APP.COM $1.

00

ASBURY PARK PRESS :: MONMOUTH EDITION

Bayville citizens work to rescue

beloved icon from extinction

WEDNESDAY 03.25.15

WATCHDOG

SAVING DINO
DOUG HOOD/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

A woman pays for parking at a station on Lake Avenue in

Asbury Park.

Would you
pay $1,200
for parking?

JEAN MIKLE @JEANMIKLE

he Bayville dinosaur has stood sentinel over Route 9 for more than
eight decades, enduring at least two decapitations, along with the indignity of once being painted purple and green. e Now a coalition of

Berkeley residents hopes to preserve the legendary beast by moving the

dilapidated icon to a new location on Route 9. Tentative plans call for moving the dinosaur to the township-owned property at 630 Route 9 now occupied by the Berkeley Township Historical Society. The historical society
building is the former Berkeley Town Hall.

NICQUEL TERRY @NTERRYAPP

ASBURY PARK The annual price for a parking permit in the city could jump from $30 to $1,200, if rate increases recommended by a New York-based consultant
are adopted.
Gregory A. Shumate, a senior associate with Desman
Associates, said in a presentation to the City Council that
prevailing parking-permit charges were well below the
market rate, which he pegged at $100 a month.
Shumate also proposed doubling the evening rates on
parking meters along Cookman Avenue; the current
charge is $1 an hour.
The price hikes were among the most dramatic recommendations Shumate proposed in a comprehensive
study of parking in Asbury Park, where patrons and
merchants alike complain of a shortage. The latter fear
that in the absence of new strategies, entertainmentseekers will go elsewhere.
Shumate, who was paid $45,360 for the study, focused
his analysis on Main Street, downtown and the waterfront. The study offered ideas for increasing the citys
parking supply in those areas, sometimes relying on
property owned or controlled by developers.
We know we have a parking problem, Mayor John
Moor said after Shumates presentation. We are not
blind, we are not ostriches with our heads in the sand. We

It is very important to a lot of us Bayvillians, who have been here a long time, Mayor Carmen A. Amato Jr. said of the 12-foothigh brontosaurus, which a previous property owner named Virginia, after a naming
contest involving local schoolchildren.
A committee of citizens, headed by Steve
Baeli of the Berkeley Township Citizens
Group, a Facebook community, as well as
Berkeley Township Historical Society President Jim Fosbre, David Burke of the townships Policemens Benevolent Association,
and Councilman James J. Byrnes, formed
Monday night to work on preserving the dinosaur.
Amato said he would contact Acquired
Capital, the Stafford, Texas, investment company that now owns the Route 9 property
where the dinosaur stands, to see if it is willing to sell or donate the beast to the
township.
If Amato can secure the dinosaur, subcommittees of volunteers will be needed to
help raise funds to move and rehabilitate it,
Baeli said.

See PARKING, Page 9A

See DINOSAUR, Page 9A

PHOTOS BY BRIAN JOHNSTON/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

A coalition of Berkeley residents hopes to

preserve the iconic dinosaur.

To see a video on
the Bayville
dinosaur, scan
the QR code or visit

APP.com

Wall objects to dredging in township

NICQUEL TERRY @NTERRYAPP

A decades-long battle to preserve the Shark River

will intensify today when local residents urge Wall officials to allow use of their land for dredging.
Advocates of the Save the Shark River campaign say
Wall has been the sticking point holding up dredging of
the polluted river, which has 100,000 cubic yards of sediment choking its channels.
Last May, more than a half-million pounds of dead
fish were discovered in the river.
The state Department of Environmental Protection
identified the Camp Evans site in Wall as a potential
option for dredging the Shark River if the township approves the project.
Wall officials refuse to grant use of the land, saying it
is environmentally sensitive, and township residents
do not want hundreds of trucks hauling dredging ma-

terial coming in and out of the community.

John Dempsey, an Ocean Township resident who has
spearheaded efforts to save the Shark River, said Camp
Evans is the most viable option because it is a former
dewatering site and is in an isolated area.
Dempsey and a group of Shore area residents plan to
speak out at a Wall Township Committee meeting today.
We dont want to pick on Wall, Dempsey said. We
just want to open up that line of communication.
Wall Township Committeeman Clinton C. Hoffman
said the groups planned showing at the meeting is premature.
Hoffman said residents should wait for state and local officials to unveil the dredging plan they promised
earlier this year.
They can come to our meeting and they can say
See DREDGING, Page 9A

PHILIP HUHN/NEPTUNE TOWNSHIP

An extreme low tide leaves boats stuck in the mud at the

Shark River Municipal Marina, where Neptune officials want
the state to proceed with a long-awaited dredging project.

EXCLUSIVE: AMERICAS POWER GRID VULNERABLE TO ATTACK PAGE 1B

We share your choices for the best

BYOB restaurants
In Table

ADVICE
CLASSIFIED
COMICS
LOCAL
OBITUARIES

7D
1E
6D
3A
15A

OPINION
SPORTS
TABLE
WEATHER
YOUR MONEY

10A
1C
1D
8C
14A

VOLUME 136
NUMBER 72

"6<;<3
 

"6<;<3


"TCVSZ
1BSL
1SFTT
EBJMZ

SINCE 1879

0DFBO
$PVOUZ
0CTFSWFS
4VOEBZ