April 27, 2004_Bungling BID Blunders Again.html

Ocean County Politics .com

Announcement Was Made With A Straight Face:

Another Inevitable Flop Announced By Downtown B.I.D: Now They're Sponsoring "One Mile & Two Mile Walks" To Encourage Walkers To Stop At Downtown Restaurants During Their Lunch Breaks; This Is What We Now Pay For Out Of $300,000 Annual Slush Fund

How Desperate Are These People To Make Fools Out Of The Taxpayers Who Are Paying 10% Surcharges For This Nonsense?

"Interim" Executive Director Michael Redpath Not Quoted

The newest "project" of the Toms River B.I.D. (Business "Improvement" District) is another insult to the taxpayers because it obviously won't work and is another waste of public funds from a public agency whose whole budget is a waste of public funds.

The program, according to an article that appeared self consciously on page two of Monday's Ocean County Observer, was presumably written with a straight face by reporter John Hazard.

Village Health Walk

The new B.I.D. project, called "Village Health Walk," seeks to persuade employees in the downtown area to take a one mile or two mile walk on their lunch break, and "get lunch from a local restaurant."

Redpath Not Quoted; Free Blood Pressure Checks Among Prizes

"Interim" B.I.D. Executive Director Michael Redpath, who is drawing a big salary for pretending that the B.I.D. agency will someday do something constructive, was not quoted in Hazard's article.

Gourmet Pizza Before Or After My Two Mile Walk?

B.I.D. Chairman And Gourmet Pizza Owner
Frank Capone

Among the prizes to be handed out by some of the sponsors are free blood pressure checks and chair massages. One of the "participating restaurants" is Capone's Gourmet Pizza.

Food Samples From "Participating" Restaurants

Go get your own blood pressure checked; "Take a walk" says the B.I.D. Free food samples were provided from "participating restaurants" at the B.I.D. office at the project's "kickoff" on Monday, according to the Observer article.

The one and two mile walking routes have been measured out on maps and these are available at the B.I.D. office.

B.I.D. Sweepers With New Brooms In Downtown TR, were hired to counter littering problems that didn't exist

One Hand Rarely Knows
What The Other Is Doing.

The Toms River B.I. D. is the failed step-child of the Toms River Chamber Of Commerce, and the brainchild of a few property owners with the most to gain from someone else paying for improvements to their downtown property.

Business Owners Spoke Out In Opposition

When the BID was presented to the public, the majority of downtown business owners spoke out against it.

Everybody Knew B.I.D. Was A Big Waste Of Money,
But The Governing Body Approved It Anyway

But eighteen months ago, the township committee approved it anyway, along with a 10% tax surcharge for downtown area property owners and 2% for those on Route 37 - and the present mayor and council want to "give it a chance" to waste and squander every single last penny in its $300,000 political slush fund budget, before they renew (and they will) the project's hemorrhage of taxpayers money again for next year.

Background These Issues - Check Out OCP B.I.D. Article - 11/17/03