At a press conference today Congressman Frank Pallone and Senator Robert Menendez announced that they fought for and secured 7.5 million dollars of taxpayer money to replenish inaccessible beaches of the northern NJ Coast. The Jersey Shore Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation finds it unacceptable that public money is used to replenish beaches that are hard to access due to limited access points and parking.
If public money is going to be used to replenish beaches, those beaches should be easily accessible to the public. That includes adequate parking and bathroom facilities. When challenged on the issue, the Congressman and town officials claimed that they just put in a new access point 200 feet to the north of the private Shores Condominium. When we went down to check it out, this is what we saw....doesn't seem to imply beach access for the public. That new stairway must only be for the private oceanfront property owners. Clearly this is a case of using taxpayer money to protect private property. This is completely unacceptable. Call Congressman Pallone's office (732-571-1140) and let him know that you don't want our public money to go to private beaches!
Check out our flickr account to see more photos of "no parking" signs in Monmouth Beach.
In case our elected officials forgot how the public feels on this issue, here is a reminder. 82% of New Jerseyans want shore towns that get public money for beach replenishment to offer better public access to those newly widened beaches, according to a Rutgers-Eagleton poll.
