The Sentinel has been interviewing the 11 candidates for the Ocean City Board of Education and the six candidates (including one write-in) for the Upper Township Board of Education.
The profiles will be published online at ocnjsentinel.com and will appear in next week’s edition of the Ocean City Sentinel and Upper Township Sentinel.
The candidates have been asked about their backgrounds, why they are running for the school board, their priorities if elected and the qualities they have that would make them good representatives of the communities.
We are glad to see so many local citizens stepping up to volunteer their time for these unpaid positions.
Losing perspective
These issues, solutions are not life-and-death matters
It is difficult watching the morning news on the Philadelphia TV stations. When we wake up and tune in, it seems like there is always another murder or shooting — too often multiple murders or shootings — more people robbed of their lives senselessly the night before.
Getting the violence under control in a community just an hour away from the Jersey shore has been a herculean task with no easy solutions. There are many more complex issues in that big city — homelessness, drug abuse wrecking neighborhoods, budgets that can never cover the basics. The list goes on.
That is why we need to put local issues in perspective.
Ocean City is a good example; it’s an embarrassment of riches where the issues are not life-or-death and solutions are not out of reach.
We often forget how fortunate we are that we can be debating where to put extra pickleball courts, how soon to build more public restrooms, how to deal with uncovered construction dumpsters, how many millions of dollars to spend on a public safety building and controlling french fry-snatching sea gulls.
There is money already budgeted to build new pickleball courts. The debate is raging over whether to add them by the current courts at 18th Street or build more elsewhere as neighbors by the court are worried about the noise and traffic.
People are passionately advocating for them. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s a popular activity in the community, but some people are issuing demands and turning it into a political issue.
For heaven’s sake, it’s a leisure and social activity.
There was a brouhaha over new bathroom facilities on the boardwalk a block apart. The capital budget had one new facility to be built this spring and the other next spring. Some council members wanted both built this spring. The administration said OK. No pushback, just OK and it is going to be done.
Additional bathroom amenities are great for all the tourists who pack the boardwalk, but the advocacy made it seem like a potential tragedy if both weren’t built in time for next summer. How is it conceivable the boardwalk survived without those bathrooms for all these years?
City resident Robert Forman has done yeoman’s work in bringing attention to the problem of uncovered construction dumpsters. He has been a tireless advocate to get builders and demolition companies to adhere to some simple rules — put a cover on the dumpsters when they’re not in use and put plywood under their wheels so they don’t damage the street. Really, how hard is it to comply? Answer: not at all.
Because of his advocacy, the administration acted and is going after the companies to make sure they follow the rules. Many still aren’t and they should face fines to get them to act responsibility. Again, there must be some perspective. Construction dumpsters are a function of the ongoing real estate boom and the belief any mildly old home must be knocked down to make way for a much bigger home on the same space. Ocean City has billions of dollars in ratables and construction that packs every square inch with something bigger and better. How many other towns would like the same problem?
And then there is the fight over whether to build a combined Public Safety Building for some $43 million for the police and fire departments or to spend, say, $25 million for just a new police station. Debating this is important. It’s a lot of money and public safety has always been a priority for Ocean City.
The real point is that Ocean City can afford a big, new facility for the police (or the police and fire departments). It’s an embarrassment of riches.
The issues in Ocean City are all valid, but people need to put them all in perspective and not lose their minds over them. Most other communities across the country would beg to have these as their most pressing problems.