Dear Friends,
The city team is hard at work finalizing the capital improvements plan for the next five years and the municipal budget for 2020. These plans will be introduced at public City Council meetings within the next month.
One project that will take place within the next few weeks will be restriping to create angled parking on the bay side of West Avenue from North Street to First Street.
This reconfiguration is being done at the request of residents to create more on-street parking.
I can also report that before the summer the city will add ADA ramps leading to Waverly Beach (off E. Atlantic Blvd.) and to the boardwalk at St. Charles Place. The city remains committed to improving accessibility whenever possible.
We have been fortunate so far this winter to avoid snow and major coastal flooding.
But I want to encourage everybody to make sure they are signed up for our emergency notification system. Whenever the National Weather Service issues a coastal flood or other weather “Warning” (the highest level of alert), we will launch a notification that will be delivered by phone, email or text message.
We just implemented a text-to-enroll feature that allows anybody to sign up by texting OCNJALERTS to 99411. Within the next few weeks, we will send an “All Call” that will let residents know how to use this new feature. This call also will let our system provider validate all of the numbers in our database.
The city also provides email notifications of NWS “Advisories” and “Watches.” Residents can sign up for these emergency and other notifications by visiting the “Alert Me” link at www.ocnj.us.
I’d like you all to join me in welcoming Vince Lee as the new conductor of the Ocean City Pops. Vince was guest conductor for several concerts over the past two summers and he has extensive experience and credentials. I’m excited for the 2020 Ocean City Pops season.
Anybody interested in purchasing season tickets can call 609-525-9295. Tickets for individual shows will be available when the full schedule is announced in the spring. Tickets for Lee’s debut in a concert featuring Jackie Evancho are available at oceancityvacation.com/boxoffice.
Warm regards,
Mayor Jay A. Gillian
