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To the Editor, Asbury Park Sun:

The Asbury Park Housing Coalition ( Coalition) has requested relief on behalf of residents whose rent they contend has reached levels where it  is displacing and causing these residents, a number of whom are long-time residents, to leave our community.  

At a recent Asbury Park Council meeting many in the virtual audience argued, correctly I believe, that without relief we continue to lose a very important part of our community.  Moreover this issue is divisive. It occurs in a depressed economy, a worldwide pandemic and  unintended consequences of local regentrification, each of which which divide us into haves and have nots. Clearly, failure to address this need will add to these divisions. Divisions which also tend to separate us by race and ethnicity.

The Coalition’s request for relief is in the form of a Petition for Rent Control (Petition), a peaceful method of redress as American as apple pie and old as our country. As is generally true  with Petitions in our nation, it was submitted to the governing body after several years of unsuccessful attempts  by the Coalition to find remedy.  

At the aforementioned Council meeting the Petition was denied in a puzzling vote recorded as 3 no, one yes, and one abstention. The abstention resulted I believe from the member’s admitted reluctance to express any opinion on the motion. Little or no explanation for their individual vote was expressed by any member. Several no voters expressed sympathy for the renter’s plight. 

Under law the Petition, unless withdrawn by petitioners, now moves to a vote by the electorate in an election to be scheduled. This action is hard on the heels of a more than 24 months conflict, ongoing at this writing, over a proposed Beach Club on the Oceanfront. It appears to be a similar example of the Council washing its hands of intervention believing the matter beyond its influence. Neither issue is beyond Council’s leadership.

As with the Pool club this  is also a matter which many see as pitting “haves against have nots” and a progeny of regentrification. The Council can seize leadership of the instant matter by immediately  negotiating directly with the injured party , the renters, represented by the Coalition. 

Contemporaneously, they should Resolve to make a Good Faith effort to deal with Coalition concerns regarding the razing of properties, code enforcement and regentrification matters which also figure into members of the community being displaced. These latter negotiations must include landlords, builders, developers, and appropriate City Departments

Respectfully,………… Council Please Act Now!

Bill Mackolin

Asbury Park

[This letter represent the opinion of its writer and is not representative of any opinion of the Asbury Park Sun staff. All readers are welcome to submit Letters to the Editor to news@asburyparksun.com for our consideration. For guidelines on letter-writing and submission, click here.]

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