A Sign of Recovery, Bennett Bubble Reopens
The school district's inflated athletic bubble, critical to state high school sports and local businesses, reopened recently.
Photos
In the center of the complex student athletes mill about, waiting as they do between the lengthy delays typical to track and field meets. They’re unaware, as they should be, of one particular seam in the corner of the Toms River facility affectionately known as the Bennett Bubble. It’s darker than the others and stretches midway up the wall.
Those who understand the importance of the indoor athletic complex not only to the community and its businesses, but to the state’s young athletes, are likely to recognize this one seam, a bit darker than all the others, as a scar left by Hurricane Sandy.
The seam tore and the bubble burst. For a region devastated by Sandy, it could have been just another item on its list of destruction. But it’s come back, just weeks after being felled; though it carries a scar – a patched seam that’s a bit darker than the rest – the speed with which it was repaired is a testament to the town’s determination to rebuild.
“I think it shows the resilience of the people in the area,” Toms River Regional District Athletic Director Joe Arminio said. “Although we might have been devastated, we’re going to work to rebuild better. I think (the Bubble) is a symbol of people rolling their sleeves up and getting work done.”
The Bennett Bubble collapsed after heavy winds from Sandy caused the fabric to catch on a scoreboard and tear. The complex, pressurized and kept erect by constantly circulating air, lay crumpled on the ground, its atmospheric tent poles kicked away. Suddenly, the future of the location of nearly every important high school track and field meet was in doubt.
Yes, it’s just a place where children come to compete in athletics and not a home or business left in ruin by Sandy, but it is a landmark, a venue that generates business and carries statewide high school sports implications, and though many Toms River residents are still picking up the pieces of their lives following Sandy, it’s another thing returned to normal.
“I’m feeling as much relief as anything right now,” Site Coordinator Brian Wilkinson said during a recent relay. “When the place went down my phone didn’t stop ringing. Calls were coming in from coaches around the state. It wasn’t just that the Bubble went, it was the timing. There was a pretty good amount of panic throughout the state.”
On Friday, just a few days after the indoor track complex received its new CO and opened its repaired facility to athletic competition, the Bubble hosted the GMC Winter Track Relays, an annual meet that includes hundreds of student athletes from 28 Middlesex County high schools. It’s just one of several regional and statewide competitions the facility will host, including this week’s state indoor track and field championships.
Bennett, Wilkinson said, is the place where everyone runs. There are very few other facilities in the state that can handle the load the Bubble can, and while some indoor track and field spots like the Jersey City Armory can host large high school relays, none are set up to accommodate as many athletes and events as the Bennett Indoor Complex.
Bishop Ahr High School Assistant Track and Field Coach Danae Wise said when the school heard the Bubble had collapsed there was concern about when and where regional meets would be held.
Without the Bennett, however, prospects for the GMC Relays as well as other state indoor track and field events would have been in jeopardy. Losing the Bubble could have meant student athletes missing meets.
“I ran here when I was in high school and it’s always been one of my favorite facilities,” she said. “Honestly, we thought it was gone. We didn’t expect it to be restored so quickly.
“I’m just happy that the place is back up.”
It’s not just schools and students that are happy to see the Bubble back open, Wilkinson said. Take a drive along Hooper Avenue – the road where the Bubble is located – during any meet and you’ll find a school bus at every single restaurant and fast food joint. During state meets referees shack up at area hotels, and parents, who sometimes travel hours to see their kids participate in one track and field event during an entire day or days of a meet, kill time by shopping at the mall.
Arminio agreed, saying the reopening of the Bubble means a lot, not just to the athletes and coaches who use it every day, but to the businesses that have come to rely on the crowds that occupy it throughout the winter.
“I don’t think people realize the impact it has on businesses around the Bubble,” he said. “The Chili’s, the Friday’s, the mall. If you’re out there during a meet you’ll see the busses out there, guaranteed.
With this in mind, the decision to move quickly on reopening the Bubble was a priority for the district.
School officials did discuss the future of the Bubble soon after it collapsed, debating about whether to repair it, replace it with another inflatable bubble, or turn it into a brick and mortar facility. Ultimately, the district decided to repair the facility. Officials are hoping insurance and a contribution from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, will help cover a majority of the cost of repair, which has been estimated at as high as $800,000.
Wilkinson believes – hopes – that it was the right decision. The Bubble is built to withstand hurricane winds of up to 110 miles per hour, he said. It can be deflated, he said, but during storms with heavy wind the procedure is to over inflate the bubble so as to cause less wind resistance.
Though the Bubble wasn’t able to outlast New Jersey’s most significant storm in recorded history, Wilkinson thinks better luck awaits the indoor track and field complex during future storms.
“It was really sort of a fluke thing and I don’t think it will happen again,” he said. “It’s safe. We’re safe here.”
I have spoken
7:00 am on Monday, January 7, 2013
BARFFFFFFF.
We voted against it and it got built anyway. It ripped up and collapsed, we applauded. Then the BOE spent a fortune of OUR tax dollars and inflated it again.....BARFFFF
.
3:57 pm on Monday, January 7, 2013
This fiasco was the biggest waste of money ever, and then they went and did it again.
What a foolish move!
JD
7:54 am on Monday, January 7, 2013
So many false and misleading statements in the article.
1. If buses are at fast food places, etc DURING the meet... it's ONLY the bus driver killing time.
2. Athletes with only 1 event will leave the meet early and go home with their parents.
3. Parents of athletes are NOT shopping at the mall DURING an event to kill time.
4. Refs at state meets are NOT staying at local hotels. All are from the Monmouth/Ocean County and drive. NJSIAA meets are primarily during the week and are from 4:00-9:00 and those on Saturday will have 2 sets of refs; morning session and afternoon session.
A few other facts..
- The bubble operation LOST money last season to the tune of $20,000.
- Approximately $65,000 in cash was pocketed from concession sales at the bubble and arena.
skizma
3:25 am on Tuesday, January 8, 2013
and even though, there was a "loss" of $20,000, no other school facility - including the ridiculous football fields, are making a profit. Common. Then, you are telling us, that the bubble paid for all but $20,000 of it's expenses? Could you imagine if the rest of the school could pay for itself as closely as this? Imagine......you'd have virtually no tax bill. It'd be laughable. However, someone would complain......you can bet on that.
Toms Rivererian
10:14 am on Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Your "facts" are almost 100%, completely wrong. While some coaches allow there athletes to leave with their parents early, some do not. Parents ABSOLUTELY go out to kill time rather than sit in the Bubble. To say otherwise just isn't true. Refs at state meets are NOT all from Ocean and Monmouth county. You can not be more wrong. Where do you get this stuff?? To say the NJSIAA Meets are "primarily" during the week isn't true either. Anyone can simply log on to the NJSIAA site and see that is not the case. To say there are two sets of officals on weekends is also incorrect. Most work both meets. I have no idea if the Bubble makes or loses money nor can I comment on stolen money though I wonder where you get your info. It seems you just flat out made up a lot of this so how am I to know you aren't making the rest of it up too? I am all for debate, but why just flat out make up stuff like when State meets are or if officals are working one meet or two? That is strange.
Greg
8:16 am on Monday, January 7, 2013
Wait, what about people like me who have been waiting patientley for months to find out when we will be able to move back into our homes? I live on the barrier island and just found out that some of my neighbors can move back into their homes today, but as for me I will not be moving back into my home for a sometime. See, I was one of those unlucky people who was not only hit from Super Storm Sandy where I recieved a signigificant amount damage to my home and as I followed the townships request to winterize my home the next time that I was allowed access to my home I entered to find that the water comapany had flooded out the part of my home that was not affected by the storm. So, here I am waiting on FEMA and my insurance company to come and help me with money so I can make repairs to my home. But, the school district can come and repair the Bubble. Does this make any sense to anyone? According to this article the district "might" recieve $75,000.00 from FEMA to go towards the deductable that the district is responsible for? Wouldn't that $75,000.00 have been better spent on helping the people of Ortley Beach who are trying to rebuild their homes so they have a place to live? No, but then again we are talking about Toms River where the only thing that is important is athletics. If we all lived in the real world we would be worring about getting people back into their homes and not athletes back on a track!
JD
8:29 am on Monday, January 7, 2013
Sorry to hear of your loss...
The out of pocket from TRschools is $25,000...
and to answer your question, NO.
It would basically mean... shutdown the Indoor Track season for the entire State of NJ...
That would affect 15,000 student athletes.
50% of the Indoor Meets in NJ are at the Bubble.... including all the State Meets by NJSIAA.
And $25,000 is a drop in the bucket as to what is needed on the Barrier island... they are probably spending $1million/day when you total the spending from Bay Head to Seaside Park.
Ray Cornwall
9:01 am on Monday, January 7, 2013
Why should the Toms River school board be putting out money for the residents of Ortley Beach? It's horrible what happened to you. But the mission of the school district is to prioritize the needs of the students. Providing housing for Ortley Beach residents isn't something they're remotely qualified to do. As for the money, this is part of FEMA's mission- to restore businesses and local institutions after a hurricaine. Insurance matched the rest of the cost (a couple of hundred thousand, which is mentioned in other Patch articles). It is ugly, but apparently, it's functional, so what's the harm?
I have spoken
12:57 pm on Monday, January 7, 2013
Your situation has nothing whatsoever to do with the expendatures of the BOE or what they may or may not get from FEMA. Save you rant for another post.
skizma
3:22 am on Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Because the bubble was not on the barrier island. Your unfortunate, difficult situation is a result of different things. Huh, maybe we all ought to live in a bubble. We'd be up and running by now. School taxes cannot cannot be diverted to individual citizens. And hopefully you can see progress for your situation soon. We should have a whole other post for the FEMA process....omg can you see it now? there wouldn't be enough room....
Mike L
8:46 am on Monday, January 7, 2013
AND none of this would of happened IF the schools system of Buildings and Grounds would have deflated the bubble, LIKE other municipalities did to theirs. Guess it wasn't in their things to do list that week, it's not that they didn't know a hurricane was coming. We all were told by weather services the track that it was taking, and all the tracks lead to the Jersey Shore.....
butch cassidy
9:37 am on Monday, January 7, 2013
thank goodness i can finally get some sleep...the bubble is up and running
Scott Derek
10:45 am on Monday, January 7, 2013
The outside of the bubble looks so inviting with dirt and discoloration!
I have spoken
12:58 pm on Monday, January 7, 2013
They should make the BOE and Ritacco climb up a ladder with scrub brushes and clean that eyesore.
skizma
3:26 am on Tuesday, January 8, 2013
well, a rainfall will help you there.
i don't get it??
11:01 am on Monday, January 7, 2013
@JD...thank you for all of your info...you nailed it...as for those of you from the island, it is still so heartbreaking to hear of so many that have lost everything due to the storm, but there are No words to say when it comes to what happened to so many of you when your homes were flooded by the water company/township...stay strong, and know we haven't forgotten about you.
skizma
3:29 am on Tuesday, January 8, 2013
i don't get it....then you too realize that at least one place is paying for all but $20,000 of it's cost. You can't say that about any other building or use. If all of the other expenditures could pay for all but a fraction of their costs, you'd have no school tax bill to talk of. Good grief. And, there is something missing about the concession stand info.
JD
8:44 am on Tuesday, January 8, 2013
skizma....
the bubble operations lost $20,000...
That does not include the cost of the bubble of $2.7million in the cash flow analysis.
If you put the $2.7 million into a 20yr T-bill, it could have been making $150,000/yr.... keep in mind, you get your $2.7million in 20 yrs. whereas the bubble can't be sold.
Breakeven for the bubble operation to give an equal rate of return of a T-Bill means...
it should turn a $225,000 profit.
Greg
12:50 pm on Monday, January 7, 2013
What everyone is forgetting here is that the $75,000.00 that we are supposedly getting from FEMA is to offset the $100,000.00 deductable that WE THE TAXPAYERS are on the hook for. The point that I was trying to make was that didn't anyone think that FEMA could not have found a better place to spend that money on. Also, where did the NJSIAA hold their track meets before this eyesore was built? Oh yeah thats right it was held in Red Bank, Jadwin Gym, Widner College and other places that I can't remember. But, then that was then they worried about the SAT scores and not your race times!
Lucie47
1:26 pm on Monday, January 7, 2013
Putting that eyesore back up is a sign of recovery? Give me a break. What happens when the next storm takes it down? At least nobody was inside this time. How safe is that thing? If somebody built a "bubble house", would it pass code?
butch cassidy
3:17 pm on Tuesday, January 8, 2013
toms river schools should be ashamed of themselves
Chief Wahoo
1:51 pm on Monday, January 7, 2013
i think its the perfect analogy for corrupt Toms River
BLOWING UP ANOTHER BUBBLE !
Av
4:37 pm on Monday, January 7, 2013
That eyesore is crap and will always be crap. So if you have to crap drive to a gas station cause some ass built a bubble with no bathrooms
JD
4:46 pm on Monday, January 7, 2013
Now I know another reason why the school bus driver etc are at MacDonalds or the mall...
to use the bathroom...
Indoor track takes place in the winter... the seats are mighty cold with the outdoor porta-john.
Av
4:41 pm on Monday, January 7, 2013
Brian that bubble is pathetic grow up stop living your dream thru some else's kids
Heidemarie
6:32 pm on Monday, January 7, 2013
I don't get it. There are people that lost their homes and haven't received a penny from FEMA. That ugly bubble is that important?
Marjorie Smith
9:31 pm on Monday, January 7, 2013
It's important to try and get things back to normal especially for kids who only have a limited time to participate in athletic programs before they graduate. Plus those of you who were living on a beach should be looking for homes on higher ground!
butch cassidy
3:05 pm on Tuesday, January 8, 2013
it is time for the kids to try and get back to some sort of normalcy..and i guess that includes going to school where my teachers were hired thru ritacco cause mom and dad knew mike or his friends or his friends kids and so on..and soon your hirees will be the next principals. you cant make this stuff up! right mr k?
Corsair
10:27 am on Friday, January 11, 2013
You tell em Marjorie!!! Its their fault for living on the beach...right? How dare they get frustrated that little Timmy gets to play soccor in a tent when they dont even have a house to live in. Alls well in your little world...isnt it?
skizma
3:17 am on Tuesday, January 8, 2013
This is the best thing yet. And it being up serves so many students that keep them going and keep them motivated. That ugly bubble, which isn't ugly btw, had funding. So, get it done and make it useful. It makes money for the taxpayers. good grief. I am sure none of these posters have anything positive to say and are deliberately trying to be negative. Obviously. However, it is a terrific place for these events. Excellent, not just terrific. And the bubble is far from pathetic. You are Av. And JD, it does need better bathroom facilities. But, it's still a great facility.
JD
8:47 am on Tuesday, January 8, 2013
It doesn't make money for the taxpayers..
it loses $20,000/yr on cash flow.
and that doesn't include the $2.7million cost to build it..
My position... we own it... turn it over to some professionals to make money... Need to make at least $225,000 to breakeven and give proper ROI to the 2.7million investment.
stacy buono
10:11 am on Tuesday, January 8, 2013
sadly, the reopening of the bubble article warranted MANY more words and quotes than the ones about the FEMA flood elevation charts and the possible DEP action to dredge the bay, the things that NEED to happen in order for real people to go home. This is a waste of taxpayer money and makes reporters look like morons.
butch cassidy
1:09 pm on Tuesday, January 8, 2013
waste of time waste of money..the entire toms river school system should be ashamed of themselves! yes that includes all the ritacco hirees and retired pals
pie love
1:27 am on Monday, January 14, 2013
Oyha i saw that ...
Richard Melancon
10:11 am on Sunday, February 17, 2013
Why isnt the bubble open to the public, especially the seniors? Don't tell me it is because of liabilty! A waiver could cover that! Right now the elderly are limited to walking around inside the mall on cold wintery days, and on Sunday the mall isnt open until 1000. Thanks, Rich M TR ramelan1@yahoo.com
PS-A proud TR senior