<<I wonder who made the demand. I think the city holds more responsibility in this. Partners brought a business to the boardwalk. If the city demamded him to close that is not the responsibility of partners. The counsilman should not be annoyed that there is a bike shop on the boradwalk but the real question is why is there so little pollice / security on the boardwalk. I do not know what partners has to provide but the city should have police in addition. I see it as the city driving away a business.>>
1. Your post above is saying that the City asked for the Asbury Peddler to be closed. THAT IS FALSE. 2. Your post above is saying that the City should have more security/police on the boardwalk. I would invite you to visit Mr. Kay in the Clerk's Office and ask him for the tapes of the meetings where the bicycle lanes on the boardwalk were discussed. This is what you will hear: I, Councilman Jim Keady, pushed for the creation of a designated bicycle lane on the boardwalk that would be available for visitors 24/7. I could not garner support for this with the majority. I made the argument that having a bicycle lane available could be something we could market to visitors. I said, "We could let people know that AP is the ONLY boardwalk in Monmouth County where you can ride your bike in a safe and regulated way all day and night." I also made the argument that a bicycle lane would compliment the bike shop (Asbury Peddler) on the boardwalk. Again, I could not get the support of my colleagues to create the bicycle lane. 3. Given that I could not get the full-time bike lane, I requested that we extend the hours that were in the existing ordinance and allow people to ride on the boardwalk until 12pm. My colleagues supported this and it passed. 4. I also requested that regardless of what the policy was - a bike lane, riding until 12pm, etc. that we have STRICT enforcement of the ordinance. We could not continue to have an "anything goes" approach to bikes on the boardwalk. I noted that on two occasions while I was running on the boardwalk, I was almost mowed down by bicyclists (FYI, they were middle-aged white male riders). Given that I am a former pro athlete and still in pretty good shape, I was able to dodge these guys. My concern was that some little old lady might not be as lucky, thus my push to have strict enforcement of whatever ordinance was on the books. 5. To review, Councilman Jim Keady wanted a designated bike-lane, Councilman Jim Keady pushed and was able to get and increase in riding hours until 12pm, and Councilman Jim Keady asked for strict enforcement of our ordinance. Again, if you question these facts, I would encourage you to go listen to the tapes of the meeting or you could simply ask Deputy Mayor Bruno (aka "Fred/Asburydogma") he usually has a fairly good memory on this stuff. Now that we are done with the facts, I will offer my opinion. I strongly believe that the lack of vision on this matter on the part of my colleagues (i.e. their not supporting my push for a full-time bike lane) is what cost us a very successful business on the boardwalk. I hope this finds everyone well. Peace, JWK Councilman James W. Keady 1 Municipal Plaza Asbury Park, NJ 07712 TEL: 732.502.5196 EM: [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.cityofasburypark.com
