It is a class-style gym that will occupy the empty space between the Dollar General and the Current rehab in the belmar mall called alpha fit club. Seems like they have about 10 locations already.
Why doesn’t the town record and post all of these meetings? This administration ran on full transparency, so they should start with posting recordings of all these meetings. Doesn’t the town have a multi-media coordinator? I am sure the administrator of this blog would appreciate it!
Guest. Yes it would be nice but the guy they hired to do all that stuff doesn’t want anything to do with it. Hence, the town paid thousands of dollars to install a camera system to record meetings so that he doesn’t have to.
resident participation at Belmar public meetings peaked during the pandemic using ZOOM … you could stay in the comfort of your home with deluxe features like Mute and On-Off switching.
Hybrid ZOOM meetings can satisfy NJ legal requirements
It is almost comical to read comments on this blog about the various administrations over the years. Scratch that, it IS comical. No matter who is in charge, there is a segment that complains and a segment that defends. The complaints and the defense are almost identical. Whether it is a dem mayor or a rep mayor, the complaints are the same (no transparency, they’re in over their heads, so mean, don’t they care, the old admin was so much better, why are we spending money on these salaries) and the defense is always the same (they are cleaning up a mess, this admin is better, etc).
You could take posts from the days when Dave started the predecessor Common Sense blog all the way up to these comments in the Belmar Blog, take away the date and redact any names mentioned and you would not be able to tell when they were printed or who they were about. We are very tribal and we only care about our own “team”. A manufactured and false belief that we can only rely on the political party we happen to identify with. Even in this hyper local, tiny little town.
Why anyone would want to be mayor or on the council is beyond me. Maybe that’s why Mrs Renner dropped out. This futility of this political circus started to creep in.
Oh please, the only meetings ever recorded by residents or past administrations were council meetings, except during the pandemic when everything was held and recorded on Zoom. I don’t even think Dave recorded all of these extra meetings when he ran this blog. If you want to know what happens at the meetings, GO TO THEM. Be an active participant in the community instead of being keyboard warriors. All of these meetings are open to the public.
Not all of us are/were a fan of Mr. Sabia’s social media videos. I do not need to know every single detail of every single event in town. If you want to know what the events are like, GO TO THEM. Support our local organizations and businesses that put these events on. Unless you are all comfortable hiring another boro employee and putting them on the payroll just to handle social media, but then again you’d probably complain about that, too!
Congressional Hearings and Subcommittee meetings are also open to the public in Washington DC. But I am glad they are televised for the general public. Some don’t have the means or physical ability to GO TO THEM even if they are in Belmar. Not saying other admins used to record these meetings either, but since the technology exists, wouldn’t it make sense for the chair to just push the record button and make them all more accessible? Heck, I have been to some of these meetings and it’s standing room only….for three plus hours.
Yeah, Mr Sabia was actually at the meetings and would help to adjust people’s microphones and more. We can’t even get a working microphone for Mrs Rondinaro.
We all know where John Walsh lies politically and how he got the position. It’s a no brainer if you are a local and know who is connected.
Marshall Boxer handles information technology for the boro, and he was at the meeting last night. I think it’s safe to say that fixing microphones is well within his wheelhouse.
What you’re basically saying is in addition to Mr. Walsh being an assistant to the mayor and the de-facto tourism/special events director, who has so far put on two successful events (the Seafood Festival and San Gennaro), you want him to also be the social media guru? Then he will have the job of three people: one once held by Mary Brabazon (making $68,000 in 2022), one by John Sabia (making $50,000 in 2022), and himself as an assistant to the mayor (making a reported $55,000), yes, most likely because he was also the mayor’s campaign manager. No argument there. But show me another person who would take on all three of those jobs at once and not have something to complain about. Perhaps you’d like to volunteer for one? Or maybe we’re underpaying the man for all of his work? It has already been said that some people do not agree with his personal social media profiles, so I’m not sure why some of these same people would complain that he’s not doing the same for the boro. You’d think they would be relieved that he’s not.
The salary numbers BTW are from OPRA request 22-424 for annual salaries of all 2022 boro employees. Mr. Boxer himself is listed as making $94,000. I am not the original person who requested this information, merely found it online.
News flash- Mayoral administrations hire people from the same political party (OMG!) That is quite a revelation, Scratch my back.
Dems hire dems and republicans hire republicans. It happens everywhere all the time. Mr Walsh isn’t ‘connected’. He made comical videos goofing on Trump (personally I’m not completely impressed because there is no one easier to make fun of than Trump. The guy is a talking dumpster fire) and so someone thought he’d make a good tourism person.
Now my view is the only tourism person we need is the beach. Belmar’s problem has never been ‘how to we attract more people?’. I think we’d be better off paying someone to figure out how to reduce the crowds.
But if you didn’t complain when the last mayor hired all his buddies, you can’t complain now.
No one distrusts Doherty more than I do. But unless he gets some plum job with the circle of friends organization or they are giving him the profits from the food stand rather than keeping it to help run the great work they do, then the answer is no. By all appearances he was just helping broker the deal w the town. I know he doesn’t do anything without there being something for him, but circle of friends is a great organization that doesn’t seem the type to pay off Matt. This looks like the one time he just helped out.
The larger picture, of course, is the fact that he had that ridiculous pavilion build in the first place. That fact that we need to have a commercial business rent space in a community building is insane. $4 million for a plastic building with left over boardwalk planks for railings, vinyl floors, no dimmers, no cross breeze, and crappy finishes. Where did the money go? And have you ever tried to go into the public building we all paid for? You can’t. It’s run by a private company. Forget circle of friends, that’s nothing. Doherty used us as a political stepping stone. He sold the beachfront for his own selfish goals (none of which he achieved) all for nothing. How and why that dude still lives in this town is a testament to his total lack of shame.
Since there was no recording for this meeting, what is the plan that was proposed in place of the Alpha fit club?
That is not for the normal citizen to know. Only the Belmar Kings. How dare you even ask!
It is a class-style gym that will occupy the empty space between the Dollar General and the Current rehab in the belmar mall called alpha fit club. Seems like they have about 10 locations already.
Why doesn’t the town record and post all of these meetings? This administration ran on full transparency, so they should start with posting recordings of all these meetings. Doesn’t the town have a multi-media coordinator? I am sure the administrator of this blog would appreciate it!
I would still make my own recordings.
Guest. Yes it would be nice but the guy they hired to do all that stuff doesn’t want anything to do with it. Hence, the town paid thousands of dollars to install a camera system to record meetings so that he doesn’t have to.
Two salaries mayor assistant 55,000 and 150,000 to new BA
I would like transparency of what the job descriptions are and what they are actually doing.
The town was getting a bargain with previous employees
resident participation at Belmar public meetings peaked during the pandemic using ZOOM … you could stay in the comfort of your home with deluxe features like Mute and On-Off switching.
Hybrid ZOOM meetings can satisfy NJ legal requirements
Isn’t Mr. Sabia hired to do this? maybe he can take time to do some good as opposed to running his personal business on township time
Unless something has changed, John Sabia no longer works for the borough.
Actually Mr Sabia did a great job. I miss his videos of the various town-wide events. Haven’t had one of those posted since he left.
I agree he did a great job and he is missed
I agree. He put out great content and truly cared for his work.
It’s unfortunate that you have to *** ** **** in this town again.
(Asterisks are mine, editor.)
I think the whole town is realizing and appreciates the past admin and employees. Everyone agrees something special is missing now.
It’s not what the new admin is doing, it’s what they are not doing that is hurting our town.
Think about it!
It is almost comical to read comments on this blog about the various administrations over the years. Scratch that, it IS comical. No matter who is in charge, there is a segment that complains and a segment that defends. The complaints and the defense are almost identical. Whether it is a dem mayor or a rep mayor, the complaints are the same (no transparency, they’re in over their heads, so mean, don’t they care, the old admin was so much better, why are we spending money on these salaries) and the defense is always the same (they are cleaning up a mess, this admin is better, etc).
You could take posts from the days when Dave started the predecessor Common Sense blog all the way up to these comments in the Belmar Blog, take away the date and redact any names mentioned and you would not be able to tell when they were printed or who they were about. We are very tribal and we only care about our own “team”. A manufactured and false belief that we can only rely on the political party we happen to identify with. Even in this hyper local, tiny little town.
Why anyone would want to be mayor or on the council is beyond me. Maybe that’s why Mrs Renner dropped out. This futility of this political circus started to creep in.
This administration has no clue what they are doing. They are either in over their heads or just don’t care.
Oh please, the only meetings ever recorded by residents or past administrations were council meetings, except during the pandemic when everything was held and recorded on Zoom. I don’t even think Dave recorded all of these extra meetings when he ran this blog. If you want to know what happens at the meetings, GO TO THEM. Be an active participant in the community instead of being keyboard warriors. All of these meetings are open to the public.
Not all of us are/were a fan of Mr. Sabia’s social media videos. I do not need to know every single detail of every single event in town. If you want to know what the events are like, GO TO THEM. Support our local organizations and businesses that put these events on. Unless you are all comfortable hiring another boro employee and putting them on the payroll just to handle social media, but then again you’d probably complain about that, too!
Congressional Hearings and Subcommittee meetings are also open to the public in Washington DC. But I am glad they are televised for the general public. Some don’t have the means or physical ability to GO TO THEM even if they are in Belmar. Not saying other admins used to record these meetings either, but since the technology exists, wouldn’t it make sense for the chair to just push the record button and make them all more accessible? Heck, I have been to some of these meetings and it’s standing room only….for three plus hours.
Yes let’s just lower our standards
(Not sure what this means, Editor.)
We did hire someone, John Walsh, and he doesn’t compare to John Sabia
Well, they have the same first name. That is a direct comparison.
Yeah, Mr Sabia was actually at the meetings and would help to adjust people’s microphones and more. We can’t even get a working microphone for Mrs Rondinaro.
We all know where John Walsh lies politically and how he got the position. It’s a no brainer if you are a local and know who is connected.
Marshall Boxer handles information technology for the boro, and he was at the meeting last night. I think it’s safe to say that fixing microphones is well within his wheelhouse.
What you’re basically saying is in addition to Mr. Walsh being an assistant to the mayor and the de-facto tourism/special events director, who has so far put on two successful events (the Seafood Festival and San Gennaro), you want him to also be the social media guru? Then he will have the job of three people: one once held by Mary Brabazon (making $68,000 in 2022), one by John Sabia (making $50,000 in 2022), and himself as an assistant to the mayor (making a reported $55,000), yes, most likely because he was also the mayor’s campaign manager. No argument there. But show me another person who would take on all three of those jobs at once and not have something to complain about. Perhaps you’d like to volunteer for one? Or maybe we’re underpaying the man for all of his work? It has already been said that some people do not agree with his personal social media profiles, so I’m not sure why some of these same people would complain that he’s not doing the same for the boro. You’d think they would be relieved that he’s not.
The salary numbers BTW are from OPRA request 22-424 for annual salaries of all 2022 boro employees. Mr. Boxer himself is listed as making $94,000. I am not the original person who requested this information, merely found it online.
News flash- Mayoral administrations hire people from the same political party (OMG!) That is quite a revelation, Scratch my back.
Dems hire dems and republicans hire republicans. It happens everywhere all the time. Mr Walsh isn’t ‘connected’. He made comical videos goofing on Trump (personally I’m not completely impressed because there is no one easier to make fun of than Trump. The guy is a talking dumpster fire) and so someone thought he’d make a good tourism person.
Now my view is the only tourism person we need is the beach. Belmar’s problem has never been ‘how to we attract more people?’. I think we’d be better off paying someone to figure out how to reduce the crowds.
But if you didn’t complain when the last mayor hired all his buddies, you can’t complain now.
Could the same politics you mention have anything to do with giving Doherty a $1 deal?
Interesting.
No one distrusts Doherty more than I do. But unless he gets some plum job with the circle of friends organization or they are giving him the profits from the food stand rather than keeping it to help run the great work they do, then the answer is no. By all appearances he was just helping broker the deal w the town. I know he doesn’t do anything without there being something for him, but circle of friends is a great organization that doesn’t seem the type to pay off Matt. This looks like the one time he just helped out.
The larger picture, of course, is the fact that he had that ridiculous pavilion build in the first place. That fact that we need to have a commercial business rent space in a community building is insane. $4 million for a plastic building with left over boardwalk planks for railings, vinyl floors, no dimmers, no cross breeze, and crappy finishes. Where did the money go? And have you ever tried to go into the public building we all paid for? You can’t. It’s run by a private company. Forget circle of friends, that’s nothing. Doherty used us as a political stepping stone. He sold the beachfront for his own selfish goals (none of which he achieved) all for nothing. How and why that dude still lives in this town is a testament to his total lack of shame.