Does that also mean that they will be responsible for damage to bayfront homes? So the ocean fron people will pay for all the damage to the rest of the entire barrier island? Wow , thats a pretty good deal.

come on people sounds like it is a no brainer..get the dunes built or this flooding will never end..example the last 2 storms today and last week

If you think Catherine`s story is nice, , 1 week ago my sisters girlfriend easily made $9754 working a 10 hour week from their apartment and their best friend's mother`s neighbour was doing this for nine months and got a cheque for over $9754 in there spare time from there computer. use the guidelines at this address. www.Ask22.ℂom

I live in Silver Beach. I believe that most of our association residents plan on funding our own dune replenishment. By signing this easement we are allowing our private beaches to become public. This will devalue our homes in the long run and will take away from revenue that our own associations make. The Township of Toms River has been taking advantage of Barrier Island residents for years. We have the highest taxes in the township and the most minimal services. Toms River should be assisting us without forcing us to sign an easement. Without the tax revenue they have been collecting from the private beach associations for all these years Toms River wouldn't be where it is today.

You are only getting what you deserve. As long as you want to live in your little private enclave, pay for it yourself. You people have caused enough damage to the mainland because of all your garbage the storm sent across the bay. And you worry about cigarette butts and water bottles on your personal beach. That garbage should be on you...not Toms River...not Brick...you! You should be paying to clean it up. I would be happy to see everything from Bay Head south look like Island Beach State Park and that's all I would want to pay for.

John, does that apply to lake front, river front or bay front beaches? Or do we just selectively trample the constitutional rights of ocean front homeowners?

What about lake front property, or bay front property or river front property or do we only selectively trample on the constitutional rights of ocean front property owners?

They can own anything they want as long as they pay for it AND its upkeep. I resent paying for anything I am not able to access.

Aside from your awful grammar and sentence structure your argument is invalid. There are many examples of privately owned waterfront property including Seaside Heights which charges a fee for beach access. The only true public beach that I am aware of on the barrier island is Island Beach State Park.

Like Communism..it sounds great in theory, but in reality it doesn't work. It's not fair that the public should enjoy a beach we pay to maintain and leave behind the trash for us to pick up. Where would they park? In our driveways? We pay to maintain our private roads, trash pick up, lifegaurds,dune replenishing,etc... I for one am sick of having to get up every morning to comb the beach with garbage bag in hand so my daughter and grandson don't step on or pick up litter such as used condoms left behind by late night beach goers or cans and sandwich bags, cigarette butts, water bottles,etc... I don't like worrying about my car being broken into yet again by passer byes. My neighbor did not enjoy finding a drunk stranger using his backyard shower at four in the morning. I hate having to chase off kids having sex on my deck! Cars broken into and stolen personal property are a common event. Now you expect us to grant beach access, can you even imagine what that would create? If society would act responsibly we would not care about going public, but that is not the case.

See multiple-personality (form letter) comment below. Lakes don't need dunes to protect homes from ocean waves. My constitutional right is "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" and being flooded out impinges on that right. Dunes won't impinge on oceanfront homeowners' right for the same, just their ocean view. Tough -- my safety trumps your view. Thousands of bay and mainland homes were flooded because the ocean surge went through unprotected areas lacking dunes.

Ortley Full Time Local- Personal attacks are unnecessary, grow up!

calling names anonymously is a great tactic

sounding selfish and ridiculous to me seriously override them and vote in the easements and dune building please before there is no longer any jersey shore

true

Ortley Resident-- We do not have enough information to even consider sighning it. We brought the letter to our association attorney whom couldn't guide us because the letter received from the town was so vague. Also full time local, you need to know that all the dunes in the world will not protect your property as long as the town leaves the beach access ramps unprotected during a storm, which is exactly what happened here. The town dumps loose sand at the openings hours before a storm and expects that to keep the surge at bay...the water breached at those openings and eroded the dunes to the right and left. Our dune was 210ft across, 26ft high, 150ft wide. It was held in place by bulkheads grounded by seagrass and huge Bayberry bushes. The water breached at the ramp on Harding causing the dunes to the right and left of it to erode. As long as those ramps remain unprotected during a storm the properties on the island as well as our infastructure will remain vulnarable.

as a tax payer i am sick of my tax dollars going to replenish privet beaches..... my taxes should be going to schools or the TR police dep. for stopping the looters after the storm or to the Silverton Fire house for everything they did for us here in Silverton and so on and so forth. all who have a privet beach should pay to fix your beach!!!! no tax payer pays to fix my back yard so why should we the people pay to fix yours!!!!!!!

@Jaime - I disagree with you on your argument. While on the surface it would seem valid that public funds should not be used on a private beach, it is an overly simplistic premise. In this case 1) The barrier island communities part of TR pay a disproportionate amount of taxes to the township 2) Although the beach is private the tourism generated by the private beach used by summer renters and additional visitors provides additional revenue to all the surrounding area around Tom's River which, in turn, increases tax revenue to the town. So how can it be considered fair that TR should enjoy all of the fiscal benefits but none of the responsibilities?

@Steve, the homeowners always had the option of selling those homes and paying a "disproportionate" amount of taxes in a different Oceanfront town. That's life, oceanviews cost more and they also command high rents that the homeowners pocket. In this case the rubber is meeting the proverbial road or in our case the ocean met the bay and whatever is best for the majority of the taxpayers is what should happen. In case anyone has forgotten there are far more waterfront and bay front homes on the mainland of TR and we deserve protection from the flooding also. Btw we spend money in TR 12 months a year and pay far more taxes then our non-waterfront neighbors. It's a choice some of us made and right now we are all living with the consequences :( We need to Rebuild conscientiously or stay mired in litigation for years where only the attorneys come out winners. That's if we last that long without the proper dune protection.

Mark, that was tried many years ago. Not enough people get involved until something like this storm occurs. It probably will never happen. I've lived here 43+ years. TR IS and always will be a non caring burden on Ortley. Time to get what we can from the army corp. Protect our butts and homes. No sense fighting TR if there is nothing left of Ortley.

can't fix the roads with out fixing the duns first or the roads can be washed away again it's commonsense. tell all your beach front owners to fix there privet beaches and we can move on... lost my home because the dunes were not properly replenished!!!!!!!!!!

Mark, Ortley shouldn't talk about seceding because it takes more to fund a town then picking up garbage and the year round residents of TR fund much of what hapoens over there because their are a lot more of us. For example, now the mainland of TR only has garbage pick up once a week in the summer however since many homeowners in Ortley enjoy the profits of weekly summer rentals, they have their garbage picked up twice a week. This council cares more about all of TR including Ortley then some of you want to admit. I attended that council meeting when TR mainland residents complained about the disparity in garbage pickup and the council stood their ground. Also in case anyone forgot, there are kids in Ortley "year round" who attend TR schools, do you think it would be cheaper for Ortley to pay another district? Either we unite and literally battle Mother Nature together or divide and be destroyed by her. That's about as simple as this horrible situation gets :(

Yes I was there. Your shared expenses are part of the problem when you live within a condo assn. Those issues are your concern. I pay for all my expenses living in a single family home. The dunes will protect the entire community. Whats important to you.....paying a lifeguard or your property?

I have to agree with Ortley Full Time Local on this one. For those who own property on the private controlled beaches buy or (inherit) these homes with the understanding that it is their financial responsibility to maintain, control, and improve the beach, dunes and yes the sand. So yes why should the tax payers who don't live on the beach pay for this! You cannot have it both ways, you want private beaches (which I understand why, trust me) but don't want to adhere to the agreement that goes with owning a home in these private communities. It would be like going to Atlantic City and putting all your money on Red and when black comes up asking the house to give you money back because you don't understand the game?! The entire beach YES ALL OF IT needs to be fixed by the Army Corp so not signing this agreement is foolish and selfish, I hardly doubt thousands of people are going to rush onto your private beaches any time soon come on common sense has to prevail at some point. Just sayin

@letsgetreal Amen!

What are you talking about? I live in Green Island and my 2 Bayfromt neighbors had their homes destroyed by Sandy. Both homes have to be demolised.

John - You need to get in your car and go for a ride to the mainland. My folks are in the Baywood section of Brick and when Mantoloking Bridge breached the water rose as fast as if it were a tsunami. If you want to see damage, this side of the bridge was hit as hard as most barrier island communities. There is a vested interest for mainlanders, and we must be part of the discussions on dune replenishment.

Toms River is not the offender here. The private associations are. Maybe more intelligent people in these associations should over throw their president and sign the easement. No easement.....No clean-up, no dune. My tax dollars have no place being used for your private beach. Pat if I was you I'd install pontoons under your home because the next time....You on your own!!!

"I have spoken" TR Township is definitely the offender! Their failure to maintain the dunes in the first place is what caused most of the devastation. Look at how hard the area around Harding Ave was hit...why because there was no dunes on Harding by the beach entrance. In fact it was totally open to allow vehicle access. The same could be said by Fielder etc etc. TR Township is guilty of Neglect, Malfeasance & Incompetence to name a few. The TR engineer apparently never noticed that the dune system was inadequate at best! He's been the Township engineer for over 10 years! Why is he still employed by TR?

What are you talking about? I live in Snug Harbor , not the barrier Island. My house had water in it again today. Yes mainland Toms River 25 year resident. Sick of this, and my Ward rep whom is as lame as they come. Please tell me we can vote these council people out next year?

Mark, you are the only person other than myself that has brought this up...thank you!

I Have Spoken-- Mark is correct. 12 homes to the right and left of the Harding beach access ramp were completely washed away thanks to TR inability to protect the community. I stood there the Sunday before the storm and watched the water breach. The homes and streets located behind the Ortley public beach have TR to blame for the catastrophic loss they have suffered. TR officials are calling Ortley ground zero. I agree, but not because the 1000 MILE WIDE STORM was any stronger in Ortley. We are at ground zero because our town whom we pay taxes to did not protect us! Lavalette which is a few blocks north of Ortley suffered minor damage compared to us. Do you honestly believe the storm happened to be stronger there. They were better protected, that is the truth.

Amen, Coreen. However, Ortley does not pay the "majority" of school taxes for Toms River. We're an awfully big municipality and as far as property taxes go....we will all be paying for Sandy's wrath....including those of us who were lucky enough to sustain zero damage.

Donna, Actually FEMA will be picking up most of TR Townships expenses. In fact many many taxpayers believe that TR is delaying the "re-population" of Ortley Beach so that the Township could keep the FEMA tab going (ie police, emergency mgmt, public works ot) going!

Want to know why the dunes were "rebuilt" to its original and inadequate height? Because that was all FEMA was willing to reimburse the Township. Seems to make a lot of sense rebuild them just like they were before because TR does not want to spend any of their (our) money to build the dunes higher and wider! Bunce of incompetent political hack if you ask me!

Honestly, Mark...Ortley Beach was HAMMERED by Sandy. Much moreso than Lavallette and SSP. I understand the need to keep the public away for safety sake and for the heavy equipment operators to do their jobs. I know it is going at a snail's pace. I know that the Toms River honchos could take a lesson from Lavallette's mayor. However, the oceanfront, as you said, has been ignored for nearly two decades. I've lived here for 30 years and am unaware of the barrier island residents screaming for higher dunes anywhere in OB...dunes that will ultimately destroy any view of the ocean. Ortley Beach residents ought not have a decision in dune restoration. NO oceanfront community should be involved in that decision. The Army Corps of Engineers need to make the determination and let the residents go crazy when 20 ft. dunes are placed in front of their homes. IT'S NOT THEIR CALL! Again...it is a matter of public safety!

Seriously, what other services do you not get that a homeowner in ortley gets outside of the private community? do the police come to your rescue if called? Will the fire department come to your house if it's burning down. I am a home owner in ortley and TAKE CARE of my property - driveway, backyard and all. I'm sick and tired of hearing about how you pay taxes and don't get any benefits. The town doesn't do anything different for me or anyone else. Sell your house and move someplace else. Good riddance.

The lack of a plan is appalling and was raised earlier in this email chain and in the meeting last night. Having a meeting with the utilities on 1/4/13 will not result in a concrete plan to get us back in. The township needs a sense of urgency and resources, both of which seem to be lacking.

Well if you are looking for a united front, don't expect the OBVTA to step up. I contacted them and they responded to me that they are pleased as punch with the job that Toms River is doing.

Toms River is perfectly happy to have these dialogs continue about the "private beaches". The verbal jousting between islanders and mainlanders only helps them avoid stepping up to the many non-beach related issues" This way they can avoid the spotlight being pointed to them for the lack of a plan to restore utilities, roads and access in general. The answer I read in the paper was "we have no control over those things". Maybe we need the State to appoint a real , capable, effective management team to do what Toms River is unable or unwilling to do. Sort of like they do when they take over management of poorly run school districts.

We all want out of Toms River....Demand it!!!

Heck NO.....That's blackmail.

First off the majority of Ortley beach residents are oceanside, not oceanfront. Secondly we all had dunes, higher than the 20 foot dunes TR recently built. Thirdly we are simply asking for a meeting or at least a better understanding of what the town expects from us should we decide to grant beach access. No one in their right minds would sign a legal document without full disclosure. Why does anyone find this so difficult. Even the attorneys that have read the letter refuse to offer legal council because the letter is so vague.

Wonderful idea, but how will you make up the lost revenue and taxes collected from your so called "selfish, greedy, self aggrandizing people." Puerto Rico had the same idea when they forced the American Army base out of their barrier island of Vieques and now they are begging the US to make them the 51st state because they're bankrupt.

Why doesn't Toms River do everyone a huge favor, the mainlanders as well as the islanders....let us all secede from Toms River. ...... Problem solved for Toms River.

@ana prodani: With all the damage to Ortley, the snails pace at which recovery progresses, decreased assessments, and the extraordinary cost to the township for Ortley’s cleanup, there will not be much in the way of revenues from Ortley for some time. It is a loss on both sides. The issue is bigger than just Ortley Beach and whatever tax dollars you think buy you the right to continue your madness. The issue is the imprudence of building and living on sand bars and expecting others to pay for your bad decisions. If you want to live on the beach then insure it at your own expense (not taxpayer subsided flood insurance) and pay for your own replenishment. If you cannot do that then you cannot afford your beach house.

Spot on. The arrogance and entitlement mentality of those living the entire length of the barrier island is breathtaking. All for what -- the so-called "right" to own a shack on the beach? I think the Army Corps of Engineers should walk away from this, and when the next major "superstorm" hits -- and it definitely will -- sit on the mainland with binoculars and watch all those private association communities wash into the ocean. Then condemn all the properties and as kat states, turn it all into one big state or national park. It will all look nicer too, instead of the overcrowded, sleazy, traffic-congested place that it has become over the last 35 years.

@Seriously. When the ocean breached the island, that was nature's way of cleaning out the pollution from the upper bay. I will never understand why is was deemed necessary to have the Army Core of Engineers to interfere with that environmental improvement--and I am no environmentalist.

@kat-- We have and will continue to pay for all of our expenses. As for my home,insurance is taking care of that, but because we too pay taxes we expect to be protected. TR left the the access ramp open at Harding which caused our dune to erode. Our dune was adjacent to the public ramp which was not protected. That opening is where the water breached causing the erosion of dunes located on the right and the left of the ramp. Building a new dune will be of no protection to the communities unless the ramps are properly protected during a storm. TR also needs to build and maintain better dunes than the ones they had prior to the storm. Ours was the largest on the island and was braced by bulkheads. Lavalette officials should be commended for the dune maintenance which better protected their community.

Good luck with that....Jersey Strong...we will rebuild bigger and better!

@Denise....WRONG....you have been under paying your taxes for many years. It's about time the reassessment made it right!

Because the tax revenue lost from the barrier island homeowners would have to be paid by the mainland residents in order to maintain the schools, infastructure and all else.

Those houses were originally built as SUMMER COTTAGES -- not year-round homes. Four walls and a roof, with an indoor toilet and an outdoor shower. At the end of the season you were supposed to shut off the utilities and leave, not to return until the next summer. You all got the brilliant idea to upgrade those houses and live down there full time. This puts an additional strain on an already strained public works department, which can barely keep up when there's a major blizzard on the mainland.

You can't have it both ways -- you think that because you pay association fees you have the right to control dune replenishment but expect the township to bail you out so your house doesn't float down the street in the next storm. You know what? Don't sign the easement -- I think after the next few bad storms the beach will look absolutely beautiful completely devoid of beach shacks.

@Seriously, you are exactly right but unfortunately it won't just be their houses that suffer if the easements aren't granted.

Ahhhh....yea OK...the beach community has been paying lower taxes for years and that is why there was a reassessment (Thats FACT) and many of your taxes had risen. Though I agree the increase was sharp and to much right away, it should have had a 4 year roll in but then again with all luxuries comes a price!

Hate to brake it to you, but the beach is still there and the homes, thanks to our insurance companies will only be newer, better and bigger then ever!

Too bad. Suck it up or buy a canoe. Better yet, sell your house while you can, because without the easement, your house will be gone in a year or two anyway in the next storm.

Don't need to, we can afford to build new ones without signing anything.

I don't think this is about pointing fingers, and I think turning our backs on the beach community is not a good idea. With that said, I feel that this is a time where reality has to become the forefront of common sense and the easement has to be signed. If your association Lawyer is not capable of reading the agreement at hand then he has an obligation to find one that does. I do not think the beach residents have much of a choice here. The longer you debate this the closer you get to another Storm. Just sayin

You make total sense here Johnjcpa. Sadly a lot of people are letting the words "beach Access" get in the way of common sense thinking. And the taxes are high for a reason, a lot of services go into maintaining Ortley which has 2500 houses approximately and your right there did not just magically appear those taxes.

Pat,
Maybe I am wrong but I thought the Twp has already indicated that they had a plan in place and that the proposal is something your association attorney must review? The Twp is probably the last place I would want to debate this due to the fact that they are only going to go back to the Town attorney anyway and its going to delay this further for you guys sadly.

Pat S.--Let’s face it, we only vote for and support those politicians who will do our bidding. Politicians, homeowners, developers are all in this together. Blaming others is simply obfuscation. Legally purchasing land or anything else is no guarantee that your investment will pay off. My ideas about not building on a sand bar are not novel and are gaining traction in indemnity circles as well as in public policy discussions. The cost to the community is simply too high in an era of weak economics and a severe storm cycle. The handwriting is on the wall with this easement and you will lose eventually.

Paul Daley is in charge of TR Townships Office of Emergency Mgmt and was also named overall co-ordinater of the recovery from Sandy. Ortley beach does not have a seperate OEM.
(732) 341-3267
pdaley@trpolice.org.

Gee whiz, more than eight weeks after the storm and now we learn that there is actually an OEM person. Where's he been? I've only seen Chief Mastronardy working like a banshee. The barrier island needs its own OEM. How is it humanly possible for this Paul Daley person to be able to handle it all?

Barbara, Sadly the Toms River Council and the so called Mayor do not have answers. Sadly they are allowing the Dept Heads ( Police Chief, OEM, Public Works) etc etc run things and sadly they are all in over their respective heads.
They need to keep the FEMA tab running hence keeping Ortley on limited access. Several people I know have written to their Congressional reps to have the TR Township bill scrutinized very carefully!
I plan on writing to the US Government Accountability Office to ensure that the TR Township FEMA bill is appropriately reviewed!

Fact? Really? Water seeks to be level. The only way it could be higher in the Mid-Atlantic than the north or south Atlantic is if the moon sat off the Mid-Atlantic coast, permanently. The gravitational pull from the moon would cause a bulge. If that happened then the Mayans got it right.

You're only paying 8K? Why do I have only have 1,000 square feet and it's nearly 10K? I need to apply for a refund or get some beach replenishment for all of that money I've been spending.

Maria Maruca continues to refer to Ocean Avenue in Ortley Beach as Ocean Terrace. She doesn't even know the difference!

The restoration did not work. Look it up. It didn't work at the outer banks either. One storm and millions of dollars got washed away. Monmouth County regerts taking the Army Corps of Engineers advise and warns other communities against doing the same.

If I am not mistaken, each town has to sign off and agree to the Army Corps replenishment all the way down the beaches in OC which apparently was not done and agreed upon by some towns so once again ignorance and stupidity prevented this from happening, hence no replenishment.

lori, maria has a big job with the div of motor vehicles now..pizza to that go figure..anyway she is too busy to do both. she really should step down and give the job to someone who actually lives there!!

@Michelle V- They don't understand because they don't live there, if they did they'd have a different opinion. You comment was very well stated.

There is nothing for me to look up. I just have to look out my front window. Besides Ortley Beach I also live on Ocean Avenue in Bradley Beach during the summer for the past 23 years and what the ACOE had done back 1999 held up very nicely until Superstorm Sandy hit in 2012. So there. LOL

I am not opposed to the government helping anyone. So many people have lost so much due to the storm, but you said it yourself, "private beach". You don't want anyone on "your" beach, but now you want everyone to help you?

Yes, well said, Michelle V.

Genius

@Karen Cecere Haruthunian-- In answer to your question-- Sink holes on private roads get paid for by the residents of the community. These communities are responsible for maintaining the private roads, beach, dunes,and lifegaurds. These same communities received a letter from TR offering to pay for the replenishing of the dunes. Some communities have already decided against taking them up on the offer. A couple have decided to accept the offer because they already grant punlic access to their beach in exchange for badge fees which are used for beach maintenance and clean up. The majority of private beach owners would like to at least entertain the idea, but asked for a meeting with the town in order to better understand what would be expected of them should they choose to proceed. The town has turned down the request for a meeting. The reason being -- they claim they can't give legal advise. We are not asking for legal advise... we have lawyers for that. Our lawyers can't advise us because the letter from the town is so vague. We simply need our questions answered, such as...Do we need to provide parking? Do we need to provide bathrooms? Do we need to provide handicapped access ramps,etc...

Thanks , Ana . I am a beach front owner and agree the document they are asking us to sign is very vague and toms river refuses to give clarity , and toms river council is creating all of the anomosity among everyone . My family also has a home on the bayside and alot of homes had sink soles on their private property that have been filled , not at the owners expense, where did that money come from? Local , state or federal government ? What I do not understand is why we're the sink holes able to filled without an easement signed? But for the dunes we need to sign one .

I've just learned that 25% of Toms River's tax revenue comes from the barrier island. Let's succeed from Toms River and watch their tax rates skyrocket.

@BOB H-- I am in complete agreement with all you just said. Thank you.

You are just a bunch of parasites that want your beach rebuilt, your shacks rebuilt and then want to tell every one to screw themselves. Typical north Jersey scum looking for hand outs and trying to get over on the season. As far as your Two million dollar tax bill, that doesn't even cover carting the liquor and beer bottles off the beach and in to land fills paid for by the township. You all think you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth. If would be good if you can't pay your own way to move on since you dopes have made a mess that not only impacted the bay but all the towns around it. Find yourself another bunch of patsys to screw.

One thing though, take the time to go to Google earth and hold the cursor over a majority of Ortley beach and interior, bayside and the beach side. Now with that on the bottom of the page you will see the elevations. Ortley is so low that even if you put a 25 foot dune the Ocean is going to breach, and flood the area in another bad storm. The big problem that everyone is missing here is its Engineering and not really mechanical or human, though its nature. The area is just so low that after the storm you could sit at the end of a street and almost be level with the ocean. That is the problem. Now go to Lavalette and you will see at the end of the Ocean Streets they gradually incline from 35 North east to a point where the natural elevation is about 16 feet above the Ocean and then dunes on top giving it a structurally sound barrier. I am afraid that this will never happen in Ortley, you cannot raise the entire beach front. This is why Lavallette suffered only flooding and no major structural damages. Its also true in the Northern end by Silver Beach, OB #1 ect.

maybe citizens cant own the beach anymore...it belongs to the taxpayers and not just one person...so the majority should win and the easements and dune replenishment should be done sooner than later please

Karen: Ignorance is bliss. LOL

I am not jealous and I am certainly not bitter. I certainly have no interest in building on a sand bar and I have no interest in paying for the morons that do. I think you morons should get off the beach and pay for all the damage your shacks and your garbage have done to the mainland.

As soon as you clowns get off the beach and let it go back to being the sandbar that God and Mother Nature intended than you won't have to worry about what Toms River does or does not do. One prognosticator on the weather channel said last night that he does not believe there will a single private home on the sand bar within 40 years. Take the money and run now is my suggestion.

Let me clarify my comment. We do live on the mainland off Fisher Blvd just not on the water. My point is we do not live on the barrier island nor on the Bay, Lagoon or River. Just a ranch near the water off Fisher and we have had one major flood, a small one and three times I had to wait to get off my street because it was flooded. Oh yea we have been here for 27 years,

If you people spent less on lawyers and more time realizing what the reality is, you would get off that sandbar and leave it as God and Mother Nature intended. You don't own the beach...you just think you do. The first warning shot has been fired. Expect God and Mother Nature to keep the war going until you surrender.

If you gave one tenth of what you cost this town with all the drunkenness, all the filth, the drugs, the arrests, the police presence then you might have some room to talk. The only time I can stand to go to the beach anymore is in the dead of winter and now you people have made it so I can't do that with all your cracker boxes floating in and destroying the bay and the river.

You are the ignorant one. I know exactly what is being said and I have responded as I feel. You just want to put down anyone who tries to tell you the truth which you are to stupid to comprehend and to ignorant to want to understand. Take you comment and stick them where the sun doesn't shine.

Yes, spend your money on an attorney. Spend it on a whole law firm. At least you wont be spending it on booze and drugs for a change. And not to far when the state tells you to get off the beach or drown you will do one or the other.

A Ha Ha Ha. I take it you do not know this man. He could care less , take that to the bank.

TR Voice of Reason: $8900 for showing up ( unless deemed "excused") for 12 meeting per year comes to about $750.00 per meeting....not a bad deal in my book. Oh and don't forget the "free" taxpayer funded medical insurance for him and his family...about 15K to 20K per year!

Mark, you should save your political retoric for next year. Do not forget we just had an election here in Toms River for 2 wards and the D's did not even put a candidate up in ward 3 and put up a recycled has been, that has never won or could win in ward 4. For the record the last two election the council and Mayors have won in a landslide. So it looks like the voters in TR don't really care about thoses issues.

Mark - Now you are getting into an area where you should do your homework. Council meetings are biweekly, along with numerous other meetings and duties that are involved in the position. Thank Goodness most people know and appreciate what the job entails. Another homework assignment, check to see if the beach outfitted Councilman has taken medical benefits since taking office 9 years ago. Wait, I will save you the trouble... he hasn't. He also hasn't taken the payout for not taking them. Don't believe me, ask him at the next meeting. If he is reading his township emails on his personal iPad or phone, I'm sure he will stop to answer you. If you are truly displaced from the storm like him, you know that there are not enough hours in the day to meet everyone's needs, so you do your best by multi-tasking. They all care about Ortley, Councilman Carr and Sevastakis were over there the day after the storm and many times since, there are just no easy answers so I understand your frustration but placing blame resolves nothing. This is my last response, have a Happy New Year and may it bring some answers to this devastating situation for all affected.

Give it a rest, that because he get's his benefits from his spouse who is a public employee in Toms River, so we the tax payer still pay's for it.

Yes, I could see him doing that for sure. Too bad he is not up with the other four ward councilman next year, then we could get rid of five of them.

We should take the time to thank all of those good Christian people who during our crisis in this Christmas season extended us nothing but wishes for our houses to wash into the ocean.

I am still trying to figure out this comment. But since you have already told me that you are so much smarter than I am (at least grammar wise), perhaps you will explain it to me some time. Otherwise, have a great day.

Thank you Pat. I have but one wish, to see Island Beach State Park extend to the Bay Head border. I am looking forward to it and feel it has already started. I am glad you are hopeful as well. Have a great day.

I hope not! I hope you all decide to stay with your cracker boxes in the next storm. Then we won't have to hear the whining of the clowns that want the government to rebuild their property but think the beaches are theirs exclusively. I look forward to the day that Ortley Beach looks like Island Beach State Park. Hang around for the next storm. It is coming and many after that. If I am a douche bag, I wonder who the recipient is? Or is your brain so addled from all the booze and drugs that you don't even know what a douche bag is? Please get help if you ever plan to have any children. I have seen what drugs and booze do to them. I have seen what it has done to kids over at the beach when I, unfortunately, found myself over there during the summer.

This is not any fun at all talking to and trying to reason with a bunch of misguided and arrogant fools. And for someone who wants to talk about grammar on a forum such as this where it is expected or at least anticipated that language or at least usage will be more colloquial, seems like you are grasping at straws, I would have you go back and look at a few of the posts you have left if you want to discuss grammar. If you truly work in a legal capacity (very doubtful), I feel sorry for the clients. That is unless you are the cleaning lady...then I just feel sorry for their health and hygiene. Otherwise, have a great day.

I think you hit them all so you must be very familiar with them. Do you have more words in your vocabulary like 'take responsibility' 'private property and its upkeep should be paid for by its owners' or orthers of the same vein. Btw, is douche bag in your vocabulary? Otherwise, have a great day.