Dear Friends,
It was great to see so many people attend our final boardwalk flag-raising ceremony of the season last Saturday morning and our annual 9/11 ceremony that evening.
Before the flag-raising, we unveiled a memorial plaque dedicating the new flagpole outside the Music Pier to decorated local veterans Joe Caserta, Bill Cruice and J.R. Robinson.
I want to thank local veteran Jack Hagan for all of his assistance in setting up the flag-raising program and the memorial plaque.
I also want to thank the U.S. Coast Guard for the helicopter fly-by that made for a dramatic ending to the ceremony and the season.
Ocean City held its annual ceremony on the 20thanniversary of 9/11, but it was actually the 21st time we gathered. Mayor Bud Knight invited the community to a prayer service at the Tabernacle on the night of the attacks.
I want to thank Billio Olaschinez and Fire Chief Jim Smith for their powerful remarks at the event and Morgan Murphy and Natalie Ragazzo for their beautiful voices in song.
I’m proud to see that our citizens value and appreciate our nation, our veterans and our first responders.
With the passing of Labor Day, our off-season schedule of road, drainage and flood mitigation projects will begin. One of the first jobs will be in the area between 26th Street and 34th Street from West Avenue to the beach.
This project is funded in part by a state Department of Transportation grant and work is expected to begin in two weeks. The job will include the elimination of the siphon (bubbler) drain systems along 29th Street and 31st Street.
South Jersey Gas contractors will be paving street throughout town where upgrades to service lines were made in the spring.
Our Operations and Engineering team and I met yesterday with residents of Waterway Road, and we believe we have a solid plan to provide flooding relief with a combination of street elevation and a new outfall pipe.
This is an example of the small projects that can be achieved while we continue to design and construct major neighborhood drainage projects.
The team also connected a gravity-fed outfall pipe on the bay at Third Street and completed a check valve repair to address issues in that area.
Mark your calendars for Saturday, Oct. 9 if you want to take advantage of free paper-shredding services 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Shelter Road Recycling Center.
Congratulations to the Goudie family on the 20th anniversary of the Walk to Defeat ALS in Ocean City. The annual event takes place tomorrow morning on the boardwalk, and each year it raises money for an important cause.
Team Fastrax will be in town this weekend and will perform three parachute jumps. They will open the Walk to Defeat ALS with a landing at Carey Stadium at about 9:40 a.m. Saturday (Sept. 18).
At 8 p.m. Saturday, the team will perform its Parachute Pyrotechnic Show with a display of lights and pyrotechnics in formation with a landing on the beach at Seventh Street.
At 1 p.m. Sunday (Sept. 19), Police Chief Jay Prettyman is expected to jump tethered to a team member as they open the annual Boardwalk Aeronautic Airshow with the display of the American flag.
I hope you get a chance to watch these great events with friends and family. They are always spectacular.
Warm regards,
Mayor Jay A. Gillian
