Mayor Jay Gillian: City Hall and Other Project Updates

Dear Friends: A few quick updates:

1. Some offices will begin to move into the renovated ground floor of City Hall next week.  By the end of the week the Tax Collector’s and Tax Assessor’s Offices will be back on the ground floor.  The City Clerk’s Office will remain at 550 Asbury Avenue for a few more weeks until the windows and doors on the 9^th Street side of the building are replaced.
2. A preconstruction meeting for the Merion Park road and drainage improvements was held earlier this week and construction will begin shortly.
3. Work will begin shortly to reconstruct the middle dock and fishing pier at the 2^nd and Bay Marina.  The docks and pier were destroyed in hurricane Sandy.  The new docks and pier are expected to be complete by summer
4. Last evening a large crowd attended a City Council Workshop regarding the new skatepark.  Councilman DeVlieger gave a report on the project and issues surrounding it and many had a chance to express their opinion.  Any loss of parking remains the biggest concern and a number of excellent ideas came out of the meeting. Our engineering team has already been examining how to reconfigure the lot and increase the number of parking spaces.  Earlier this week we relocated a number of city vehicles that previously parked in this lot.   A combination of these and other simple actions will allow us to have an increased number of spaces in the area during the summer season.  We will continue to discuss this project in the coming weeks.

Have a great weekend! Warm regards, Jay A. Gillian Mayor