Why my heart is breaking in Asbury Park
The following is text from a post I made this morning on an Asbury Park message board;
"You know, we spend so much time here talking about preservation and
real estate, but I think that there are bigger fish to fry in the
fabric of Asbury.
I'm going to describe to you why my heart is breaking in Asbury.
When I got home from work last night,I was approached yet again by
the same prostitute that thinks I was pulling over for her, but I was
merely parking in front of my home. About 15 feet away, her menacing
pimp who follows her everywhere was leaning against a telephone pole,
watching with an agitated look on his face. This women was clearly
drugged out, with traces of a black eye marring her face.
I am really getting sick of dealing with this. I've tried contacting
the police, but they have stated that the police dept is understaffed,
there are many other problems plaguing our city, and that prostitution
is a misdemenor, so the jail is basically like a revolving door, and
each time one of them gets busted, they learn a little more about how
they can keep doing what they do. I've also heard that the Asbury
Court is big on giving people a second chance, but does that mean a
second, and third and so on? What really bugs me about this is that
it's a vicious cycle...the prostitutes are probably funding their drug
habits with their work, and the drug dealers partially stay in
business because of this.
Later last night, I was working at the Baronet, which I take great
pride in. After we were finished, I had a nice conversation with Jen
at Asbury Lanes, and when I walked out to my car, there was a black
Range Rover parked next to it. Inside this SUV was that same
prostitute, giving a guy a blow job, right in front of the Baronet.
What a wonderful sight to end my evening with.
This morning, I went for a dog walk in Library Square Park, which
would be a lovely place to be, but it's not. During our walk, I was
approached by an agitated man who was clearly "playing with himself",
and he asked me if I could spare any money, and when I said no he
muttered "fuck you" under his breath. I then observed him going to the
center of the park. On the benches were a number of people who
appeared to be making drug deals, so he walked over, sat down, made
his deal and off he went. If I had my cell phone with me, I would've
called the police, and by the time I was out of the park those people
were already on their way. I've seen this behavior over and over.
What a nice way to start my day.
I have a life. I don't need to spend my spare time calling the police.
I have a job to get to, and a life to live. But I can't look the other
way. I moved to Asbury in hopes of a life with a shorter commute, and
I love living near the ocean.
As I drive to work each morning, I pass thru town after town that
isn't plagued with these problems, and as time goes on, I begin to
wonder how much longer I want to stay here. I lived in Allenhurst for
10 years, and the only bad thing that ever happened to me there was 2
of my bicycles were stolen, only to be later seen in Asbury by my
friends, but never retrieved.
This is why my heart is breaking.
I truly believe we are facing a crisis here in Asbury. How will the
potential new residents of all the new condos deal with this problem?
Will they want to deal with it at all? If I was a potential condo
buyer driving into Asbury at the moment, and got waved down by a
prostitute, or observed some obvious drug dealing, I'd have some
serious second thoughts.
Nowhere have I seen any plans to truly combat these problems, just
excuses for why they exist.
Thanks for listening.
"You know, we spend so much time here talking about preservation and
real estate, but I think that there are bigger fish to fry in the
fabric of Asbury.
I'm going to describe to you why my heart is breaking in Asbury.
When I got home from work last night,I was approached yet again by
the same prostitute that thinks I was pulling over for her, but I was
merely parking in front of my home. About 15 feet away, her menacing
pimp who follows her everywhere was leaning against a telephone pole,
watching with an agitated look on his face. This women was clearly
drugged out, with traces of a black eye marring her face.
I am really getting sick of dealing with this. I've tried contacting
the police, but they have stated that the police dept is understaffed,
there are many other problems plaguing our city, and that prostitution
is a misdemenor, so the jail is basically like a revolving door, and
each time one of them gets busted, they learn a little more about how
they can keep doing what they do. I've also heard that the Asbury
Court is big on giving people a second chance, but does that mean a
second, and third and so on? What really bugs me about this is that
it's a vicious cycle...the prostitutes are probably funding their drug
habits with their work, and the drug dealers partially stay in
business because of this.
Later last night, I was working at the Baronet, which I take great
pride in. After we were finished, I had a nice conversation with Jen
at Asbury Lanes, and when I walked out to my car, there was a black
Range Rover parked next to it. Inside this SUV was that same
prostitute, giving a guy a blow job, right in front of the Baronet.
What a wonderful sight to end my evening with.
This morning, I went for a dog walk in Library Square Park, which
would be a lovely place to be, but it's not. During our walk, I was
approached by an agitated man who was clearly "playing with himself",
and he asked me if I could spare any money, and when I said no he
muttered "fuck you" under his breath. I then observed him going to the
center of the park. On the benches were a number of people who
appeared to be making drug deals, so he walked over, sat down, made
his deal and off he went. If I had my cell phone with me, I would've
called the police, and by the time I was out of the park those people
were already on their way. I've seen this behavior over and over.
What a nice way to start my day.
I have a life. I don't need to spend my spare time calling the police.
I have a job to get to, and a life to live. But I can't look the other
way. I moved to Asbury in hopes of a life with a shorter commute, and
I love living near the ocean.
As I drive to work each morning, I pass thru town after town that
isn't plagued with these problems, and as time goes on, I begin to
wonder how much longer I want to stay here. I lived in Allenhurst for
10 years, and the only bad thing that ever happened to me there was 2
of my bicycles were stolen, only to be later seen in Asbury by my
friends, but never retrieved.
This is why my heart is breaking.
I truly believe we are facing a crisis here in Asbury. How will the
potential new residents of all the new condos deal with this problem?
Will they want to deal with it at all? If I was a potential condo
buyer driving into Asbury at the moment, and got waved down by a
prostitute, or observed some obvious drug dealing, I'd have some
serious second thoughts.
Nowhere have I seen any plans to truly combat these problems, just
excuses for why they exist.
Thanks for listening.
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