On Sep 11, 2006, at 10:31 AM, Hinge wrote:
<x-tad-bigger>Ok, so that Lenny guy thinks that Asbury is in the best condition it's been in 20 years.</x-tad-bigger>
<x-tad-bigger> That being said, let's list the things that have improved.</x-tad-bigger>
I can understand people believing that Asbury Partners plays a role in the rebirth of Asbury, but I think those people are giving them way too much credit. I grew up on the outskirts of Red Bank when that town was a ghost town. It eventually came back and is thriving now NOT because of any one developer or any one reason but mainly I think because a town with a nice marina, a train station, and a nice downtown shopping area can't stay down forever.
I think the same is true of Asbury. It has a great downtown shopping area full of character and artistic looking buildings (old and new), a train station right across from the shopping area, a nice boardwalk, beach and ocean. It has been down for decades somewhat because people (sometimes in power) have purposely kept it down. There was never a doubt in my mind that it could rise again.
Asbury Partners has built a boardwalk and got a few companies to invest in the town through redevelopments. They also turned away many companies who were dying for a piece of the action and they've moved about as slow as humanly possible through this process. They are letting Convention Hall and the Casino basically fall into the sea and have hardly done any rennovations to the pavillions (another thing part of the contract with the city).
So, you tell me... if you take away the Cookman Avenue redevelopment which has largely been happening without Asbury Partners help - what have they truly done for the city? Are they the one reason things are getting better?
I don't believe so and I think things like their treatment of Convention Hall prove it.
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