CityWorks in the Press
Neptune hopes demolition will signal a new beginning
Redevelopment work is under way
Published in the Asbury Park Press 07/12/05
BY BILL BOWMAN
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU
NEPTUNE - Felmon Roseboro clapped, intertwined his fingers and shook his clenched hands as if in victory Monday as a large, yellow front-end loader crashed through one wall of a dilapidated two-story building on West Lake Avenue.
"There you go, there you go," the 74-year old township resident said as rubble fell and dust rose from the side of the building.
The township-owned building's demolition signaled the beginning of the West Lake Avenue redevelopment project - which in turn is the first phase of the long-awaited Midtown redevelopment - but that was not what spurred Roseboro to applaud as the machine's giant claw punched holes into the wall.
Roseboro said he wanted to see the building gone because of what it symbolizes to him and to his family: It was behind this former rooming house that his 28-year-old daughter, Margaret, was killed in the late 1970s.
"I probably won't be here to see it rebuilt," said Roseboro, who said he has been diagnosed with cancer. "But I'm glad I can see it gone."
About 30 neighborhood residents, officials from Neptune and Asbury Park and representatives of Trenton-based CityWorks - a nonprofit redevelopment agency - gathered at the building to mark the start of the redevelopment project.
CityWorks is designing the project and should be ready to unveil its plans on Aug. 9, said Tom Clark, City-Works' executive director.
"This will be the start of something very good for West Lake Avenue," Mayor Thomas J. Catley said. "But there's still a lot to go."
The project represents about eight years of planning by several township administrations and the Midtown Urban Renaissance Corporation, which will partner with CityWorks on the project.
Gail Oliver, the corporation's president and a West Lake Avenue resident, said the demolition ends more than three decades of neglect and what she called complacency over how the neighborhood had deteriorated after the riots of the late 1960s.
"I no longer wanted to remain here if this was the way it was going to be," she said.
"I'm very happy about what's going to come," Oliver added. "I look forward to the progress that will be made."
Catley said there are no set plans yet for the site, which is near Alpha Liquors on the corner of Myrtle Avenue.
Committeeman Mike Golub is working on options, Catley said.
Clark told the crowd that plans for the redevelopment of West Lake Avenue are "moving forward with great speed."
"We will have a number of plans to share with you over the next couple of weeks," he said.
One aspect of the redevelopment touted by township officials is that it will encourage locally owned businesses to relocate or to start up in Midtown. Robert Jameson, the owner of Jameson's restaurant on Route 35, said he would like to do just that. "I would like to open up something here myself - to show them that I'm a part of it," Jameson said.
The redevelopment project has not been without controversy. A citizens group called Neighbors United formed last year, mainly in opposition to the township's potential to use eminent domain to secure any land that may be needed.
Township officials have said they have no plans to use eminent domain to take occupied homes, although they did not offer the same assurance to businesses.
But Felmon Roseboro had no qualms over the fate of the building where his daughter was killed after a dispute involving a cigarette.
"Knock it down, and get it out of here," he said.
Redevelopment work is under way
Published in the Asbury Park Press 07/12/05
BY BILL BOWMAN
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU
NEPTUNE - Felmon Roseboro clapped, intertwined his fingers and shook his clenched hands as if in victory Monday as a large, yellow front-end loader crashed through one wall of a dilapidated two-story building on West Lake Avenue.
"There you go, there you go," the 74-year old township resident said as rubble fell and dust rose from the side of the building.
The township-owned building's demolition signaled the beginning of the West Lake Avenue redevelopment project - which in turn is the first phase of the long-awaited Midtown redevelopment - but that was not what spurred Roseboro to applaud as the machine's giant claw punched holes into the wall.
Roseboro said he wanted to see the building gone because of what it symbolizes to him and to his family: It was behind this former rooming house that his 28-year-old daughter, Margaret, was killed in the late 1970s.
"I probably won't be here to see it rebuilt," said Roseboro, who said he has been diagnosed with cancer. "But I'm glad I can see it gone."
About 30 neighborhood residents, officials from Neptune and Asbury Park and representatives of Trenton-based CityWorks - a nonprofit redevelopment agency - gathered at the building to mark the start of the redevelopment project.
CityWorks is designing the project and should be ready to unveil its plans on Aug. 9, said Tom Clark, City-Works' executive director.
"This will be the start of something very good for West Lake Avenue," Mayor Thomas J. Catley said. "But there's still a lot to go."
The project represents about eight years of planning by several township administrations and the Midtown Urban Renaissance Corporation, which will partner with CityWorks on the project.
Gail Oliver, the corporation's president and a West Lake Avenue resident, said the demolition ends more than three decades of neglect and what she called complacency over how the neighborhood had deteriorated after the riots of the late 1960s.
"I no longer wanted to remain here if this was the way it was going to be," she said.
"I'm very happy about what's going to come," Oliver added. "I look forward to the progress that will be made."
Catley said there are no set plans yet for the site, which is near Alpha Liquors on the corner of Myrtle Avenue.
Committeeman Mike Golub is working on options, Catley said.
Clark told the crowd that plans for the redevelopment of West Lake Avenue are "moving forward with great speed."
"We will have a number of plans to share with you over the next couple of weeks," he said.
One aspect of the redevelopment touted by township officials is that it will encourage locally owned businesses to relocate or to start up in Midtown. Robert Jameson, the owner of Jameson's restaurant on Route 35, said he would like to do just that. "I would like to open up something here myself - to show them that I'm a part of it," Jameson said.
The redevelopment project has not been without controversy. A citizens group called Neighbors United formed last year, mainly in opposition to the township's potential to use eminent domain to secure any land that may be needed.
Township officials have said they have no plans to use eminent domain to take occupied homes, although they did not offer the same assurance to businesses.
But Felmon Roseboro had no qualms over the fate of the building where his daughter was killed after a dispute involving a cigarette.
"Knock it down, and get it out of here," he said.
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