Dear Friends,
I’m pleased to report that on Wednesday the New Jersey Corporate Wetlands Restoration Partnership approved Ocean City’s grant application for the installation of an upweller at the Bayside Center to cultivate shellfish. Ribbed mussels will be raised there, then transferred to Shooting Island to further protect and restore the shoreline and wetlands there.
The native non-edible species will help provide a reef system that can absorb wave energy and reduce erosion and damage from coastal storms. The mussels also filter bacteria, microalgae, nutrients and contaminants. Scientists estimate that 400 square feet of mussels can clean 3 million gallons of water daily.
The grant also will allow the city to partner with the school district to provide hands-on educational opportunities for Ocean City High School students and other volunteers interested in marine science. I’d like to thank ACT Engineers and all our professionals who helped put together this successful application.
Work continues on the Cape May County Municipal Utilities Authority project force main replacement project. A detour will be in place on Bay Avenue between 24th Street and 34th Street with all but local traffic directed to West Avenue. New Jersey American Water will be working on its pipe replacement on West Avenue at Third Street and continuing its work on 11th Street. As always, I thank you for your patience and understanding as these important upgrades are completed.
As we move into fall and winter with their potential for storms, I want to remind everybody to sign up for emergency alerts and information. When the National Weather Service issues an advisory or watch, our Office of Emergency Management will send an email notification, along with posting information on the city website and on OCTV-97. To register for this service, visit www.ocnj.us and click on “Alert Me.”
Only when the National Weather Service issues a warning (when more severe hazards are imminent) does Emergency Management launch a Code Red telephone alert. You can add any mobile telephone number to our database by clicking on the Code Red link on the “Alert Me” page.
As of Tuesday, the county’s single-stream recycling program stopped accepting shredded paper and bulky rigid plastic (non-bottle items larger than 2.5 gallons). These items should be disposed of as trash. Cardboard, office paper, newspaper, junk mail, magazines, paperback books, dry food boxes, beverage carriers and clean pizza boxes should continue to be recycled and placed in your recycling can. For more information, visit www.ocnj.us/recycling.
I’d like to welcome all the owners participating in Saturday’s Jeep Invasion on the boardwalk. It should be a gorgeous weekend, and I hope you get a chance to enjoy all that Ocean City has to offer. I also want to encourage the community to come out for the annual Ocean City Fire Department Open House from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 10. The event gives the community a chance to learn more about how the department works, and there are a lot of hands-on activities and demonstrations for the kids.
Warm regards,
Mayor Jay A. Gillian
