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June 29, 2017By Neil Schulman
Long Branch — The city honored an undefeated soccer team at the June 27 City Council meeting.
Mayor Adam Schneider congratulated the Long Branch Boys U17 NJ Wildcats Sporting Soccer Team, which compiled an 11-0 record.
The mayor, who noted he doesn’t like to wear suits in the summer, instead put on a Wildcats jersey to congratulate the team while reading a proclamation.
The team went undefeated in both the spring season and in the tournament.
The proclamation said Tuesday, June 27, would be known as “Long Branch Boys U17 Wildcats Sporting Soccer Team Day” in the city.
No easy parking solution
Lori Ann Vendetti of Ocean Terrace asked the council if there was a way to address the major parking problems on her street. During the summer, there aren’t enough spaces for residents.
But the police department says that there’s no simple way to address the problem. It doesn’t like resident-only parking permits in general, and they’d be very problematic on Ocean Terrace, said Public Safety Director Jason Roebuck. There are more than 30 houses on the block, and less than 30 parking spaces available on the road.
“You’re going to have to offer it to all 30 people, and there’s not enough spots,” he said.
Roebuck added the police department has looked at the problem before.
“I realize you’re in a bad spot. We just can’t come up with anything.”
Vendetti said she didn’t have solutions, but was open to options. She noted Ocean Grove, which also has summer parking issues, adopted a new plan last year.
City committed to environment
The current federal government may be working to reduce environmental regulation, but Long Branch isn’t going along with that.
During the public portion of the meeting, Former city resident Diana Multaire, now of Manhattan, told the mayor and council she belonged to environmental groups who were upset that the U.S. government was “eliminating all restrictions on gas and oil drilling” in the oceans.
Even the tests to see if an area is good for drilling, a process called “seismic blasting,” can cause an ecological disaster, Multaire said. The test makes a sound “more powerful than a rocket blast,” which can affect 130,000 or more marine mammals, who depend on their hearing for navigation.
“They may lose their hearing altogether, and minimally bleeding from the ears,” she said.
Mayor Adam Schneider said Long Branch was opposed to this, and he had recently joined the Climate Mayors, a group of mayors around the U.S. who are committed to meeting the standards of the Paris Accord even if the federal government doesn’t. It opposes programs that would be bad for global warming.
“The one you’re talking about is directly aimed at promoting the increase in carbon,” he said.
The mayor said that he’s learned it’s important for many to take a stand.
“It becomes a larger voice,” he said. “A lot of mayors are upset at what’s going on.”
“Every level of government has to speak up,” he said.