Friday, September 13, 2013
I don't see any profit in rebuilding Funtown Pier, unless some outside investors - the Morey Family from Wildwood or Jenkinsons from Point Pleasant Beach - can envision a popular amusement ride pier there, As it is I wonder if much of Casino Pier to the north will end up being condemned & never rebuilt.
This boardwalk was in trouble before Hurricane Sandy. Afterward, whew. The vacation rental market crashed in towns on the strip of sand north of Seaside Heights. Whole blocks of cottages were demolished, waiting to be demolished, or waiting for rehab money that wasn't going to happen. Hundreds of bayfront houses have to be raised up to nine feet under new codes, Second homes are not eligible for government aid. So it's like handing much of what remains from the fairly affluent middle class to the wealthy.
The reality show Jersey Shore did no long term favors for Seaside Heights. It is not overrun with guido culture, or wasn't. That culture is spread out all along the Jersey coast & on to Long Island NY. But the show said, "Come to Seaside & Fuck a Snooki or a Situation" & so they came, & failing to get laid they got into fights & stabbed each other.
It's been thirty years since I went to Seaside Heights & felt the disconnect from North Jersey I get south of Atlantic City.
If Seaside Park wasn't rethinking its end of boardwalk after the hurricane, the town may have to now.
