Source: Carol Gorga Williams of the Asbury Park Press with edits by Gail Oliver
NEPTUNE — For Gail Oliver, the end of the beginning came on Nov. 5 when she watched heavy equipment as it tore through and tore down the house she grew up in, the one her parents purchased in 1942.
Oliver’s efforts to save her community, which she ultimately knew would end in the demolition of her family home, began after she lived through “the scariest time I have ever experienced,” the July nights in 1970 when neighboring Asbury Park burned.
When the July 4 riots took down Springwood Avenue next door, it also impacted the neighborhood where Oliver had spent a happy childhood. Before 1970, Springwood Avenue was the economic anchor in the heart of Midtown, surrounded by moderate homes, houses of worship, schools and small parks.
After 1970, it was a mess, the kind of street people used but didn’t really see. Oliver remembered Springwood Avenue as a “once-famous street, up in smoke, all hope gone.”
In 1996, Oliver called newly installed Neptune Mayor Patricia Monroe, and stayed vocal over the decades. In 1998, Neptune was inducted into the state’s Neighborhood Empowerment Program. Soon, Concerned Midtown residents formed the Midtown Neighborhood Empowerment Council.
At the first meeting, which Oliver missed, she was elected president. The group morphed into the Midtown Urban Renaissance Corporation, a nonprofit agency that helped Neptune officials attract partners to redevelop the community.
Tuesday, the diverse group held a symbolic groundbreaking to celebrate the beginning of construction of Midtown Commons. The $18.75 million project is being undertaken by CityWorks, a nonprofit corporation created in 2004 to build projects in the state’s economically distressed neighborhoods.
CityWorks will build a series of commercial and residential buildings, including a family health center, retail stores, office space, senior housing, off-street parking and a park. State aid included a New Markets Tax Credits allocation, $2 million loan through the Local Development Financing Fund, a $1 million Economic Development Authority guarantee of a $10.7 million senior leveraged loan from TD Bank, and a $250,000 direct loan to bridge environmental funding resources.
The project is expected to create more than 370 construction jobs and nearly 100 new, full-time jobs upon completion.
For Oliver, watching her house demolished so the community could begin to prosper filled her with mixed emotions. “It’s about change for improvement,” she said. She also noted she cried when the house came down.
She credited Monroe, former Mayor Tom Catley and other officials who continued to push through the project, even when administrations changed. Mayor Randy Bishop is the latest cheerleader.
“It is hard to describe the feeling when I drove down West Lake Avenue and saw all the trucks and activity, a thrill ran down my spine,” said Catley. “In a much larger sense, the joy I feel was for a community that once again has opportunity and hope after decades of self destruction and neglect.”
Bishop expressed gratitude for the project partners, which include Jersey Shore University Medical Center, which will relocate its family health center to the commons. He praised TD Bank and the New Jersey Economic Development Authority as well as CityWorks, whose officials said they came to Monmouth County looking to do a project in Asbury Park and instead found Neptune.
“No journey that is worthwhile is undertaken alone,” said Bishop. “We have been together through tough times and we will all be together for the elation. . . . This township is about tomorrow. This township is about Midtown Commons.”
Christina Foglio, who is the head of CityWorks, presented city officials with an old paper cup, which had been fashioned into a work of art. She said it was for CityWorks Executive Director Tom Clark as he brings the project to completion.
“A cup of coffee gives some satisfaction and warmth,” she said of the remade symbol. “What redevelopment does is warm the heart . . . The cup” is for Clark “so he keeps getting up and looking at the cup differently and keeps the caffeine going and never throws the cup away.”
The project, completed without the use of eminent domain, is noteworthy, particularly during a challenging economy, said EDA Chief Executive Officer Caren S. Franzini.
“Neptune is such a jewel of a city,” she said at the ceremony at the Midtown Community Elementary School. “. . . The redevelopment of West Lake Avenue, particularly during these tough economic times, will serve to strengthen the Neptune community by providing residents with a neighborhood center and by stimulating economic growth in the city.”‘
