You wouldn't have written this, if you had visited New Orleans. There IS no parallel to the tragedy there and the situation here! NONE at all! After almost 3 years, they are still finding bodies, people are still displaced. Like slavery, the residents were given ONE-way tickets out and are unable to return on their own. Would you, with the toxic, poisonous trailers, they were issued? No, you have no idea!
Their culture, food and way of life has been altered permanently! If I wanted to move back, unless I own property, I'd have to be Angeline Jolie, to move back! Whites are being cheated out of their property, as well as Blacks, whose property was inherited. Public Housing was demolished, rather than reopened and those buildings were structurally sound. Stick to Asbury Park, which is the equivalent to one neighborhood, there! Jazz is but ONE thing, Blacks gave to America. Pride in one's self, is the other. A Catholic City, where even the Jews are Catholic, as everyone there practices Catholicism, whether they want to or not and yet, the government told New Orleans to "go to hell"! You have no idea! It is still the most European City in the Western Hemisphere. --- In AsburyPark@yahoogroups.com, "sandpiper15" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > --- In AsburyPark@yahoogroups.com <mailto:AsburyPark@yahoogroups.com> , > "nobepeymay" <nobepeymay@> wrote: > > > > if the bw is really > > that dissappointing why bother even coming here when you could spend > > your time somewhere else? > > > > The situation in Asbury Park neither will, nor even could, be as simple > as "you can always go somewhere else." During and immediately > following Hurricane Katrina, plenty of people outside the United States, > may of whom had never been to New Orleans, were genuinely horrified > <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2005/09/07/worldviews.\ > DTL> and disappointed by the devastation and government reaction to the > tragedy there. They had no financial ties to the city and certainly paid > no taxes to the government whose responsibility it was to provide > security, and then relief, to the citizens displaced by the flood. Yet > they were no less sincerely distraught because of it. This is because > New Orleans, arguably more than any other American city, occupies a > special place in the collective conscience of people outside the United > States. It is home to a cultural legacy (namely jazz) as indispensible > to the global community as French Impressionism, Tango, Greek > playwriting, or the Egyptian pyramids. So when the cradle of that legacy > was so visibly damaged, the impact was felt far more deeply and > personally a world away than when the small towns of Illinois and Iowa > flooded last month. > > A parallel phenomenon exists with Asbury Park, albeit on a less global > scale. Despite its decidedly undemocratic roots, the town eventually > evolved from Asbury Park, NJ into Asbury Park, U.S.A. a national > playground on the level of a Niagara Falls, a Hershey, a Williamsburg, > or a Coney Island. The town's cultural legacy, warts > <http://www.publications.villanova.edu/Concept/2007/07_papers_html/Goldb\ > erg.GreetingsfromJimCrow.htm> and all > <http://books.google.com/books?id=RaT7Ip9RXZ8C> , became America's. > Conversely, the residents' concerns, vis-à-vis redevelopment, > became America's. Thus, when Madison Marquette indeed restores a > Paramount Theatre so well, they are rightly lauded by those both in and > outside the city. When they couple such high-quality restoration with > low-quality letdowns like the 5th Avenue Pavilion and the container > shops, however, many outside the city feel as robbed as they would if > they lived for 30 years on Sewall or Emory. When the developers ignore > key aspects of signed agreements with the city, and the city's own > representatives forgive it with an almost-flippant "those plans were > supplanted," it is not only city residents' faces being slapped. > Much like the Katrina situation. > > Now, of course there is no comparison between Madison Marquette and the > government in terms of authority or consequences. No one has lost there > lives due to MM's actions or inactions and it would be difficult to > imagine a scenario where anyone would. But, as they must surely realize > by now, in taking on this project MM has entered into an unwritten yet > tangible covenant with every American concerned with his or her > nation's cultural legacy regardless of residence. Our heritage > is in their hands. That is why you can't simply tell someone > disappointed in the current direction of the boardwalk, "There are > other places you can go." Those who want to see Asbury Park finally > fulfill its promise economically, socially, culturally are > not looking for someplace to go. They are desperately seeking some > assurance that quality is not the province of the well-connected, that > citizens of any background can still enjoy unfettered access to > community resources, and that government and the private sector can > indeed meet their bottom line while still being held to the highest of > standards. Merely driving on to Point or Wildwood will not assuage them. > ------------------------------------ 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! 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