This is an excerpt of an email I sent early this morning to Toms River Mayor Thomas Kelaher. I will be sending the same or similar to all council-persons, as well -- as a start. Receiving timely and adequate information is the first step necessary for Ortley residents to deal with this situation. Many of us may be without power, but, as tax-payers and members of the community, we should not be kept in the dark about our futures. I encourage all residents to call or write elected officials to express concerns and ask for answers.
Dear Mayor Kelaher;
As a long-time home owner in Ortley Beach, I am writing to ask what kind of information system your office has put in place to keep residents informed, as much as possible, about the situation on the barrier islands? I have searched the township website ... and find nothing of any real substance. I did, however, find an excellent site for the community of Lavalette -- http://www.lavalette.org
On this site, in addition to learning about the progress of street cleaning, the condition of particular buildings of importance, plans for hiring outside contractors, etc., I learned that Lavalette has two people going up and down each street taking photos of every house and posting them so that residents may have some sense of the condition of their property while they wait for an opportunity to return and gather belongings and take necessary steps to winterize before the onset of cold weather. How fortunate for the residents of Lavalette to have this site to refer to daily in their search for answers.
While many houses on the barrier islands have been decimated, and others have extensive damage that will make repairing impossible, there are many, many houses that can be saved; houses that will form the core community as rebuilding takes place. These houses will be lost if services are not returned to the islands as quickly as possible and residents are not allowed to return just to secure their homes, drain water from pipes to prevent freezing and burst pipes, tarp damaged roofs and put plywood over broken windows.
Worried residents would appreciate any and all information pertaining to a time frame for their return for this purpose, and to be kept abreast regularly of conditions and changes that affect their homes and livelihoods.
We are fortunate in that our ocean block home is still standing, though flooded and suffering alot of repairable damage. We almost lost our home several times in the past few years -- not from natural disaster, but from the doubling of our taxes some years ago. We had difficulty, not surprisingly, in coming up with an extra $10,000 a year for taxes without a similar increase in salary. In fact, we lost double that amount in salary around the same time, and our house has been in and out of foreclosure ever since. Still, we worked at bringing our mortgage current, only to potentially lose our house, not only because of storm damage, but, now, because of the challenge of making the area safe for residents' return.
I would like to think that all those extra tax dollars would bring Ortley residents as much help and information as possible as we deal with this situation as a fearful, grieving community, struggling to be hopeful.
If I have missed an information site being offered by the township for Ortley Beach in particular, please direct me to it. If, after reading through Lavalette's site, you would like to provide something similar to residents, I would be happy to assist.
Sincerely,
Mary Morrell
9 Seventh Avenue
Photo is a Google image of houses along Ocean Terrace. -- 110112Ortley_dngnk.jpg
