Typo - I meant perhaps the board is "not" made up of the most accomplished business executives who now reside in this town.
--- In [email protected], "asburycouple" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > 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. Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
