|
|
Feburary 7, 2005
ASBURY PARTNERS HOSTS FIRST IN A SERIES OF COMMUNITY MEETINGS TO DISCUSS THE PROGRESS AND CHALLENGES OF CITY'S REDEVELOPMENT
 |
Pictured from left to right are: Larry Fishman, Asbury Partners; Dr. Guy
McCombs, Asbury Partners; Mike McNeil, S.T.E.P.S.; and Hazel Samuels,
Department of Housing and Economic Development. |
More than 25 community leaders representing diverse
organizations throughout Asbury Park, New Jersey, attended a breakfast meeting
in late January, with Larry Fishman, chief operating officer of Asbury Partners,
LLC, the designated redeveloper of the 56-acre waterfront redevelopment, Oceanfront
Asbury. It represented the first in a series of gatherings planned by the redeveloper
to provide an open forum for discussion about the progress and challenges of
the waterfront redevelopment. The event, organized by Dr. Guy McCombs, community
liaison for Asbury Partners, and Mike McNeil from “Solution to End Poverty
Soon” (S.T.E.P.S.), took place at Asbury Partners’ headquarters on
the boardwalk in Asbury Park.
“Now that significant progress is taking place, many of us have questions
about the current activity and what will occur in the near future. The goal
of this event was to provide an opportunity to share our thoughts and feelings
about the redevelopment,” noted McNeil. Attendees included local ministers,
minority contractors, Asbury Park school officials and teachers and other interested
organization representatives and business people. Most also were long-time
residents of Asbury Park.
“Larry Fishman is a very down-to-earth person,” McNeil noted. “He
was very receptive to our questions and concerns and provided us with a wealth
of information.
His candid and knowledgeable manner generated a wonderful,
enthusiastic response, and I think we all learned a great deal from each
other.”
Jobs and Affordable Housing Among the Key Topics
Much of the discussion
focused on how residents of the City could benefit from the progress on the
waterfront. Among the participants, Hazel Samuels, head of the Department
of Housing and Economic Development, noted: “Asbury
Park is moving forward and the momentum is building. City officials are focused
on the whole city as it moves forward with the redevelopment. I am interested
professionally and as a resident – someone who chose to raise my family
here. I want to be part of the effort to help people born and raised here stay
here . . . to provide affordable housing to be sure there’s a place for
everyone as the City blossoms and grows.”
Other attendees were focused
on how to get jobs and training for the residents of the City, how to help
the young people, and how to provide an environment that is inclusionary on
the waterfront.
Fishman clarified Asbury Partners’ role as a “facilitator” for
the group and described his firm’s genuine interest in enabling the businesses
and residents of Asbury Park to participate in the project. “Asbury Partners
has invested $40 million of its own money in the redevelopment so far, because
we believe in Asbury Park,” he said. “The Waterfront Plan is the
City’s plan, and it incorporates a number of community initiatives including
$7 million for affordable housing, preferential hiring for city residents and
businesses, and training programs.
He said that all the project’s sub-developers understand these initiatives
and are on board with them and said that the recent addition of a City Workforce
Development Director is both representative of the progress, and a chance to
create a central clearinghouse of people eligible for jobs and training. “It
is in the best interest of everyone to make this happen,” Fishman added. “When
this redevelopment began in 2001, the City did not have the financial ability
to address the issues of workforce development. Now they do, and the waterfront
redevelopment has been key in this progress – with millions of dollars
generated in tax revenues.”
“The waterfront redevelopment has four active components in 2005: the
residential construction taking place at Wesley Grove at Asbury Park and North
Beach at Asbury Park, as well as the $50 million infrastructure improvement
program, which is about to be launched by the Partners, and the plans being
finalized for the former C-8 building. All include significant initiatives
and commitments to use the local workforce. What we now need is the list of
qualified people, the local contractors to bid on the jobs . . . with the involvement
of this group, the City’s workforce development team, and the developers
of Oceanfront Asbury, we can make this a project that benefits so many in the
City.”
“The participation of the local community is very important now,” McNeil
agreed. “We are formulating those lists, and the meeting at Asbury Partners
brought many of us together at the same table. We have the momentum, and we
intend to work with the waterfront redevelopers and City Government, to take
advantage of those initiatives incorporated in the Plan.”
“Meetings such as today are positive as it provides a forum for communication
with the community,” Samuels added. “Everyone in this room is interested
in helping Asbury Park’s revitalization succeed, and this is a very positive
step towards that goal.”
|
|
