I totally agree, and definitely see both sides here. For me, I look
at what this board inherited - an absolutely horrible situation by
anyone's standards. The city was on the verge of bankrupcy -
literally within days when the redevelopment deal was signed. There
were legal issues surrounding the waterfront area that had been
ongoing for years and had stalled any progress what-so-ever. The
town had for the most part a horrible reputation throughout the
state. Cookman was a ghost town.
Rather than play armchair quarterback at this point and point out
everywhere the redevelopment agreement sucks, I look back and see
that there were very limited options for the board at that point.
The most likely scenario other than the current redevelopment
agreement was bankrupcy for the city. I feel much better about
where we are than I would have had we declared bankrupcy. And
looking objectively at the situation at the time Asbury Partners
assumed a tremendous risk as well. This was no sure thing for them
either. There were no guarantees in Asbury Park, and history
demonstrated that things here often did not work out for anyone in
this town including those who invested in redevelopment with the
belief they could make it work.
Do I think I could have negotiated a better deal for redevelopment,
facing the same challenges that faced the board 4 years ago? The
answer is I don't know. Because no one really knows whether another
deal was possible that would have been markedly better as the city
faced looming bankrupcy and too many challengs to even begin to
articulate. It's too easy to second guess every individual aspect
of this deal without looking at the big picture of the deal and the
reality of just how challenging things were for everyone involved
when the deal was signed.
Perhaps the current board is made up of the most accomplished
business executives who now reside in this town. But for me
personally it comes down to this one question:
Is Asbury Park a better place to live now than it was 4 years ago?
I'm not sure how anyone could answer that question other than a
resounding "Yes". Things here are far from perfect - but every
aspect of the city is making some sort of progress. Our reputation
is has gone from one of the worst cities in NJ to one of rebirth and
optimism. We've gone from the brink of bankrupcy to being a credit-
worthy community. Our infrastructure is being rebuilt.
Redevelopment is happening. Even the war on drugs is now being
fought rather than just tolerated. Think about how much progress
that is in just four years.
I think the board needs to get credit for the progress that has been
made. It happened on their watch. They did so much to facilitate
it. And they would have been the ones taking the heat had it all
fallen apart.
Again I do understand both perspectives. But for me atleast, so
much positive has happened on their watch.
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