Hello,
I haven't written on here in a long time, but this episode of people almost
being shot in their houses while they are sleeping, and the statistic that
there have been 10 shootings in Asbury last month alone, make me very
distressed. Jim, I think you are right. I don't know anything about the City
Council, but thank you for your service on it. It sounds very frustrating.
Yesterday I overhead a conversation at The Sand Witch on the AP Boardwalk that
has stuck with me: a man, a tourist from I'm not sure where, was chatting with
the restaurant owner, comparing the AP boardwalk to other boardwalks in the
state. He said that he heard that Seaside Heights had a bunch of arrests (I am
paraphrasing here) on July 4th and 5th, and as a result they closed down, and
the Sand Witch owner said, yeah, lots of homeless people starting fights, drug
addicts, etc in Seaside. Lots of hoodlums. Because of Snooki, the clubs are
packed, but that's about it. And the tourist guy's response: "yeah, no
hoodlums here." I was surprised-thought the guy was being sarcastic, making a
joke, but he was serious- obviously he had no knowledge that a big part of
Asbury is a gang haven, drugs, crime, etc. I guess the gentrification of the AP
boardwalk is complete. Weird.
Sometimes I wonder if the beautiful new boardwalk will someday incite future
riots, and how much the current gentrification is tied to crime in other parts
of Asbury. While I enjoy places like the Watermark and Langosta Lounge, those
$12 cocktails might actually have a political effect.
--- In AsburyPark@yahoogroups.com, Educating for Justice <jim@...> wrote:
>
> Jack et al,
>
> The reason that these violent episodes continue to happen is due to the fact
> that the governing body and the majority of those who support(ed) them do
> not want to deal with the social and economic realities that exist in Asbury
> Park. You are talking about decades of a "spiral of violence." (Do a google
> search for the term and you will get some excellent resources. I recommend
> Dom Helder Camara's work.) If the root causes of this social and economic
> decay are not addressed, then not only will the problems persist, but there
> is the possibility that they will worsen.
>
> In my time on the City Council, I consistently attempted to engage my
> colleagues in developing a systematic approach to dealing with our displaced
> youth, homeless, unwashed and unwanted. As you can imagine, this was not
> popular with them and it was not popular with many of the vocal political
> supporters of the council majority.
>
> Dealing with the people in our society, whether in AP or beyond, that are
> "on the margins" is not the stuff that gets one re-elected. So, the focus
> remained on "re-development," which I find somewhat ironic, since, at its
> heart, dealing with "blight," is in theory, supposed to help those on the
> margins and re-integrate them into the mainstream of society. Again I say,
> "in theory" because the political reality of "re-development" in Asbury Park
> is geared towards moving "those people" out so that another class (read:
> rich, white) can move in.
>
> So, I guess the question is, "Do you want to really dig in and do the
> grueling, never-glamorous, work it would take of rehabilitating the EXISTING
> community? Or do you want to just put 'those people' on buses and ship them
> off somewhere else like most other towns do?" Either way, I think it is
> best that we are honest with ourselves on this question and get to work
> doing one or the other in stark, bold ways. If not, you will continue to
> nibble around the edges of this stuff and the (sometimes dangerous) status
> quo will remain.
>
> Peace, Jim Keady
> --
> Jim Keady, Director
> Educating for Justice, Inc.
> jim@...
> 732.988.7322
> www.educatingforjustice.org
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
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