It’s easier to fly to Ocean Grove instead of driving and parking. Blogfinger carton with artist Sue Gioulis.

Below  is what OG sounded like on July 27, 2010 when Neptune looked at metered parking.  Grovers were angry then also:

“Another Grover, Jan Sotnikoff, said, “We’re not hysterical people, we just don’t think parking meters are a good idea.”

By Charles Layton.   Blogfinger editor then.  We started Blogfinger in 2009.

MONDAY NIGHT — The debate on parking meters took a new turn tonight, as Township Committee members raised the possibility of a township-wide referendum.

In the workshop portion of the Committee’s meeting, where new ideas are often discussed, Committeeman James Manning proposed a referendum as a way to get a wider sampling of public opinion on the controversial subject.

He suggested that the proposal for parking meters be expanded to include other parts of Neptune besides Ocean Grove, and that it then be placed on the November ballot for a vote. He said the Committee would have to pass a resolution at its next meeting – two weeks from tonight – in order for it to appear on the ballot.

Committeeman Randy Bishop and Mayor Mary Beth Jahn both seemed open to the idea. Jahn said a referendum “would give a lot of people a voice,” and Bishop said he had been hearing lately from people outside Ocean Grove “who are getting interested” because parking meters near the OG boardwalk and in the business district might relieve some of the need for higher property taxes throughout the township.

Richard Cuttrell, the municipal clerk, told the committee that a referendum would have to be non-binding, and that it would have to be worded very specifically.

Up until now, the parking meter idea has been vague as to details. It was first proposed in June by the township’s director of public works, Wayne Rode, as a way to ease Neptune’s budget crunch. It was a rather tentative proposal at the time, but the Committee instructed Rode to do further research and report back in greater detail. His more detailed report has just now been completed, and the mayor ordered that it be posted online on Tuesday, so Committee members and citizens alike can have access.

Expressions of public opposition to metered parking have been rising in Ocean Grove ever since Rode first proposed it. Some of the opposition has been rude and personal, with people accosting Committee members on the streets or harassing them with late-night phone calls. Ironically, most of the rudest abuse has fallen on Jahn, although she alone on the committee has expressed unconditional opposition to meters from the start. But lately Bishop has also received a share of abuse. “I don’t walk on Main Avenue now,” Bishop said, “because I’m sick and tired of having people say ‘How dare you put a parking meter in front of my home.’ ”

During the public comment portion of tonight’s meeting, a parade of Grovers went to the microphone to complain that a Neptune-wide referendum would be unfair to Ocean Grove, because the meters wouldn’t affect very many residents outside the Grove. Furthermore, Susan Taylor said, many Ocean Grove taxpayers don’t vote in Neptune because their primary residence is elsewhere. Others noted that Ocean Grove is unique in that its homes are so close together with very little off-street parking.

“If we were to do it,” Bishop suggested, “Ocean Grove residents would have to be given a sticker or something” to exempt them. “I would never conceive of making the people of Ocean Grove feed a meter.”

Manning conceded that exemptions for Ocean Grove residents “might be an option.” However, as Bishop noted, exempting residents would reduce the revenues from the meters.

Quite a few residents spoke in opposition to meters under any circumstances. Fran Paladino reported to the Committee that members of the Ocean Grove Home Owners Association had gone on record in opposition to parking meters “no matter if you gold plate them.” Carol White complained that even if no meters were placed in front of homes Ocean Grove residents would end up having to park at meters, because visitors would take up the free spaces on the streets in front of their homes.

Toward the end of the meeting Susan Taylor of Ocean Grove apologized to the Committee for the abuse some of its members have taken. “I’m very distressed to hear that people in our community are behaving like that,” she said. She suggested that if Committee members would identify those who had behaved rudely, “maybe we could talk to them.”

Another Grover, Jan Sotnikoff, said, “We’re not hysterical people, we just don’t think parking meters are a good idea.”

The Committee took no immediate action on Manning’s proposal for a non-binding referendum. “I’d like to see the wording first,” Bishop said.   The Committee left it at that, for now.

“Flying to Rio”.   The Nighthawks from their album Cheek to Cheek.