Click Here For Video Message Link
Hello Fellow Residents-
I hope everyone has been enjoying the holiday season, as the new year of 2022 is upon us.
I’d like to recap briefly 2021 and then foreshadow the upcoming year-
We started 2021 in the backdrop of a life-threatening pandemic. Last January, Bradley
Beach had amassed 200 COVID cases; with 70 active cases on the first of the year. We are
now over 500 cumulative cases 12 months later, registering about a case a day of late. With
life-saving vaccines and a much better understanding of how to manage our lives, here we
are again in a critical situation- managing the Omicron surge. This weighs on everything we
do; and many of the decisions we make we “tee-up” to the implication of this.
We framed our 2021 initiatives into six “umbrella” areas- Affordability, Capability,
Beachfront, Main Street, Parking Improvements, and Infrastructure. We were able to affect
over 40 improvements or critical activities to support these six areas; and hence we believe
our residents have been positively impacted. We had many successes, a few failures; but
overall, I think we improved the lives of our residents.
Two big challenges in 2021 are currently being addressed and will be a focus in 2022.
FIRST, Christmas 2021 came early. In mid-December, Cinema Labs took control of the
Theater that closed in late 2020; and they have great plans for the site going forward. We
will work with that team in ways to enable their success. SECOND, the Church at 319
LaReine Avenue is undergoing an extensive evaluation to assess what are the possibilities;
and in fact what is the logical path forward. We’ll have those answers in the late part of the
first quarter 2022.
In addition, we have to answer a critical question for Bradley Beach in 2022- how do we
organize our towns facilities and match them to a mid-long range plan? We started this
process; but need to get it moving at a faster pace. This is a big deal.
Our other key focus areas for 2022 are a continued focus on Affordability (spending and
municipal tax rate), a renewed strategy for Main Street covering the next 5-years, continued
improvements to the Beachfront (including a coastal resilience assessment with a view
toward extending our bulkhead south) , and moving through a number of Infrastructure
projects, among which is our “Phase II” sewer replacement project. Last, we have embarked
on an “Operational Excellence” program. This entails a focus on our internal processes and
organization. Kim Humphrey, our talented new Business Administrator, is tackling this
head-on. So enjoy this last week of 2021 and get ready for an exciting 2022–Buckle up!