By KENNY WALTER
Staff Writer
LONG BRANCH — For the second straight City Council meeting, residents of Vine Court expressed concerns for traffic and parking on their street.
During the July 12 meeting, several residents requested the city make changes as they claim conditions have worsened.
“The mayor is on vacation, and he should be back either tomorrow or Thursday,” Business Administrator Howard Woolley Jr. said. “Once I speak to him, I can set the meeting date up.”
Residents of Vine Court, a small cul-de-sac off of Ocean Avenue, want the city to reverse the decision to eliminate several parking spaces on the street. Due to construction of the boardwalk, which changed some of the road patterns, various spaces were removed to accommodate emergency vehicles.
Arlene Josephs said cars are going the wrong way on the one-way street, which is leading to a dangerous situation.
“The traffic pattern is getting worse,” she said. “The past two weeks all I hear are screeching brakes and cars coming head to head.”
The council also awarded police commendations during the meeting for several officers who went beyond the scope of their job.
Several officers were given commendations for their actions during various events including averting a knife-wielding burglar in 2015, stopping an armed gang fight on Jackson Street, making arrests where two people, including a former officer, were stabbed at Arena Grille and identifying and closing a large-scale narcotics manufacturing operation.
Public Safety Director Jason Roebuck said the awards come at a good time after five Dallas police officers were ambushed and killed last week.
“With the events of last week still fresh in everyone’s mind, ceremonies like this take on a little bit more significance,” he said.
“To go above and beyond, normally you have to want to do it, you have to go out there and want to do your job well. It doesn’t just happen.”
The council also adopted a $4.9 million bond ordinance for several capital improvements.
The bond will fund a $25,000 purchase of a van, $90,000 for beach and playground equipment, $35,000 for four-wheeled drive carts for the Office of Emergency Management, $100,000 for document imaging software, $287,000 for the acquisition and installation of duck bills for drainage improvements, $1.7 million for paving and drainage improvements, $1.2 million for trucks for the Department of Public Works and $1.5 million for the replacement of the HVAC system at city hall.
Resident Vincent LePore said he was not necessarily opposed to the bond, but rather criticized the city’s overall spending practices.
“My concern is the consecutive bonding that is taking place in the city,” he said. “This is one of the better bonds — there is less questioning on most of it than some of the other bonds that are coming through.”
However, LePore said there is legislation in the works that would allow the city to find alternative funding sources for some of the projects.