased the Royal Hawaiian, an adjacent motel that was in operation until 2022 and didn't require as much work as the Oceanview.
“Buying the Royal Hawaiian was an easy decision for us,” Alicea said. “It was another great restoration project, and the location was undeniable. Being able to operate both resorts as one by combining amenities is going to be a game-changer for Wildwood Crest.”
For room bookings, entertainment and more information, visit madisonresortwildwoodcrest.com.
5
New Jersey overall gambling revenue up 10.4% in April, but in-person casino winnings were down
- WAYNE PARRYAssociated Press
ATLANTIC CITY — New Jersey’s casinos, horse tracks that accept sports bets and their online partners won more than half a billion dollars from gamblers in April, an increase of 10.4% from a year earlier, state gambling regulators said Thursday.
But that was due in large part to the state’s second-best month ever for internet gambling. The industry’s key business — money won from in-person gamblers — continued to sag, down 6.3% from a year ago.
Figures released by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement show the casinos, tracks and their partners won nearly $511 million in April from in-person gambling, internet betting and sports bets.
But money from internet and sports bets must be shared with casino partners such as sports books and tech platforms and is not solely for the casinos to keep. For that reason, casinos consider in-person winnings to be their core business.
And it’s one that continues to struggle.
Six of the nine casinos won less from in-person gamblers in April than they did a year earlier. And six of nine casinos also won less in-person money this April than they did in April 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
Jane Bokunewicz, director of the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism at Stockton University, which studies the Atlantic City gambling market, said that while in-person casino winnings are likely to improve in the coming summer months as visitation spikes, Atlantic City may see more of its revenue growth come from non-gambling areas such as food and beverage sales.
“It will be many months before a clear picture of this trend is available, but operators’ recent investments in improving resort offerings suggest that a significant shift in the market’s overall revenue mix could be coming,” she said. “A focus beyond gaming, to the elements that make Atlantic City unique and a stronger competitor against the threat of New York City casinos, is simply good business.”
In terms of in-person revenue, Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa won $58.3 million, up half a percent from a year earlier; Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City won $41.1 million, up 6%; Ocean Casino Resort won $28.8 million, down 15.6% in a month during which part or all of its casino floor was shut down for four days while switching from one computer system to another; Tropicana Atlantic City won $17.7 million, down 9.2%; Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City won $16.4 million, down nearly 25%; Caesars Atlantic City won $16 million, down 18.4%; Bally’s Atlantic City won $13.1 million, down 4.9%; Golden Nugget Atlantic City won $12.7 million, down 3.1%; and Resorts Casino Hotel won $12.4 million, virtually flat from a year ago.
Including internet and sports betting revenue, Borgata won $107.7 million, down 0.2%; Golden Nugget won nearly $66 million, up 20.4%; Hard Rock won $55.2 million, up 18.6%; Ocean won $35.7 million, down 8.6%; Tropicana won $34.8 million, up nearly 28%; Bally’s won $21.5 million, up 5%; Harrah’s won $18.3 million, down 16%; Caesars won $16.1 million, down 19.3%; and Resorts won $12.1 million, down nearly 2%.
Among internet-only entities, Resorts Digital won $66.4 million, up 7.2%, and Caesars Interactive NJ won $612,910 in a month in which three internet gambling sites switched from the interactive company to Tropicana.
Internet gambling had its second-best month in April with nearly $188 million won online, an increase of 18.2% from a year ago.
Sports betting brought in over $1 billion in April, with $106 million of that total kept as revenue after paying off winning bets and other expenses.
The Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, near New York City, won the lion’s share of that at $73.1 million. Resorts Digital won nearly $19 million; Freehold Raceway won $2.2 million, and Monmouth Park Racetrack in Oceanport won $953,798.
6
Roadwork to cause alternate traffic pattern in Hamilton
- John O'Connor
HAMILTON TOWNSHIP— A single-lane, alternating traffic pattern will be in effect from 7 a.m. to noon Friday on Weymouth Road between milepost 18.5 and Mizpah Road for the installation of a silt fence, Atlantic County officials said.
The same traffic pattern will be in effect Monday through Thursday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. for drainage improvements, the county said in a news release.
Motorists may experience delays and should plan travel time accordingly or seek an alternate route.
7
Galloway Township man charged in Pleasantville murder while awaiting prison sentence
- John O'Connor
A Galloway Township man who pleaded guilty to weapons offenses in March and was awaiting sentence was arrested Thursday after he allegedly shot and killed a Pleasantville man last week, the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office said.
Kalief Lyons, 35, was charged with murder and weapons offenses in the death of Baseem Taliaferro, 38.
Police responded to an apartment on West Pleasant Avenue after receiving a report of shots fired at 11:02 p.m. May 9.
Officers found Taliaferro on the first floor suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest. He was pronounced dead at the scene, the Prosecutor's Office saidThursday in a news release.
Witnesses told investigators an argument had occurred between Lyons and several others 20 minutes before the shooting, the Prosecutor's Office said.
After the argument, Lyons was seen on surveillance walking toward the rear of the residence with a ski mask on before he was observed walking away from the area of the shooting two minutes later without the mask, the Prosecutor's Office said.
Lyons was taken into custody by Galloway Township police hours after the shooting and was in possession of a 9mm handgun, a large quantity of drugs and was wearing the same clothes he was on surveillance, the Prosecutor's Office said.
Ballistics evidence confirmed the weapon recovered from Lyons was the same used in Taliaferro's killing, the Prosecutor's Office said.
Lyons previously pleaded guilty on March 5 to certain persons not to possess firearms and was given a recommended sentence of eight years in state prison with five years of parole ineligibility.
He was released to home detention without a bracelet pending sentencing, which was scheduled for May 28, the Prosecutor's Office said.
The charge stemmed from an incident that occurred in Galloway on November 30, 2022, where police responded to a call that a male subject, later identified as Lyons, had brandished a handgun, the Prosecutor's Office said.
Police located the handgun in a vehicle Lyons previously occupied. The handgun had an illegal large capacity ammunition magazine with 13 illegal hollow point ammunition rounds in the magazine and one round in the chamber.
Lyons was also found to be in possession of 75 wax folds of suspected heroin and five small rocks of suspected crack cocaine, the Prosecutor's Office said.
8
ESPN's Marty Smith to serve as grand marshal of Ocean City's Night in Venice boat parade
- John O'Connor
OCEAN CITY — ESPN reporter Marty Smith will serve as grand marshal of the 69th annual Night in Venice boat parade July 20, city officials said.
Smith, who owns a home in the city, has spent more than two decades at ESPN, covering college football and basketball, the NFL, NBA, NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula 1, horse racing, golf and more, the city said Thursday in a news release.
He also co-hosts the “Marty & McGee” show on the SEC Network, and his 2019 memoir, “Never Settle: Sports, Family and the American Soul,” is a New York Times bestseller. His latest book is “Sideline CEO: Leadership Principles from Championship Coaches.”
Smith’s wife, Lainie Cocozza, is an Ocean City native, a 1995 graduate of Ocean City High School and was crowned Miss Night in Venice 1995. The couple live in Lake Norman, North Carolina, with their three children, but still vacation in Ocean City every June, the release states.
“It’s great that the Smith family has such close ties with Ocean City, and I’m honored to have Marty as our grand marshal for this year’s Night in Venice,” Mayor Jay Gillian said. “They’ll be right at home on the water for this summer’s spectacular event.”
Thousands of spectators line the bayfront and thousands more attend private parties at homes from the Ocean City-Longport Bridge to Tennessee Avenue for the annual themed boat parade and decorated bayfront home contest.
The parade will begin at 6:30 p.m., and the theme will be “Summertime Vibes: A Tribute to Jimmy Buffett,” who died last year. A nighttime fireworks display will cap off the festivities.
For more information or to participate, visit ocnj.us/niv or call 609-399-6111.
9
Northfield woman accused of stealing cars, sister's identity
- Selena Vazquez
ATLANTIC CITY— A Northfield woman is wanted for vehicle and identity theft after she gave officers her sister's information at the time of her arrest, police said Thursday.
Caitlin Rainey, 33, was charged with receiving stolen property, joyriding, possession of drug paraphernalia, identity theft and hindering apprehension.
The charges stem from an incident at 6:57 p.m. Sunday. Footage from the police Surveillance Center showed two occupants, Adam Ross and Rainey, exiting a minivan in the first block of Tennessee Avenue that was reported stolen earlier that day, police said.
Rainey used the name and informationof her sister, Aine Wallace, at the time of the arrest, police said. She was then taken to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center, City Campus, due to a medical complaint and released from custody pending court.
Ross also wasreleased from custody but was rearrested at 2:12 a.m. Monday after he was found driving another stolen vehicle, police said. He was charged with two counts each of theft and receiving stolen property, and was sent to the Atlantic County jail.
After police released the information on what was reported as Wallace's arrest, the real Wallace bought the discrepancy to the attention of the Police Department on Wednesday. It was later learned that Rainey has used several aliases in the past to avoid arrests for active warrants, police said.
Anyone with information about Rainey's whereabouts can call police at 609-347-5766 or submit a text anonymously to tip411.
10
Atlantic City considers longer business hours for stores in high-crime areas
- Michelle Brunetti Post
ATLANTIC CITY — City Council may give store owners in higher crime areas the ability to stay open longer, after some complained a city ordinance requiring them to close from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. would put them out of business.
“It’s summertime coming up. This city is mainly a nighttime city. ... If we are closing down stores at 10 p.m. … we can’t survive,” said Hamid Hussain, who said he represented a store near Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall. “We can’t absorb a 10 p.m. curfew with having the same federal, state and business expenses.”
Council voted 6-3 to introduce an amendment to an earlier ordinance, to allow stores in troubled areas to stay open two additional hours, closing instead from midnight to 8 a.m.
This is the first summer that an ordinance passed last year will force some stores to close early.
Voting against amending were Council President Aaron “Sporty” Randolph and at-large Council members Stephanie Marshall and Bruce Weekes. It must still pass a second vote after a public hearing to become law.
Hussain said at first only a handful of stores were affected, and now up to 20 stores have faced restricted hours as criminals have moved to new areas.
Before the vote, Mayor Marty Small Sr. argued against amending the ordinance, and suggested he may veto it if it passes.
“You can’t say on one hand, ‘Clean up Atlantic Avenue,’ and then when you make a decision to clean up Atlantic Avenue say, ‘Give me two more hours,’” Small said. “I’ll make a decision ... whether I sign the ordinance or not, or veto it, which is under my purview under Title 40.”
The original ordinance provided a waiver process for stores to make changes that would allow them to return to longer hours, Randolph said, but the affected stores have not complied.
“We don’t need to amend, we don’t need to change this ordinance,” Randolph said. “Store owners need to do what they were asked to do. They have to comply.”
Police Chief James Sarkos met with affected store owners, he said, and made it clear they could stay open longer if they helped cut crime by hiring security guards during night hours, installing security cameras of high enough quality to be connected to the Police Department’s camera system, and improving the lighting around their stores.
“None has tried to move that forward,” Sarkos said.
“Nobody can afford that,” said 5th Ward Councilman Muhammad “Anjum” Zia. “They are family businesses they work themselves. Over a $5,000 camera — nobody can afford it.”
“To hire a security guard is $50 an hour … they aren’t making $50 an hour,” said at-large Councilman George Tibbitt of the smaller stores.
But Weekes said expenses to increase security were part of the cost of doing business.
Stores located near each other would be permitted to share hiring a security guard, Sarkos said.
Last April, council overwhelmingly passed the ordinance restricting store hours for businesses in areas where police are frequently called to address crime.
That was before 4th Ward Councilman George Crouch joined the governing body, and he said he had concerns about the ordinance.
“What incentive do I have to open a business if I can’t be profitable?” Crouch asked.
Council intended it as a public safety measure to discourage drug dealers and others from loitering in front of open stores — many on Atlantic Avenue — often ducking inside when police approach.
Affected store owners, mostly from the South Asian community, protested, saying it was unfair to punish them for the city’s crime problem. They also predicted the ordinance would not stop crime but only push criminals to new areas.
“Seems like it has made a big difference in those areas (where stores have had to close early), but I have seen a shift (in crime) to other locations,” Sarkos said.
Second Ward Councilwoman LaToya Dunston asked Sarkos to provide council with data to show exactly what the effect of the ordinance has been at next month’s council meeting, so they will have data to help them decide their final vote.
The Pakistani-American Muslim Organization of South Jersey filed suit in July against the city over the ordinance, and a judge dismissed the lawsuit in August.
In his decision, Atlantic County Superior Court Assignment Judge Michael Blee said store owners had not exhausted a waiver process available to them, and should do so before pursuing any legal action.
11
Altered votes on public records bill draw criticism
- Sophie Nieto-Munoznewjerseymonitor.com
The voting sessions for the bill that would overhaulNew Jersey’s public records lawwere chaotic, with aides running around whispering in lawmakers’ ears and leaders whipping votes in backrooms until just before the moment when the controversial bill narrowly passed.
Things were a bit chaotic even afterward, with at least five lawmakers switching their initial votes since they were cast Monday. The changes have no impact on the bill’s passage.
For Assemblyman Brian Bergen, a Morris County Republican who opposed the bill, the altered votes are indicative of a broken process, one that allows members to vote one way in case a bill is in jeopardy, then change their votes once they know the bill’s approval is not in doubt.
“There’s no doubt it’s anything other than that,” he said. “The speaker knew he needed Republican votes to get it over, but he didn’t know how many he was going to get, so it was an ever-changing thing.”
Assemblywoman Barbara McCann Stamato (D-Hudson) initially did notvote,but changed her vote to no. Thevotes from Assemblyman David Bailey Jr. (D-Salem) and Assemblywoman Rosy Bagolie (D-Essex) were initially recorded as yes, then no. In the upper chamber, Atlantic County Republican Sen. Vince Polistina’sno vote was switchedto “not voting,”andSen. John McKeon (D-Essex), who initially did not vote, changed his vote to no.
McKeon said he went to Trenton Monday planning to vote against the OPRA bill, but missed the vote “by coincidence,” he said. During a recess in the Senate session, McKeon said he misunderstood that people would be meeting in the caucus room, which led him to beoff the floor when the session resumed.
“You can ask the Senate president, because he was none too pleased when I told him I wasn’t voting for it earlier in the day,” McKeon told the New Jersey Monitor. “I put my no vote in immediately.”
None of the other lawmakers responded to requests for comment to clarify why their votes were changed. McCann Stamato told theHudson County Viewher initial vote was the result of a clerical error, and Bagolie said on social media that the board that tallies lawmakers’ votes “did not reflect my correct vote.”
The bill advanced to the governor’s desk with a final vote of 21-10 in the Senate and 42-28 in the Assembly (that total was 44-25 in the immediate aftermath of the vote). Bills need 21 votes to pass the Senate and 41 in the Assembly.
The measure would implement changes to the state’s public records law that criticssay will make it more difficult to obtain government documents. Supporters have said the law, which has barely changed in two decades, needs to be updated.
To get a vote that was cast changed, lawmakers have to fill out a form requesting the chamber’s leader approve the switch.Bergen said it happens periodically when someone’s in the bathroom during the vote, hits the wrong “yes” or “no” button by accident, or the button malfunctions and doesn’t register the vote.
“It’s finicky, but there’s no clerical stuff involved. You see it light up. The color changes and you can see your name on the board. Like anything, sometimes it just doesn’t work, but this is a funny part of this whole thing,” he said.
Maura Collinsgru, director of policy and advocacy at New Jersey Citizen Action, said the post-vote changes reflect the chaotic, fast-tracked process the bill underwent. Collinsgru’s group opposes the bill.
“I think many members were conflicted around this, and I think that showed in the way the vote unfolded. It could be a lot of reasons for their conflict, but clearly the chaos is part of it,” she said.
Collinsgru added that, for some voters, the final vote is what matters.
“They don’t care if it happened fine minutes after the vote or an hour after they voted. If they voted no, they got the message that we didn’t want this, and I think voters will be appreciative of the fact that their representatives said no because there’s still a lot who said no,” she said.
This story first appeared on the New Jersey Monitor.
12
Camden man sentenced for having gun in Claridge hotel room
- Selena Vazquez
ATLANTIC CITY— A Camden man was sentenced Wednesdayto 10 years in prison for having a gun in a Claridge hotel room in 2022, the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office said.
Quadir Webb, 31, was convicted last year of unlawful possession of a firearm, certain persons not to possess a handgun, possession of hollow-point bullets and possession of a large-capacity ammunition magazine. He will be ineligible for parole for five years, the Prosecutor's Office said Thursday in a news release.
The sentencing stems from an incident March 6, 2022. Several hours after Webb and his girlfriend, Maria Taylor, checked out of their room, Webb returned to the hotel and asked to go back to the room.
A housekeeper found a black Glock 17 handgun, loaded with 16 hollow-point bullets, unsecured in the room's nightstand drawer, the Prosecutor's Office said.
Webb did not have a permit to purchase or carry a handgun. He also had a prior conviction that made it illegal for him to possess a firearm in the state, the Prosecutor's Office said.
When police arrived at the Claridge to meet with Webb, he ran, the Prosecutor's Office said.
Taylor was acquitted.
13
Longport mayor, commissioner not running for reelection in November
- Selena Vazquez
LONGPORT — After serving the borough for more than a decade, Mayor Nick Russo and Commissioner Jim Leeds have decided not to seek reelection in November.
“I thought it was the right time. Longport was incorporated in 1898, and of this juncture, I will be the third-longest serving mayor in the city’s history,” said Russo, 75. “After serving as mayor, I look forward to doing increased travel, especially train travel, which I love, and continuing to volunteer with the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, where I currently serve as the flotilla vice commander for Flotilla 8-1 Ocean City.”
Voters will decide the makeup of the Board of Commissioners on Nov. 5.
Russo’s been the borough’s mayor since he was elected more than 16 years ago.
Since his run started in 2008, Russo is the third-longest serving mayor in the borough’s history, according to the Longport Historical Society. Leon Leopardi had the longest term, having 31 years as mayor from 1952 to 1983. Edwin Lavino had the second-longest mayoral run of 21 years from 1922 to 1943.
Among the accomplishments Russo said he is most proud of include establishing the borough’s independent library and providing high school students with a choice to attend either Atlantic City High School or Ocean City High School.
“The hardest part was maintaining a low tax rate,” said Russo. “Even though Longport is an affluent community, we still have a number of senior citizens on fixed incomes, and I always considered it was my job to fight for them.”
Leeds had not returned requests for comment as of Wednesday.
Russo endorsed Commissioner Dan Lawler as the borough’s next mayor.
He said he hopes the next mayor will continue the same ideology and policies that the current commissioners maintained.
“I think Dan Lawler would be a great mayor because he brings his financial experience in wholesale sales to municipal government,” Russo said. “He is one of the most fiscally responsible persons I have ever met and takes human emotion out of his budget-related decision-making process.”
The borough has nonpartisan elections. The commissioners are voted in by the people, and then the commissioners decide who will become mayor.
Lawler said he will most likely campaign with Patrick Armstrong, a captain with the Margate Fire Department, and Jim Ulmer, who ran in the last borough commissioners election.
“I want two people that are like-minded, and we are very, very compatible,” Lawler said about the two potential candidates.
Issues important to Lawler include offshore wind, maintaining infrastructure and the local economy.
“It’s still a little early to start campaigning because we still have six months until the election,” said Lawler. “And we still have things to finish up while they’re still in office.”
Borough Clerk Monica Kyle said she had not as of Tuesday received any completed petition packets from any potential candidates.
Petitions to run for election are not due until Aug. 22.
14
'It was a beautiful place to grow up': Danny DeVito shares his Jersey Shore memories
- Rosa CartagenaThe Philadelphia Inquirer
Though Danny DeVito has lived in Los Angeles for decades, he's always called Asbury Park home. The proud Jersey native still prefers watching sunrises on the shore rather than in California. And the love is reciprocal: In 2018, Asbury Park declared Nov. 17 (the actor's birthday) Danny DeVito Day.
Before his unforgettable roles in "Taxi," "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" and other blockbusters, the 79-year-old actor and director grew up with his mom, dad, and two older sisters on Second Avenue in the center of Asbury Park, where he biked, fished, snuck onto the beach, soaped windows on Mischief Night, and ate cones of french fries on the boardwalk (with malt vinegar and salt, of course). He even recalls catching a performance from then-tween Stevie Wonder: "I remember at the Convention Hall, I saw little Stevie Wonder playing 'Fingertips.' He came out on stage, he couldn't have been more than 11 years old. It was amazing."
DeVito shared some of his best shore memories with The Inquirer:
On his very Jerz family
My mom was born [in Asbury Park]. Her family's from Southern Italy, and my father was born in Brooklyn. My older cousins taught me all the good things and also taught me how to smoke cigarettes. They would come down from Brooklyn in the summer.
My dad had what he called a luncheonette. I just thought it was a candy store. He had a candy counter with penny candy and the more expensive nickel candy. They would serve ice cream sodas and hotdogs, hamburgers, grilled cheese, things like that. And they always had a pinball machine. The [candy store] on the boardwalk, Teddy's, had a good jukebox. We'd listen to all the doo-wop songs.
We had many cousins and relatives [in the area]. The family would have dinners. I had two Uncle Joes. One was really my uncle, he was from Brooklyn. And the other one was a guy from Long Branch, he was one of my father's good friends. He always did tricks and little puzzles. He was the first one to show us at a Sunday dinner once that there was such a thing as the fly in the ice cube. It was a joke that he played on my mother.
"Look at this!" He held it up and it looked like a fly got frozen in the ice cube. And my mother's like, "Oh my God, this is so embarrassing, this is terrible!" It was really a plastic ice cube. I called him Tricky Joe. I played that part a lot. All my relatives I've taken from, you know, in my career, whether it was their delivery or whether they were rough around the edges — those idiosyncrasies.
On his childhood
I played Little League baseball, when I barely could swing a bat. The field was near Asbury Park High School. We would also try to hit balls over the fence to hit the train. What are you gonna do down there? We'd put pennies on the rail, wait for the train to come by, and they'd get squashed. But you gotta be really careful. Don't encourage kids to do that.
We used to do really silly things, like ride on the handlebars of bicycles. Once I was on my cousin's bike and we crashed. We were at the intersection of Highway 35 and Highway 33 in Neptune. We were coming down the street so fast. I was on the handlebars, holding on for dear life. I guess my shirt blew in his face or something. I don't know what happened. But he lost control. I don't think I was unconscious. But we were taken away in an ambulance. We had major bruises on our arms and our knees, but that was it.
On his first job
My first job was on the boardwalk, it was great. I was 14 and basically ran the kiddie rides, you know, a fire engine or a car. You put the toddlers in and you tell them to ring the bell and turn the wheel. They go around in circles on this little wooden platform.
On shore summers
It was a beautiful place to grow up. I lived 13 blocks from the beach. I'd ride my bike down there every day and wait for the old security guard to look the other way and jump over the rail. I'd stay down at the beach all day and I'd look like a coffee bean.
I'd go off the jetties to fish out there. You could catch flounder, fluke, and kingfish. Various types of fish. My father was always going down to the end of the jetty with a pail, a pack of cigarettes, and a stool. We'd also go to Shark River, it's more like in Belmar, and we'd go fishing and clamming — we were clam diggers. The New Jersey Clam Diggers.
On the shore's movie culture
When you got older, the big thing was the Eatontown Drive-In or the Shore Drive-In. We'd pile the car up. You'd pay per head to get in, and then you'd have two people in the trunk. I remember it was before you could hook the sounds up to the radio. Right around the time that the [1964] Beatles movie was released, they figured out how to tune into a station to get the movie sound coming through your own speakers. I loved the drive-in. It was like magic. The movies are magic, and then you have the open air and stars. It's really great to look at movies outside.
There were five movie theaters [in Asbury Park] — the Mayfair, the St. James, the Lyric, the Paramount, and the Baronet. The St. James Theatre, when The Bridge on the River Kwai came out [in 1957], they built a big bamboo bridge across the Cookman Avenue. It was amazing. After I started directing, I did a premiere of "Throw Momma from the Train" [in 1987] on the boardwalk at the Paramount. My mother was still around, my sisters were there, and all my friends came.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
15
This, too, could pass: Christian group's rule keeping beaches closed on Sunday mornings may end
- WAYNE PARRYAssociated Press
OCEAN GROVE — In this seaside community that calls itself “God's Square Mile at the Jersey Shore,” all the land is owned by a religious group that has for generations enforced an 11th Commandment: Thou shalt stay off the beach on Sunday morning.
But there are signs that decades-old policy may be coming to an end as a way to resolve a court case brought by the state that could cost the group $25,000 a day in fines for violating state beach access laws.
The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, which has kept beaches closed until noon on Sundays, has deleted that restriction from its website. Item 4 under “Beach Regulations” used to outline the Sunday morning closure. Now, just the number “4” remains on the site, followed by blank space.
The association and its lawyer did not immediately respond to requests for clarification Wednesday, and the state Attorney General's Office said it was looking into the matter.
Restricting activity on Sunday morning is central to Ocean Grove's very existence. It was founded in 1869 as a Methodist retreat, centered on an enormous hall called The Great Auditorium, where worship services are held near rows of tent cabins where summer pilgrims come to live in its shadow.
The association, a nonprofit Christian entity that owns the beach and the land under all of Ocean Grove's houses under a charter given to it by the state in 1870, has long kept people off the beach before noon on Sundays.
The state is challenging the rule, threatening fines and taking the association to court.
The dispute involves an issue that has been contested for generations but never quite settled here: Does a religious group have the right to impose its beliefs on everyone in a community, including those of other faiths, or no faith at all?
“We just feel that's wrong, that it's not what America is supposed to be about, and it makes living here very uncomfortable when you're gay, when you're Jewish, an atheist or agnostic,” said Paul Martin, who bought a house in Ocean Grove in 2003 with his wife, Aliza Greenblatt.
“We have the right to live here, too,” said Greenblatt, who like her husband is Jewish. “We're not anti-Christian. We just want the line between church and state to be respected.”
The couple were among those who defied the rules last year and went onto the beach on Sunday mornings. They said association personnel called the police, but officers did not intervene once they arrived.
Harriet Bernstein is part of a lesbian couple from Ocean Grove whose request to use the boardwalk pavilion for their civil union ceremony was rejected in 2007 by the association on religious grounds. After a court ruled in favor of the couple, the association stopped allowing anyone to wed in the pavilion.
“I feel less comfortable because of the imposition of their religion on everybody that lives here,” Bernstein said. Referring to images of a cross on the badges people are required to purchase in order to use the beach, she said, “I'm Jewish; I don't wear crosses.”
The association did not respond to repeated requests for an interview in recent weeks.
But in court papers it says what the state is trying to do violates U.S. Constitutional amendments concerning freedom of religion, the taking of private property, and due process and equal protection.
Church and state have never been as neatly separated in Ocean Grove as they are in other places.
Although it is a part of Neptune Township, just north of Asbury Park and about 60 miles south of New York City, Ocean Grove once was its own municipality, having been incorporated by the state Legislature in 1920. But a court ruled that act unconstitutional and dissolved the municipality a year later.
The Sunday morning beach closures dismay some but delight others.
“Ocean Grove is God's place,” said Mary Martin, an 87-year-old retired teacher who moved here from northern New Jersey in 1960. “I love it here. I love the Bible hour six days a week, great speakers, great singing, great fellowship, great joy, everyone welcome.”
Martin shares a feeling often voiced by association members and their supporters that a cherished way of life is under attack in Ocean Grove.
“It used to be no beach at all on Sunday,” she said. “Then we gave in to them and said, ‘OK, after noon on Sunday.’ Now they want to take that away, too. We should be able to enjoy our Sundays.”
Neil Ostrander has a part-time job with the association helping get the auditorium ready for summer. When newcomers arrived, he said, “they knew the deal" about its ownership by a Christian group.
“It's like when someone moves above a bar that's been a bar for 170 years, and then sues it for being a bar,” he said.
In court papers, the association writes that "all members of the public are welcome (onto the beach) 365 days a year. Anyone, regardless of race, creed, religion or orientation is welcome onto this private property 99.5% of the year."
Public access is restricted for 45 hours out of the year between Memorial Day and Labor Day, a policy the association called “abundantly reasonable.”
“The slight limitation on physical presence on the beachfront on the Lord's Day is consistent with the plaintiff's mission to build and maintain a beautiful seaside community to serve as a place for meditation, reflection and renewal during the summer months,” the association wrote. "The ability to reflect upon an empty and quiet beachfront during this limited time is at the core of plaintiff's very creation. Regardless of one's beliefs, spending the morning hours in an unhurried morning stroll on a less crowded boardwalk has emotional, spiritual and bodily health benefits.”
While acknowledging the association's beach policy “is steeped in its Christian faith,” the group cites several nonreligious reasons for it as well, including allowing lifeguards to have a few hours off at the end of a busy week and advancing “a better quality of life” for residents and visitors, including having more parking available for Sunday morning visits to shops and eateries.
The state takes a contrary view, saying that using chains and locks to keep the public off the sand on Sunday morning violates the association's authority to operate a beach.
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Atlantic City councilman apologizes for 'spit on mayor' remarks on radio
- Michelle Brunetti Post
ATLANTIC CITY — Several city employees criticized at-large Councilman George Tibbitt during Wednesday’s City Council meeting over comments he made on a local radio show encouraging city workers to “spit on” Mayor Marty Small Sr. over allegations in a child abuse case.
“The part that said public works and city workers, when they see the mayor they should spit on him,” said Floyd Tally, a city resident who works in the city’s anti-violence program. “That is way far overboard.”
Tibbitt said repeatedly he was wrong to say it, and that he immediately told listeners of Harry Hurley’s radio show not to do it.
“I agree and corrected myself and apologized when it happened,” Tibbitt said.
Small declined to comment.
Tibbitt was on the show May 3 talking about allegations recently made against Small, claiming the mayor tried to misrepresent the actions of his daughter’s boyfriend to get the boyfriend in trouble with the law.
“I want all of you in public works, how do you have a young Black male living in Atlantic City struggling to survive like all of us ... and you have a mayor go try to press charges against this kid over a teen romance? To try and get this kid put in jail and change a complaint ... to try to change the date,” Tibbitt said. “Every one of you should be pissed and spit on him when you see him, to do that to a young child.”
Earlier this year, the mayor’s teenage daughter told officials at Atlantic City High School she was being physically and mentally abused at home, according to an affidavit of probable cause. The affidavit said Marty and his wife, schools Superintendent La’Quetta Small, disapproved of their daughter’s boyfriend, who allegedly had audio recordings of the alleged abuse on an iPad.
The mayor, 50, was charged with terroristic threats, aggravated assault and disorderly persons simple assault. La’Quetta Small, 47, was charged with three counts of disorderly persons simple assault.
A $2 million tort claim filed against the Smalls on behalf of the boyfriend, identified in court papers as E.L., claimed the couple attempted to destroy evidence to cover up alleged child abuse.
Among other things, the tort claims Mayor Small filed false criminal charges against the boyfriend, which were dismissed last month for a lack of evidence.
“I came to speak on the radio broadcast, too. It was alarming and disrespectful,” said Assistant Director of Public Works Ahmid A. Abdullah Sr. “To say every public works employee should spit on the mayor. You think that low of us? Like we’re nothing?”
Abdullah said Small has raised their salaries and given them the tools they need to succeed.
“I said I shouldn’t have said it. I can’t do no more,” Tibbitt said. “I was wrong to say that.”
Tibbitt, a onetime ally and running mate of Small, had a falling out with the mayor almost two years ago, and the two have since been highly critical of each other.
On the radio show, Tibbitt also said those interested in the city’s future should “start yelling” to demand action from Gov. Phil Murphy.
“You could fix this, Mr. Murphy, you’ve got a clown in Atlantic City with a budget that’s ballooning out of control,” Tibbitt said.
He called on state Sen. Vince Polistina, R-Atlantic, to pressure the governor to take more control of the city.
“The governor has to start being called out,” Tibbitt said. “You are allowing this stuff to happen.”
Sen. Bob Menendez reveals his wife has breast cancer as his trial focuses on FBI raid of his home
- MIKE CATALINI & LARRY NEUMEISTERAssociated Press
NEW YORK — Sen.Bob Menendezsaid Thursday that his wife will undergo a mastectomy after she was diagnosed with breast cancer, a revelation made just as the first evidence — pictures of 13 gold bars and over $480,000 in cash seized from the couple's home — was shown to jurors at his New York bribery trial.
The New Jersey Democrat said he was revealing his wife's health crisis at her request after repeated inquiries from the media.
“We are, of course, concerned about the seriousness and advanced stage of the disease,” the senator said in a statement.
He added: “She will require follow up surgery and possibly radiation treatment. We hope and pray for the best results.”
Previously, lawyers for Nadine Menendez had requested her trial on charges in the case be delayed after she was diagnosed with what was only previously described publicly as a serious health issue.
Judge Sidney H. Stein had postponed her trial until at least July. Nadine Menendez, who married the senator two years after she began dating him in 2018, has pleaded not guilty.
One of her lawyers declined comment in response to Bob Menendez's disclosure Thursday.
The senator, on trial with two of three businessmen who allegedly paid him bribes, has pleaded not guilty to charges of bribery, fraud, extortion, obstruction of justice and acting as a foreign agent of Egypt. A third businessman has pleaded guilty in the case and will testify against the others.
Menendez's statement about his wife was released just after opening statements were completed and the presentation of evidence began at his trial in Manhattan federal court.
The trial's first witness was an FBI agent, Aristotelis Kougemitros, who described leading a June 2022 raid on the couple's Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, home.
He testified that two 1-kilogram (2.2-pound) gold bars, 11 1-ounce gold bars and $486,461 in cash were among valuables found in the home, along with cellphones and jewelry. In all, 52 items were seized.
At first, Kougemitros said, the FBI had directed agents to photograph any cash that was found, but not necessarily to seize it.
But he said that based on his experience and training, along with the “totality of the circ*mstances,” that he decided the amount of cash was so voluminous that it would be seized.
“I believed there was evidence potentially of a crime,” he said, drawing an objection from Menendez's lawyer that was sustained by the judge.
Through dozens of photographs and the agent's testimony, jurors were taken on a tour of the home as Kougemitros described where cash and the gold bars were discovered by a team of eight agents that was later supplemented by two Manhattan agents who brought cash-counting machines.
The gold bars were found in a safe and on the floor nearby inside locked closets in a bedroom, he said. Much of the cash was found stuffed in jacket pockets, in two pairs of boots and on a shelf in the home's basem*nt, he said.
One pair of Timberland boots contained $14,500 in cash nearly evenly divided while another set of boots also had cash stuffed in each boot, he said.
A black jacket, which was among four jackets found to contain cash, had $21,000 in envelopes in its pockets, Kougemitros said. The other jackets, he added, had $4,300, $6,000 and $8,000.
On a shelf nearby, he said, a plastic bag contained $100,000, while another bag held $95,000.
Earlier in the day, lawyers for New Jersey real estate developer Fred Daibes and businessman Wael Hana delivered their opening remarks to jurors a day after a prosecutor and Menendez’s lawyergave opening statements.
Attorney Lawrence Lustberg, representing Hana, said prosecutors had built their case against his client on “innocent acts.”
He said Hana was longtime friends since 2009 with Nadine Menendez and that Hana and Nadine Menendez had exchanged expensive gifts over the years. He said there was never a time when Hana either directly to Bob Menendez or indirectly through Nadine Menendez gave a bribe in exchange for official acts by the senator.
Attorney Cesar De Castro, representing Daibes, told jurors the case was about relationships and prosecutors were trying to exploit facts about a three-decade friendship between the senator and Daibes to claim crimes occurred. He said they will conclude his client was not guilty.
On Wednesday, attorney Avi Weitzman, representing Bob Menendez, told jurors his client was unaware that his spouse had accepted gifts from the three businessmen and did not know about cash and gold bars hidden in a closet at their home.
The statement came after an opening statement by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Pomerantz in which the prosecutor repeatedly highlighted the gold bars and cash found in the home.
Menendez has held public office continuously since 1986, serving as a state legislator before 14 years as a U.S. congressman. In 2006, then-Gov. Jon Corzine appointed Menendez to the Senate seat he vacated when he became governor.
The trial, which began Monday, is projected to last up to two months.
DCA commissioner open to discussing Atlantic City takeover extension, public housing woes
- Michelle Brunetti Post
TRENTON — The state Department of Community Affairs is open to discussing an extension of the state takeover of Atlantic City past 2026, and is working with another state agency and the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to help fund improvements to public housing in the resort, its acting commissioner said Thursday.
In response to questions from state Sen. Vince Polistina, R-Atlantic, Jacquelyn Suárez also said her department is open to discussing future changes in how the city is funded.
The questioning happened during a Judiciary Committee hearing in which her nomination to be DCA commissioner passed. Her nomination is expected to be voted on in the full state Senate on Monday.
Some residents of the Atlantic City Housing Authority's 420-unit Stanley Holmes Village have been living without reliable heat and hot water for two years, Polistina said. He asked Suarez what the DCA can do to help.
"HUD has told us to stay out of it, that we have no oversight or purview of the Housing Authority, and I respect that," Suarez, of Sea Girt, Monmouth County, said in response to questions by Polistina. "However, I'm not comfortable to have folks living in Atlantic City in conditions I wouldn't want anybody from my family living in."
Suarez said she is working with DCA Assistant Commissioner Janelle Winter, Executive Director of the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency Melanie Walter and HUD to find ways to assist.
"We have been sitting down (and) conversing about ... how we can overlay resources to come up with a solution to move residents forward," Suarez said.
She and Walter also havebeen discussing ways the mortgage finance agency can help rehab some of the Housing Authority's properties, Suarez said.
Gov. Phil Murphy named Suarez, also director of the Division of Local Government Services, acting commissioner after the death last year of DCA Commissioner Sheila Oliver, who also was the lieutenant governor.
The DCA oversees the state takeover of Atlantic City under the Municipal Stabilization and Revitalization Act of 2016 and 2022.
Moody's recently upgraded the city's bond rating one notch, Suarez said, citing the state's oversight through MSRA and the continuation of the casino payment-in-lieu-of-taxes plan, which guarantees a consistent funding stream.
Both are due to sunset in 18 months, or be renewed.
"Moody's also said if it was clear they would continue beyond 2026 the city would have seen a two-tier increase as opposed to one," Suarez said.
Investment Alternative Tax revenues that used to go to the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority have gone to the city for years to pay down debt, and that has stabilized finances, Polistina said.
"That should be ending in about 18 months," he said.
Suarez said she is open to talking about the future of IAT use as well.
The Legislature first passed MSRA in 2016 because the city was facing bankruptcy.
"MSRA was absolutely necessary for fiscal stability ... in tandem with the PILOT of 2017. They are inextricably intertwined," Suarez said.
Madison Resorts cuts ribbon on new 200-room resort in Wildwood Crest
- John O'Connor
WILDWOOD CREST— Madison Resorts cut the ribbon Thursday on the area's newest and largest beach resort.
Madison Resort Wildwood Crest, located at 7201 Ocean Ave., opened to the public with a ceremony featuring remarks from Madison Resorts President Don Alicea, Mayor Donald Cabrera and borough commissioners.
“We’re thrilled to bring our Madison Resorts family to the Wildwood Crest community,” Alicea said in a news release. “With this opening, we’re excited to help save and preserve an important piece of Wildwood Crest history, while bringing the Jersey Shore its largest new resort.”
The resort combines the doo-wop stylings of the former Oceanview Motel with the formerRoyal Hawaiian property next door, creating one giant resort that will feature 200 guest rooms, three restaurants, two pools, a cabana and poolside seating for 100-plus guests. It also features two hot tubs, space for beachfront weddings, two fitness centers, five conference rooms and two rooftop event spaces. The resort is pet friendly.
“We have watched the progression of a once dilapidated motel evolve into a first-class resort in the hub of our community right before our eyes," Cabrera said. "Its transformation maintains some of the original architectural features with a modern-day feel. I wish them much success.”
The $52 million project took two years to complete and began after Alicea purchased the Oceanview in August 2022. The goal was to combine retro with modern, giving the property a look and feel that blends with the Wildwoods' doo-wop aesthetic.
“We made a promise to preserve the architecture of the past with our renovation of this property,” Alicea said. “2024 marks 60 years since this property was built. There’s no way that we would stand for anything but a full restoration of this iconic structure.”
In December of last year, Alicea purchased the Royal Hawaiian, an adjacent motel that was in operation until 2022 and didn't require as much work as the Oceanview.
“Buying the Royal Hawaiian was an easy decision for us,” Alicea said. “It was another great restoration project, and the location was undeniable. Being able to operate both resorts as one by combining amenities is going to be a game-changer for Wildwood Crest.”
For room bookings, entertainment and more information, visit madisonresortwildwoodcrest.com.
New Jersey overall gambling revenue up 10.4% in April, but in-person casino winnings were down
- WAYNE PARRYAssociated Press
ATLANTIC CITY — New Jersey’s casinos, horse tracks that accept sports bets and their online partners won more than half a billion dollars from gamblers in April, an increase of 10.4% from a year earlier, state gambling regulators said Thursday.
But that was due in large part to the state’s second-best month ever for internet gambling. The industry’s key business — money won from in-person gamblers — continued to sag, down 6.3% from a year ago.
Figures released by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement show the casinos, tracks and their partners won nearly $511 million in April from in-person gambling, internet betting and sports bets.
But money from internet and sports bets must be shared with casino partners such as sports books and tech platforms and is not solely for the casinos to keep. For that reason, casinos consider in-person winnings to be their core business.
And it’s one that continues to struggle.
Six of the nine casinos won less from in-person gamblers in April than they did a year earlier. And six of nine casinos also won less in-person money this April than they did in April 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
Jane Bokunewicz, director of the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism at Stockton University, which studies the Atlantic City gambling market, said that while in-person casino winnings are likely to improve in the coming summer months as visitation spikes, Atlantic City may see more of its revenue growth come from non-gambling areas such as food and beverage sales.
“It will be many months before a clear picture of this trend is available, but operators’ recent investments in improving resort offerings suggest that a significant shift in the market’s overall revenue mix could be coming,” she said. “A focus beyond gaming, to the elements that make Atlantic City unique and a stronger competitor against the threat of New York City casinos, is simply good business.”
In terms of in-person revenue, Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa won $58.3 million, up half a percent from a year earlier; Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City won $41.1 million, up 6%; Ocean Casino Resort won $28.8 million, down 15.6% in a month during which part or all of its casino floor was shut down for four days while switching from one computer system to another; Tropicana Atlantic City won $17.7 million, down 9.2%; Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City won $16.4 million, down nearly 25%; Caesars Atlantic City won $16 million, down 18.4%; Bally’s Atlantic City won $13.1 million, down 4.9%; Golden Nugget Atlantic City won $12.7 million, down 3.1%; and Resorts Casino Hotel won $12.4 million, virtually flat from a year ago.
Including internet and sports betting revenue, Borgata won $107.7 million, down 0.2%; Golden Nugget won nearly $66 million, up 20.4%; Hard Rock won $55.2 million, up 18.6%; Ocean won $35.7 million, down 8.6%; Tropicana won $34.8 million, up nearly 28%; Bally’s won $21.5 million, up 5%; Harrah’s won $18.3 million, down 16%; Caesars won $16.1 million, down 19.3%; and Resorts won $12.1 million, down nearly 2%.
Among internet-only entities, Resorts Digital won $66.4 million, up 7.2%, and Caesars Interactive NJ won $612,910 in a month in which three internet gambling sites switched from the interactive company to Tropicana.
Internet gambling had its second-best month in April with nearly $188 million won online, an increase of 18.2% from a year ago.
Sports betting brought in over $1 billion in April, with $106 million of that total kept as revenue after paying off winning bets and other expenses.
The Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, near New York City, won the lion’s share of that at $73.1 million. Resorts Digital won nearly $19 million; Freehold Raceway won $2.2 million, and Monmouth Park Racetrack in Oceanport won $953,798.
Roadwork to cause alternate traffic pattern in Hamilton
- John O'Connor
HAMILTON TOWNSHIP— A single-lane, alternating traffic pattern will be in effect from 7 a.m. to noon Friday on Weymouth Road between milepost 18.5 and Mizpah Road for the installation of a silt fence, Atlantic County officials said.
The same traffic pattern will be in effect Monday through Thursday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. for drainage improvements, the county said in a news release.
Motorists may experience delays and should plan travel time accordingly or seek an alternate route.
Galloway Township man charged in Pleasantville murder while awaiting prison sentence
- John O'Connor
A Galloway Township man who pleaded guilty to weapons offenses in March and was awaiting sentence was arrested Thursday after he allegedly shot and killed a Pleasantville man last week, the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office said.
Kalief Lyons, 35, was charged with murder and weapons offenses in the death of Baseem Taliaferro, 38.
Police responded to an apartment on West Pleasant Avenue after receiving a report of shots fired at 11:02 p.m. May 9.
Officers found Taliaferro on the first floor suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest. He was pronounced dead at the scene, the Prosecutor's Office saidThursday in a news release.
Witnesses told investigators an argument had occurred between Lyons and several others 20 minutes before the shooting, the Prosecutor's Office said.
After the argument, Lyons was seen on surveillance walking toward the rear of the residence with a ski mask on before he was observed walking away from the area of the shooting two minutes later without the mask, the Prosecutor's Office said.
Lyons was taken into custody by Galloway Township police hours after the shooting and was in possession of a 9mm handgun, a large quantity of drugs and was wearing the same clothes he was on surveillance, the Prosecutor's Office said.
Ballistics evidence confirmed the weapon recovered from Lyons was the same used in Taliaferro's killing, the Prosecutor's Office said.
Lyons previously pleaded guilty on March 5 to certain persons not to possess firearms and was given a recommended sentence of eight years in state prison with five years of parole ineligibility.
He was released to home detention without a bracelet pending sentencing, which was scheduled for May 28, the Prosecutor's Office said.
The charge stemmed from an incident that occurred in Galloway on November 30, 2022, where police responded to a call that a male subject, later identified as Lyons, had brandished a handgun, the Prosecutor's Office said.
Police located the handgun in a vehicle Lyons previously occupied. The handgun had an illegal large capacity ammunition magazine with 13 illegal hollow point ammunition rounds in the magazine and one round in the chamber.
Lyons was also found to be in possession of 75 wax folds of suspected heroin and five small rocks of suspected crack cocaine, the Prosecutor's Office said.
ESPN's Marty Smith to serve as grand marshal of Ocean City's Night in Venice boat parade
- John O'Connor
OCEAN CITY — ESPN reporter Marty Smith will serve as grand marshal of the 69th annual Night in Venice boat parade July 20, city officials said.
Smith, who owns a home in the city, has spent more than two decades at ESPN, covering college football and basketball, the NFL, NBA, NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula 1, horse racing, golf and more, the city said Thursday in a news release.
He also co-hosts the “Marty & McGee” show on the SEC Network, and his 2019 memoir, “Never Settle: Sports, Family and the American Soul,” is a New York Times bestseller. His latest book is “Sideline CEO: Leadership Principles from Championship Coaches.”
Smith’s wife, Lainie Cocozza, is an Ocean City native, a 1995 graduate of Ocean City High School and was crowned Miss Night in Venice 1995. The couple live in Lake Norman, North Carolina, with their three children, but still vacation in Ocean City every June, the release states.
“It’s great that the Smith family has such close ties with Ocean City, and I’m honored to have Marty as our grand marshal for this year’s Night in Venice,” Mayor Jay Gillian said. “They’ll be right at home on the water for this summer’s spectacular event.”
Thousands of spectators line the bayfront and thousands more attend private parties at homes from the Ocean City-Longport Bridge to Tennessee Avenue for the annual themed boat parade and decorated bayfront home contest.
The parade will begin at 6:30 p.m., and the theme will be “Summertime Vibes: A Tribute to Jimmy Buffett,” who died last year. A nighttime fireworks display will cap off the festivities.
For more information or to participate, visit ocnj.us/niv or call 609-399-6111.
Northfield woman accused of stealing cars, sister's identity
- Selena Vazquez
ATLANTIC CITY— A Northfield woman is wanted for vehicle and identity theft after she gave officers her sister's information at the time of her arrest, police said Thursday.
Caitlin Rainey, 33, was charged with receiving stolen property, joyriding, possession of drug paraphernalia, identity theft and hindering apprehension.
The charges stem from an incident at 6:57 p.m. Sunday. Footage from the police Surveillance Center showed two occupants, Adam Ross and Rainey, exiting a minivan in the first block of Tennessee Avenue that was reported stolen earlier that day, police said.
Rainey used the name and informationof her sister, Aine Wallace, at the time of the arrest, police said. She was then taken to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center, City Campus, due to a medical complaint and released from custody pending court.
Ross also wasreleased from custody but was rearrested at 2:12 a.m. Monday after he was found driving another stolen vehicle, police said. He was charged with two counts each of theft and receiving stolen property, and was sent to the Atlantic County jail.
After police released the information on what was reported as Wallace's arrest, the real Wallace bought the discrepancy to the attention of the Police Department on Wednesday. It was later learned that Rainey has used several aliases in the past to avoid arrests for active warrants, police said.
Anyone with information about Rainey's whereabouts can call police at 609-347-5766 or submit a text anonymously to tip411.
Atlantic City considers longer business hours for stores in high-crime areas
- Michelle Brunetti Post
ATLANTIC CITY — City Council may give store owners in higher crime areas the ability to stay open longer, after some complained a city ordinance requiring them to close from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. would put them out of business.
“It’s summertime coming up. This city is mainly a nighttime city. ... If we are closing down stores at 10 p.m. … we can’t survive,” said Hamid Hussain, who said he represented a store near Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall. “We can’t absorb a 10 p.m. curfew with having the same federal, state and business expenses.”
Council voted 6-3 to introduce an amendment to an earlier ordinance, to allow stores in troubled areas to stay open two additional hours, closing instead from midnight to 8 a.m.
This is the first summer that an ordinance passed last year will force some stores to close early.
Voting against amending were Council President Aaron “Sporty” Randolph and at-large Council members Stephanie Marshall and Bruce Weekes. It must still pass a second vote after a public hearing to become law.
Hussain said at first only a handful of stores were affected, and now up to 20 stores have faced restricted hours as criminals have moved to new areas.
Before the vote, Mayor Marty Small Sr. argued against amending the ordinance, and suggested he may veto it if it passes.
“You can’t say on one hand, ‘Clean up Atlantic Avenue,’ and then when you make a decision to clean up Atlantic Avenue say, ‘Give me two more hours,’” Small said. “I’ll make a decision ... whether I sign the ordinance or not, or veto it, which is under my purview under Title 40.”
The original ordinance provided a waiver process for stores to make changes that would allow them to return to longer hours, Randolph said, but the affected stores have not complied.
“We don’t need to amend, we don’t need to change this ordinance,” Randolph said. “Store owners need to do what they were asked to do. They have to comply.”
Police Chief James Sarkos met with affected store owners, he said, and made it clear they could stay open longer if they helped cut crime by hiring security guards during night hours, installing security cameras of high enough quality to be connected to the Police Department’s camera system, and improving the lighting around their stores.
“None has tried to move that forward,” Sarkos said.
“Nobody can afford that,” said 5th Ward Councilman Muhammad “Anjum” Zia. “They are family businesses they work themselves. Over a $5,000 camera — nobody can afford it.”
“To hire a security guard is $50 an hour … they aren’t making $50 an hour,” said at-large Councilman George Tibbitt of the smaller stores.
But Weekes said expenses to increase security were part of the cost of doing business.
Stores located near each other would be permitted to share hiring a security guard, Sarkos said.
Last April, council overwhelmingly passed the ordinance restricting store hours for businesses in areas where police are frequently called to address crime.
That was before 4th Ward Councilman George Crouch joined the governing body, and he said he had concerns about the ordinance.
“What incentive do I have to open a business if I can’t be profitable?” Crouch asked.
Council intended it as a public safety measure to discourage drug dealers and others from loitering in front of open stores — many on Atlantic Avenue — often ducking inside when police approach.
Affected store owners, mostly from the South Asian community, protested, saying it was unfair to punish them for the city’s crime problem. They also predicted the ordinance would not stop crime but only push criminals to new areas.
“Seems like it has made a big difference in those areas (where stores have had to close early), but I have seen a shift (in crime) to other locations,” Sarkos said.
Second Ward Councilwoman LaToya Dunston asked Sarkos to provide council with data to show exactly what the effect of the ordinance has been at next month’s council meeting, so they will have data to help them decide their final vote.
The Pakistani-American Muslim Organization of South Jersey filed suit in July against the city over the ordinance, and a judge dismissed the lawsuit in August.
In his decision, Atlantic County Superior Court Assignment Judge Michael Blee said store owners had not exhausted a waiver process available to them, and should do so before pursuing any legal action.
Altered votes on public records bill draw criticism
- Sophie Nieto-Munoznewjerseymonitor.com
The voting sessions for the bill that would overhaulNew Jersey’s public records lawwere chaotic, with aides running around whispering in lawmakers’ ears and leaders whipping votes in backrooms until just before the moment when the controversial bill narrowly passed.
Things were a bit chaotic even afterward, with at least five lawmakers switching their initial votes since they were cast Monday. The changes have no impact on the bill’s passage.
For Assemblyman Brian Bergen, a Morris County Republican who opposed the bill, the altered votes are indicative of a broken process, one that allows members to vote one way in case a bill is in jeopardy, then change their votes once they know the bill’s approval is not in doubt.
“There’s no doubt it’s anything other than that,” he said. “The speaker knew he needed Republican votes to get it over, but he didn’t know how many he was going to get, so it was an ever-changing thing.”
Assemblywoman Barbara McCann Stamato (D-Hudson) initially did notvote,but changed her vote to no. Thevotes from Assemblyman David Bailey Jr. (D-Salem) and Assemblywoman Rosy Bagolie (D-Essex) were initially recorded as yes, then no. In the upper chamber, Atlantic County Republican Sen. Vince Polistina’sno vote was switchedto “not voting,”andSen. John McKeon (D-Essex), who initially did not vote, changed his vote to no.
McKeon said he went to Trenton Monday planning to vote against the OPRA bill, but missed the vote “by coincidence,” he said. During a recess in the Senate session, McKeon said he misunderstood that people would be meeting in the caucus room, which led him to beoff the floor when the session resumed.
“You can ask the Senate president, because he was none too pleased when I told him I wasn’t voting for it earlier in the day,” McKeon told the New Jersey Monitor. “I put my no vote in immediately.”
None of the other lawmakers responded to requests for comment to clarify why their votes were changed. McCann Stamato told theHudson County Viewher initial vote was the result of a clerical error, and Bagolie said on social media that the board that tallies lawmakers’ votes “did not reflect my correct vote.”
The bill advanced to the governor’s desk with a final vote of 21-10 in the Senate and 42-28 in the Assembly (that total was 44-25 in the immediate aftermath of the vote). Bills need 21 votes to pass the Senate and 41 in the Assembly.
The measure would implement changes to the state’s public records law that criticssay will make it more difficult to obtain government documents. Supporters have said the law, which has barely changed in two decades, needs to be updated.
To get a vote that was cast changed, lawmakers have to fill out a form requesting the chamber’s leader approve the switch.Bergen said it happens periodically when someone’s in the bathroom during the vote, hits the wrong “yes” or “no” button by accident, or the button malfunctions and doesn’t register the vote.
“It’s finicky, but there’s no clerical stuff involved. You see it light up. The color changes and you can see your name on the board. Like anything, sometimes it just doesn’t work, but this is a funny part of this whole thing,” he said.
Maura Collinsgru, director of policy and advocacy at New Jersey Citizen Action, said the post-vote changes reflect the chaotic, fast-tracked process the bill underwent. Collinsgru’s group opposes the bill.
“I think many members were conflicted around this, and I think that showed in the way the vote unfolded. It could be a lot of reasons for their conflict, but clearly the chaos is part of it,” she said.
Collinsgru added that, for some voters, the final vote is what matters.
“They don’t care if it happened fine minutes after the vote or an hour after they voted. If they voted no, they got the message that we didn’t want this, and I think voters will be appreciative of the fact that their representatives said no because there’s still a lot who said no,” she said.
This story first appeared on the New Jersey Monitor.
Camden man sentenced for having gun in Claridge hotel room
- Selena Vazquez
ATLANTIC CITY— A Camden man was sentenced Wednesdayto 10 years in prison for having a gun in a Claridge hotel room in 2022, the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office said.
Quadir Webb, 31, was convicted last year of unlawful possession of a firearm, certain persons not to possess a handgun, possession of hollow-point bullets and possession of a large-capacity ammunition magazine. He will be ineligible for parole for five years, the Prosecutor's Office said Thursday in a news release.
The sentencing stems from an incident March 6, 2022. Several hours after Webb and his girlfriend, Maria Taylor, checked out of their room, Webb returned to the hotel and asked to go back to the room.
A housekeeper found a black Glock 17 handgun, loaded with 16 hollow-point bullets, unsecured in the room's nightstand drawer, the Prosecutor's Office said.
Webb did not have a permit to purchase or carry a handgun. He also had a prior conviction that made it illegal for him to possess a firearm in the state, the Prosecutor's Office said.
When police arrived at the Claridge to meet with Webb, he ran, the Prosecutor's Office said.
Taylor was acquitted.
Longport mayor, commissioner not running for reelection in November
- Selena Vazquez
LONGPORT — After serving the borough for more than a decade, Mayor Nick Russo and Commissioner Jim Leeds have decided not to seek reelection in November.
“I thought it was the right time. Longport was incorporated in 1898, and of this juncture, I will be the third-longest serving mayor in the city’s history,” said Russo, 75. “After serving as mayor, I look forward to doing increased travel, especially train travel, which I love, and continuing to volunteer with the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, where I currently serve as the flotilla vice commander for Flotilla 8-1 Ocean City.”
Voters will decide the makeup of the Board of Commissioners on Nov. 5.
Russo’s been the borough’s mayor since he was elected more than 16 years ago.
Since his run started in 2008, Russo is the third-longest serving mayor in the borough’s history, according to the Longport Historical Society. Leon Leopardi had the longest term, having 31 years as mayor from 1952 to 1983. Edwin Lavino had the second-longest mayoral run of 21 years from 1922 to 1943.
Among the accomplishments Russo said he is most proud of include establishing the borough’s independent library and providing high school students with a choice to attend either Atlantic City High School or Ocean City High School.
“The hardest part was maintaining a low tax rate,” said Russo. “Even though Longport is an affluent community, we still have a number of senior citizens on fixed incomes, and I always considered it was my job to fight for them.”
Leeds had not returned requests for comment as of Wednesday.
Russo endorsed Commissioner Dan Lawler as the borough’s next mayor.
He said he hopes the next mayor will continue the same ideology and policies that the current commissioners maintained.
“I think Dan Lawler would be a great mayor because he brings his financial experience in wholesale sales to municipal government,” Russo said. “He is one of the most fiscally responsible persons I have ever met and takes human emotion out of his budget-related decision-making process.”
The borough has nonpartisan elections. The commissioners are voted in by the people, and then the commissioners decide who will become mayor.
Lawler said he will most likely campaign with Patrick Armstrong, a captain with the Margate Fire Department, and Jim Ulmer, who ran in the last borough commissioners election.
“I want two people that are like-minded, and we are very, very compatible,” Lawler said about the two potential candidates.
Issues important to Lawler include offshore wind, maintaining infrastructure and the local economy.
“It’s still a little early to start campaigning because we still have six months until the election,” said Lawler. “And we still have things to finish up while they’re still in office.”
Borough Clerk Monica Kyle said she had not as of Tuesday received any completed petition packets from any potential candidates.
Petitions to run for election are not due until Aug. 22.
'It was a beautiful place to grow up': Danny DeVito shares his Jersey Shore memories
- Rosa CartagenaThe Philadelphia Inquirer
Though Danny DeVito has lived in Los Angeles for decades, he's always called Asbury Park home. The proud Jersey native still prefers watching sunrises on the shore rather than in California. And the love is reciprocal: In 2018, Asbury Park declared Nov. 17 (the actor's birthday) Danny DeVito Day.
Before his unforgettable roles in "Taxi," "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" and other blockbusters, the 79-year-old actor and director grew up with his mom, dad, and two older sisters on Second Avenue in the center of Asbury Park, where he biked, fished, snuck onto the beach, soaped windows on Mischief Night, and ate cones of french fries on the boardwalk (with malt vinegar and salt, of course). He even recalls catching a performance from then-tween Stevie Wonder: "I remember at the Convention Hall, I saw little Stevie Wonder playing 'Fingertips.' He came out on stage, he couldn't have been more than 11 years old. It was amazing."
DeVito shared some of his best shore memories with The Inquirer:
On his very Jerz family
My mom was born [in Asbury Park]. Her family's from Southern Italy, and my father was born in Brooklyn. My older cousins taught me all the good things and also taught me how to smoke cigarettes. They would come down from Brooklyn in the summer.
My dad had what he called a luncheonette. I just thought it was a candy store. He had a candy counter with penny candy and the more expensive nickel candy. They would serve ice cream sodas and hotdogs, hamburgers, grilled cheese, things like that. And they always had a pinball machine. The [candy store] on the boardwalk, Teddy's, had a good jukebox. We'd listen to all the doo-wop songs.
We had many cousins and relatives [in the area]. The family would have dinners. I had two Uncle Joes. One was really my uncle, he was from Brooklyn. And the other one was a guy from Long Branch, he was one of my father's good friends. He always did tricks and little puzzles. He was the first one to show us at a Sunday dinner once that there was such a thing as the fly in the ice cube. It was a joke that he played on my mother.
"Look at this!" He held it up and it looked like a fly got frozen in the ice cube. And my mother's like, "Oh my God, this is so embarrassing, this is terrible!" It was really a plastic ice cube. I called him Tricky Joe. I played that part a lot. All my relatives I've taken from, you know, in my career, whether it was their delivery or whether they were rough around the edges — those idiosyncrasies.
On his childhood
I played Little League baseball, when I barely could swing a bat. The field was near Asbury Park High School. We would also try to hit balls over the fence to hit the train. What are you gonna do down there? We'd put pennies on the rail, wait for the train to come by, and they'd get squashed. But you gotta be really careful. Don't encourage kids to do that.
We used to do really silly things, like ride on the handlebars of bicycles. Once I was on my cousin's bike and we crashed. We were at the intersection of Highway 35 and Highway 33 in Neptune. We were coming down the street so fast. I was on the handlebars, holding on for dear life. I guess my shirt blew in his face or something. I don't know what happened. But he lost control. I don't think I was unconscious. But we were taken away in an ambulance. We had major bruises on our arms and our knees, but that was it.
On his first job
My first job was on the boardwalk, it was great. I was 14 and basically ran the kiddie rides, you know, a fire engine or a car. You put the toddlers in and you tell them to ring the bell and turn the wheel. They go around in circles on this little wooden platform.
On shore summers
It was a beautiful place to grow up. I lived 13 blocks from the beach. I'd ride my bike down there every day and wait for the old security guard to look the other way and jump over the rail. I'd stay down at the beach all day and I'd look like a coffee bean.
I'd go off the jetties to fish out there. You could catch flounder, fluke, and kingfish. Various types of fish. My father was always going down to the end of the jetty with a pail, a pack of cigarettes, and a stool. We'd also go to Shark River, it's more like in Belmar, and we'd go fishing and clamming — we were clam diggers. The New Jersey Clam Diggers.
On the shore's movie culture
When you got older, the big thing was the Eatontown Drive-In or the Shore Drive-In. We'd pile the car up. You'd pay per head to get in, and then you'd have two people in the trunk. I remember it was before you could hook the sounds up to the radio. Right around the time that the [1964] Beatles movie was released, they figured out how to tune into a station to get the movie sound coming through your own speakers. I loved the drive-in. It was like magic. The movies are magic, and then you have the open air and stars. It's really great to look at movies outside.
There were five movie theaters [in Asbury Park] — the Mayfair, the St. James, the Lyric, the Paramount, and the Baronet. The St. James Theatre, when The Bridge on the River Kwai came out [in 1957], they built a big bamboo bridge across the Cookman Avenue. It was amazing. After I started directing, I did a premiere of "Throw Momma from the Train" [in 1987] on the boardwalk at the Paramount. My mother was still around, my sisters were there, and all my friends came.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
This, too, could pass: Christian group's rule keeping beaches closed on Sunday mornings may end
- WAYNE PARRYAssociated Press
OCEAN GROVE — In this seaside community that calls itself “God's Square Mile at the Jersey Shore,” all the land is owned by a religious group that has for generations enforced an 11th Commandment: Thou shalt stay off the beach on Sunday morning.
But there are signs that decades-old policy may be coming to an end as a way to resolve a court case brought by the state that could cost the group $25,000 a day in fines for violating state beach access laws.
The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, which has kept beaches closed until noon on Sundays, has deleted that restriction from its website. Item 4 under “Beach Regulations” used to outline the Sunday morning closure. Now, just the number “4” remains on the site, followed by blank space.
The association and its lawyer did not immediately respond to requests for clarification Wednesday, and the state Attorney General's Office said it was looking into the matter.
Restricting activity on Sunday morning is central to Ocean Grove's very existence. It was founded in 1869 as a Methodist retreat, centered on an enormous hall called The Great Auditorium, where worship services are held near rows of tent cabins where summer pilgrims come to live in its shadow.
The association, a nonprofit Christian entity that owns the beach and the land under all of Ocean Grove's houses under a charter given to it by the state in 1870, has long kept people off the beach before noon on Sundays.
The state is challenging the rule, threatening fines and taking the association to court.
The dispute involves an issue that has been contested for generations but never quite settled here: Does a religious group have the right to impose its beliefs on everyone in a community, including those of other faiths, or no faith at all?
“We just feel that's wrong, that it's not what America is supposed to be about, and it makes living here very uncomfortable when you're gay, when you're Jewish, an atheist or agnostic,” said Paul Martin, who bought a house in Ocean Grove in 2003 with his wife, Aliza Greenblatt.
“We have the right to live here, too,” said Greenblatt, who like her husband is Jewish. “We're not anti-Christian. We just want the line between church and state to be respected.”
The couple were among those who defied the rules last year and went onto the beach on Sunday mornings. They said association personnel called the police, but officers did not intervene once they arrived.
Harriet Bernstein is part of a lesbian couple from Ocean Grove whose request to use the boardwalk pavilion for their civil union ceremony was rejected in 2007 by the association on religious grounds. After a court ruled in favor of the couple, the association stopped allowing anyone to wed in the pavilion.
“I feel less comfortable because of the imposition of their religion on everybody that lives here,” Bernstein said. Referring to images of a cross on the badges people are required to purchase in order to use the beach, she said, “I'm Jewish; I don't wear crosses.”
The association did not respond to repeated requests for an interview in recent weeks.
But in court papers it says what the state is trying to do violates U.S. Constitutional amendments concerning freedom of religion, the taking of private property, and due process and equal protection.
Church and state have never been as neatly separated in Ocean Grove as they are in other places.
Although it is a part of Neptune Township, just north of Asbury Park and about 60 miles south of New York City, Ocean Grove once was its own municipality, having been incorporated by the state Legislature in 1920. But a court ruled that act unconstitutional and dissolved the municipality a year later.
The Sunday morning beach closures dismay some but delight others.
“Ocean Grove is God's place,” said Mary Martin, an 87-year-old retired teacher who moved here from northern New Jersey in 1960. “I love it here. I love the Bible hour six days a week, great speakers, great singing, great fellowship, great joy, everyone welcome.”
Martin shares a feeling often voiced by association members and their supporters that a cherished way of life is under attack in Ocean Grove.
“It used to be no beach at all on Sunday,” she said. “Then we gave in to them and said, ‘OK, after noon on Sunday.’ Now they want to take that away, too. We should be able to enjoy our Sundays.”
Neil Ostrander has a part-time job with the association helping get the auditorium ready for summer. When newcomers arrived, he said, “they knew the deal" about its ownership by a Christian group.
“It's like when someone moves above a bar that's been a bar for 170 years, and then sues it for being a bar,” he said.
In court papers, the association writes that "all members of the public are welcome (onto the beach) 365 days a year. Anyone, regardless of race, creed, religion or orientation is welcome onto this private property 99.5% of the year."
Public access is restricted for 45 hours out of the year between Memorial Day and Labor Day, a policy the association called “abundantly reasonable.”
“The slight limitation on physical presence on the beachfront on the Lord's Day is consistent with the plaintiff's mission to build and maintain a beautiful seaside community to serve as a place for meditation, reflection and renewal during the summer months,” the association wrote. "The ability to reflect upon an empty and quiet beachfront during this limited time is at the core of plaintiff's very creation. Regardless of one's beliefs, spending the morning hours in an unhurried morning stroll on a less crowded boardwalk has emotional, spiritual and bodily health benefits.”
While acknowledging the association's beach policy “is steeped in its Christian faith,” the group cites several nonreligious reasons for it as well, including allowing lifeguards to have a few hours off at the end of a busy week and advancing “a better quality of life” for residents and visitors, including having more parking available for Sunday morning visits to shops and eateries.
The state takes a contrary view, saying that using chains and locks to keep the public off the sand on Sunday morning violates the association's authority to operate a beach.
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