Donald Wittkowski

Ocean City’s public housing authority Tuesday approved a series of preliminary steps that represent a crucial part of plans to develop a 60-unit affordable housing project that will replace the flood-prone Pecks Beach Village housing complex.

Their black shoes were polished to a high gloss. Their silver badges glistened in the auditorium lights. Their light blue uniforms were crisply ironed, not a wrinkle to be seen. Shane Rauner and Jacob Diggons looked every bit the part of professional police officers ready to begin their critical job of protecting the community. On Monday, that’s exactly what they will do when they start work as the newest officers with the Ocean City Police Department. Rauner, 25, and Diggons, 22, took the first step toward becoming rookie cops when they graduated Friday evening from the Cape May County Police Academy during a packed ceremony at the Performing Arts Center at Middle Township High School in Cape May Court House.

Mayor Jay Gillian announced plans for Ocean City to have a consulting firm study potential locations for the construction of “one or more” parking garages on public property. Speaking during a City Council meeting Thursday night, Gillian said that during the past few months he has talked with some business owners from both the Boardwalk and the downtown about the need for parking. The city has solicited a proposal from a nationally recognized parking consultant to study six potential city-owned sites for a parking garage, he said.

Ahlanah Kelly, a third grader at the Ocean City Primary School, held an oversized children’s book in her tiny hands. The title was “My Very Favorite Book in the Whole Wide World.” “I’m going to take it home and read it with my mom and sister,” the 8-year-old Ahlanah said in a soft voice. Ahlanah and about 140 of her classmates from the second and third grades got a jump on reading “My Very Favorite Book in the Whole Wide World” and other children’s stories during an event Monday morning that could be loosely described as the Super Bowl of reading competitions.

There was a lot of snow shoveling during a monumental cleanup from Monday's major storm. There was also some fun. People strolled the Boardwalk to marvel over the winter scenery. Some of them even made a snowman on the Boardwalk.

This was not what you would call a conventional, family-style celebration on New Year’s Day for the Haydens. Nor for any family, for that matter. Kate Hayden was wearing a blue bathing suit, while her husband, Bryan, and sons Logan, 9, and Colin, 7, were bare-chested in water that was chilly enough to make their teeth chatter. The Haydens, of Woolwich Township, Gloucester County, joined hundreds of other revelers on Ocean City’s Eighth Street beach to celebrate New Year’s Day in perhaps the wackiest way possible – with a plunge in 46-degree water.

Marty Mozzo recalls when stormwater would swamp Ocean City’s flood-prone Merion Park neighborhood for days, leaving homeowners trapped in their houses unless they ventured outside wearing fishing boots. The city finished the first phase of a flood-mitigation project in Merion Park in 2014, including three new stormwater pumping stations, drainage pipes and road reconstruction. But Mozzo and other Merion Park homeowners have waited patiently the last seven years for the second phase to be completed to give the neighborhood even more protection from flooding. In a key step for the project, City Council awarded a $325,600 consulting contract Monday for conceptual designs for the second phase.

Whether you’re having dinner with friends or family or sipping drinks while savoring bayfront views, the Deauville Inn offers the ideal setting to celebrate the holidays. The historic restaurant overlooking Corson’s Inlet in the tiny town of Strathmere combines old-fashioned charms with modern amenities as part of its transformation under owner Tim Fox, who bought the Deauville in late 2019. The Deauville is welcoming visitors for the holidays with a lineup of entertainment to complement the food and drinks.

Drivers crossing over the Corsons Inlet Bridge between Ocean City and Strathmere must carefully navigate their way through all of the potholes that have pockmarked the roadway. But the agency that operates the toll bridge is planning to fix the potholes as part of a larger rehabilitation of the 75-year-old structure that will get underway this winter and cost millions of dollars.

On his family trips to Disney World in Florida, Jody Levchuk has been impressed with the way Downtown Disney has blended its parking garages within its resorts instead of making them looming, unsightly structures. “They’re pretty, not ugly, structures. The experience starts there, the moment you pull in,” he said of the role the parking garages play in enjoying the overall Disney attractions. Levchuk, a city councilman, wonders whether something like that could be done in Ocean City. He believes the city should explore the possibility of building a parking deck or parking garage that could be integrated into the community in a location that wouldn’t be obtrusive.