Dear Friends, I want to encourage you all to participate in Ocean City’s Martin Luther King events on Monday. Dr. King’s message of unity is as important today as it ever was. The Martin Luther King Day of Service invites volunteers to participate in a citywide cleanup. Meet at the Senior Center (18th Street and Simpson Avenue) at 9 a.m. to get supplies and assignments. There will be refreshments back at the Senior Center after the event. Our annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration begins at noon Monday at the Bill and Nancy Hughes Performing Arts Center at Ocean City High School (beach block of Sixth Street). The ceremony brings together the entire community to honor the life and legacy of Dr. King. It also honors members of our community who exemplify King’s spirit of public service. I want to thank and congratulate Antwan McClellan, Joseph Pratt, Georgina Shanley, Brittany Battle, Takiya Wilson and Joshua Baker, who will be honored this year. Everybody is invited to a free soul food dinner in the school cafeteria after the celebration.
A public town hall meeting will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 8 to provide updates on Ørsted’s offshore wind project. The meeting will be held at the Ocean City Tabernacle (550 Wesley Avenue). The public is encouraged to attend to learn more about Ørsted and the Ocean Wind Project, which is expected to power more than half a million New Jersey homes by 2024. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ beachfill project at the south end is back up and running after a brief delay for a mechanical repair. Crews are working near 50th Street, and the job could be done within the next week or two. The Corps will return in the spring to rebuild beaches and dunes at the north end. The Cape May County Municipal Utilities Authority expects to complete work in front of the Ocean City Intermediate School by the end of next week.The county is replacing the wastewater main underneath Bay Avenue. Once the work progresses past the building, school bus routes will return to Bay Avenue and the Haven Avenue entrance to the Community Center (where students are temporarily being dropped off) will reopen. Warm regards,Mayor Jay A. Gillian
