You raise many good points. I just have one simple thing to add, and I have a feeling that I am largely in a minority with my thinking on this. To me, we all have a common love for Asbury Park, and that love was forged many years ago because of the boardwalk area for some, and the music scene for others. The boardwalk of our youth was a wonderful thing. Beautiful architecture, fun, great smells, good times. It was a place I always got excited to visit. When I grew up, I realized that music was my calling, and Asbury Park offered ample places to express that. But now, all that is gone, or disappearing...so I guess i'm a hopeless romantic. And in that, I feel growing dissatisfaction with the world around me, the world I live in. When I hear condos, I cringe, because due to my extensive travels around this country, i'm bored with our landscape, because it's becoming so homogonized that it doesn't stimulate me in anyway. Unfortunately, money doesn't get me excited either. Same goes for the music scene. The world outside of Asbury Park knows the city first because of it's original boardwalk, and second because of it's music. When I hear things like this - "Terry Reidy in response to gripes from historian Werner Baumgartner, about the loss of another Asbury Park landmark: "That's the trouble with you, you just can't live in the moment." it just makes me sad. And when I think about the possibility of Fishman, or MM putting making the WB into a venue of their design and ideals, all I can think is they'll open a place called "Tillies" or "Tunnel of Love", and it'll be some upscale, boring, expensive place for an exclusive club for people with money to hang out at. At the same time, the great group of musicians we have locally has lost a place to play, and lost a place where the management gets the music scene and the support that comes with it. So, that being said, i'm very unhappy with the future of the city that seems to be written in stone. I really don't want to live in a place who's lost it's uniqueness and history. Condo Asbury Park, no matter how it looks on the outside will be just like every other place in developed America. Finally, I have a different perspective on things due to my many travels. Last night while watching "The War" I thought quite a bit about one thing in particular. Dresden, Germany. I've been there many times. During WWII, that city was firebombed into oblivion. Much of it is still in ruins, but what has been rebuilt wasn't bulldozed over and new buildings put in it's place. Instead, restoration is taking place, brick by brick, usually utilizing the original pieces of the buildings that were salvaged from the rubble. It's like that all over Europe. They value their history and realize that the culture and it's landscape are one and the same. In Dresden there is a hotel that I've been lucky to stay in many times, the Hotel Taschenbergpalais Kempinski. This hotel was originally a palace that was completely destroyed, but it's been meticulously restored to it's original grandure, and it's an amazing place to stay. And that's what's happening all over Dresden, piece by piece. I will never be able to understand why we can't do the same thing in this country, or in Asbury Park. In case you are interested, here's a link for that hotel;
http://www.kempinski-dresden.de/en/home/index.htm If you have the time, please take a moment and read more about it, and search on google for more info. It's worth the read. Jack --- In AsburyPark@yahoogroups.com, "justifiedright" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Occam's Razor - the simplest explanation is usually the right one. > > I see 3 entities whose current PRIMARY interests simply don't coincide > at this moment in time. Nothing untoward or ill-meaning is going on. > > Pat, Lance and Debbie: Primary interest - Want to continue to invest > in WB to make it better, so they need a long term lease to protect the > investment; certainly can't agree to be out on 60 day's notice. > Conclusion: Must have 5 year lease. > > Madison Marquette: Primary Interest - to buy the whole block to > build condos; but not right now because real estate isn't selling and > financing is strict. Have to wait. Not going to buy the block now and > cover carrying costs/potential liabilities just to save WB. If they > gave WB a 5 year lease, they wouldn't be able to develop it 1 year > from now, 2 years, etc. > Conclusion: 5 year lease contrary to their primary interests. > > Asbury Partners: Primary Interests - (Mirror opposite of MM) They > want to sell the whole block to condo developer. Now suffering > carrying costs and potential liabilities. Won't give WB a 5 year > lease, because the length of the lease will hold up a sale to a sub- > developer for exactly that long. > Conclusion: 5 year lease contrary to their primary interests. > > I know it feels better to ascribe all sorts of Machiavellian reasons > including class warfare, social planning, etc. all to create a > villain, but things don't run philosophically in real estate. > Developers aren't part of a secret society to create a new world > order. It's one parcel at a time and how much can they make on that > parcel. Simple. > > To make a deal, quite simply, all sides need the their financial > incentives to coincide. They don't right now. > > LAST HOPE: The secondary incentives: Asbury Partners will suffer > increased carrying costs when the WB closes. To them and MM the block > will look terrible, affecting the rest of the beachfront. > > Perhaps a last minute deal is struck as a bow to secondary incentives, > but make no mistake - they won't greatly compromise the primary > incentive to keep WB open. Larry can find someone to open a bar there > when WB leaves to cover carry costs if he has to, so the secondary > incentives are not that strong. > > It's business. > > Unfortunately, we don't get what we want. It's not the first time > for any of us. > > There are parts of the redevelopment we would all do differently. I > guess that's part of being a diverse community it never looks like > one person's perfect place. > > If many of you were in charge things would look differently. If I > were in charge the Casino complex would have been knocked down and > replaced with a much larger, world class facility. > > Maybe WB gets a temp space elsewhere and moves back to the beach in a > few years, when all involved have similar current interests. > Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
