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With the Nov. 8 election fast approaching, The Asbury Together and Citizens for Asbury Park tickets answered questions from the public during Saturday morning’s Homeowner’s Association sponsored Meet the Candidate’s Forum at The Asbury of Fifth Avenue.

There were close to 50 people in attendance.

The Asbury Together ticket, comprised of incumbents Eileen Chapman, Yvonne Clayton and Deputy Mayor Amy Quinn, are being challenged by Citizens for Asbury Park members Daniel Harris, Kenneth Saunders Jr, and Stephen Williams for control of the City Council.

The first question addressed the proposed Main Street Road Diet, and the grassroots Complete Streets Coalition group’s efforts to bring forth policy that would address implementing safer roadways for pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists.

Early this year, the citizen group proposed a plan that called for uniformed pedestrian safe crosswalks, lights, bike racks and lanes throughout the one square mile city. The City Council, which voted to adopt the policy, voted against the County’s existing Road Diet plan, saying high summer season traffic studies were needed before they would agree to reducing Main Street to a two lane road, with turn and bicycle lanes.

Williams, a sitting Board of Education member, was the first to address the question, saying, “Safety should be huge in a place like this. This is a vacation town. People don’t want to come here to get hit by a car, people don’t want to come here and fear that they don’t have a place to ride their bike because they have to ride next to moving car.”

Chapman, who was appointed to the City Council after former Councilman Joe Woerner stepped down, said the City’s Director of Development and Planning is currently working on a Main Street concept, which includes grant submission applications for bike racks, trees and for a traffic calming mosaic along Main Street.

“We are looking at how we can use the Complete Streets initiative throughout the entire town,” Chapman said. “We are looking at where we can put bike lanes throughout the city; of course we don’t want to put them on streets where there is angled parking, so we are doing a lot of fact finding right now.”

Quinn said the proposed Road Diet did not include a dialogue with the City Council.

“What we tried to do over the course of the last three months, is go back to DOT [Department of Transportation] ask for plans with a Road Diet and without a Road Diet; ask that it be presented to the entire Council; and ask that the public have an opportunity for input,” she said. “The last thing we want to do is implement something that is an absolutely failure and could potentially cause delays in getting to fires, heart attacks, and other EMS calls. We have fire, police and DPW [Department of Public Works] all on Main Street.”

Parking also came to the forefront in the form of a question addressing how to balance residential and visitor parking needs. Williams proposed a nominal fee for residents with allocated spaces, while Quinn, who sat on the ad hoc Parking Committee, said reduced rate residential permits already exist.

“You can’t assign people specific street spots but you essentially get a pass to park in specific areas,” she said.

Harris, who sits on the city’s Zoning Board of Adjustment, said, “There are ways to attack parking without attacking the citizen who has been here for years. We can approach this from a common sense point of view; provide parking garages, [and] we should tell people you have to have a driveway.”

A resident questioned the existing trailer restroom facilities on the boardwalk near Madison Marquette’s North Eats food truck court by saying  – “Is that the best we can do?”

Clayton said although the City Council does not control the waterfront, they did approach the boardwalk redeveloper about implementing ADA compliant facilities. Chapman added that the initial oceanfront rehabilitation concentration was on Asbury Avenue to Sunset Avenue.

“Now we are going to start moving north of Convention Hall,” she said.

Another question centered on balancing and closing the gap between the influx of new residents with the long established residents, particularly those on the west side; and also asked the candidates to speak on addressing issues of racism and homophobia.

Williams, the first to speak on the issue, said it comes down to quality of life.

“It’s incumbent on us to get out into the streets to see where the disconnect is,” he said. “We have a large homosexual population here and it’s just how it is and we accept it.”

Saunders said the City Council has to listen to all sides and make a plea for police and residents to make a better effort of connecting with the city’s youth.

“I want the city to flourish,” he said.

Clayton said she agreed with the importance of removing the divide, saying the City Council is currently looking into bringing the city council meetings into the four quadrants and holding more open forums.

“We have been doing some things, we think, help to improve the quality of life for the entire city,” she said. “We have started citywide cleanups. We have addressed the issues of abandoned and vacant houses.

Harris spoke of being a part of the citizens Dialogue Group and the acceptance and understanding he garnered.

“We have to be willing to be inclusive and accept everybody, and that includes white people,” he said. In quoting Jim Wallis’ “America’s Original Sin, he said, “Unless we tell the truth about our history, we will never find the way to reconciliation.’ You need to understand my community and I need to understand your community. If we do that, the divide comes down.”

Quinn, who said the topic is on the forefront of the minds of the City Council, said it is one of the reason’s they made bringing the Springwood Avenue Park a priority.

“If you went there over the summer, the music was diverse, the people were diverse, and that was one of our steps in the first direction,” she said. “The second thing we tried to do is making Springwood Avenue [development] a priority, in terms of getting development, retail and residential use…as steps to try to bridge the gap.”

The question of preserving Bradley Cove was raised, at which Quinn said there are couple of ideas on the table, including removing the waterfront located sewer plant. She outlined pending discussions with waterfront redeveloper iStar about the land value assessment, saying the city’s appraisals came in at 3.5 million, while the waterfront redeveloper’s appraisal came back at $20 million.

Williams said although the current council has intimate knowledge of the situation, ‘if we could build a park in a dilapidated area such as Springwood Avenue we can certainly create Seven Presidents for you all.”

Harris pointed out the need to look to neighboring community’s who have accomplished the goals the city is looking to bring into fruition.

In pointing out the newly created Sunset Lake Commission, the FEMA funded Sunset Lake foot bridge restoration and plans to refurbish the footbridges over Wesley Lake, Chapman said, “We are passionate about our open spaces, our beaches, our parks, our rain gardens and all of our  environmental issues,” she said.

In responding to William’s comment that quality of life issues are at the heart of the questions posed during the forum, Clayton said the 15 member Quality of Life Committee composed of residents from all areas of Asbury Park, has brought forth changes like the abandoned and vacant property laws, conducted citywide cleanups and sought grants to bring new trash cans along Springwood Avenue, Main Street, and Asbury Avenue.

The Meet the Candidates Forum will be televised via APTV vi Verizon Fios channel 30, Cablevision channel 77, or online at www.asburyparktv.org.

The Citizen’s for Asbury Park ticket will hold a campaign fundraiser from 5 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at the 311 Bond Street located At the Table, at a $35 per person cost.

The Asbury Together ticket will hold a Meet and Greet from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday at Kula Cafe, 1201 Springwood Avenue.

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