Dear Friends,
I want everybody to know that the city has ordered new appraisals of the former car dealership lot next to the Ocean City Community Center.
The owners of the property received preliminary approval last week to build 21 homes there, but nothing has been built yet.
My position remains the same: I don’t want to see this property developed with more housing.
I don’t know yet if the appraised values that come back will be enough to forestall development and allow us to acquire the valuable tract.
But I promise that we will negotiate in good faith.
The pool at the Aquatic and Fitness Center is back open on a regular spring schedule, the pumping stations for the north end neighborhood drainage project are up and running, and a lot of work to get our streets, beaches and boardwalk ready for the summer is underway.
Thank you for your patience and understanding as this work continues.
Remember that Saturday, May 11, postal carriers will pick up donations of non-perishable food items for our local Food Cupboard for the needy. Just place items by your mailbox.
Anybody with an interest in bicycling in Ocean City is invited to attend a reorganization meeting of the community group Bike OCNJ from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday, May 13, at the Ocean City Free Public Library.
The purpose of the meeting is to encourage new membership and to share information on Bike OCNJ initiatives.
A great concert, “Tunes for Trees,” is scheduled at the Ocean City Tabernacle on Saturday evening.
Two young talents from Ocean City, Scott Nuss and Andrew Hink, will perform ’60s, ’70s and ’80s sing-along music on dueling grand pianos.
The show starts at 7:30 p.m. and tickets will be available at the door. Proceeds benefit the Pinelands Preservation Alliance.
Our city mascot, Martin Z. Mollusk, will seek his shadow Saturday at 11 a.m. in hopes of predicting yet another early summer for Ocean City.
In the spirit of Mark Soifer, Martin’s always-sunny creator, we’ll try to make sure Martin preserves his perfect record of more than four decades.
The ceremony is always fun, and I encourage everybody to come out to cheer for Martin on the beach next to the Music Pier and to come back Saturday evening for a dance and hit-songs show called “Ballroom With a Twist.”
Warm regards,
Mayor Jay A. Gillian
