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How to beat the traffic in Belmar

unnamed-1Hopefully the rain will let up this weekend and residents and tourists alike can enjoy our beautiful Monmouth County beaches. The only downside of a trip to the beach is traffic and parking.  Belmar Mayor “Lawless Matt” Doherty has a solution to that problem.  Land a helicopter on borough property at Silver Lake!

On July 7 a friend of the mayor’s who just happened to donate $2500 to Dirty Doherty’s campaign coffers chartered a helicopter to fly him and his very recently betrothed fiancée away for a romantic getaway .  Our friends at Common Sense for Belmar have been all over the story.

Doherty took to facebook yesterday to say that the $2500 donation that Leo Ayala made to his campaign had nothing to do with getting permission to land a helicopter on borough property.

“Dirty DohertyWe would do the same for anyone. Only problem I have now is Maggie wants to know why I didn’t have the same idea for her and wants me to come up with something great and romantic like that. I am not sure I can even match what Leo did.”

A helicopter ride from New York to Atlantic Highlands costs $900. The ride to Belmar is probably a bit more. Say $1500. If Matt got back the money Maggie gave to Deborah Wasserman Schultz’s reelection campaign, maybe he could swing it.

So beat the traffic in Belmar and fly right in.  Just call the mayor.  He didn’t let the members of the council in on his decision to grant permission to his friend and campaign donor because there was no time.  It happened so quickly. The New Jersey Department of Transportation issued a temporary permit for the landing, but there was no time to inform the council and get their consent.

IMG_0993-768x653The DOT’s published rules for granting a temporary aeronautical facility permit require public notice in the newspaper and a public hearing.  That would have killed the romance for Leo and his bethrothed.  And then the council and the public who have to be heard on the matter.  Luckily for Leo, those rules expired in 2008. And he knows the mayor.  And he gave the mayor $2500.

Now, if you can’t afford the helicopter into Belmar and are going to fight the traffic, your next challenge will be parking. Call the mayor!  He can probably get you one of those permits he obviously has to park along yellow curbs. No campaign contribution required, of course.  He would do it for anybody.

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Posted: July 29th, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Belmar, Matt Doherty, Monmouth County News, NJ DOT | Tags: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

2 Comments on “How to beat the traffic in Belmar”

  1. Peter Grandich said at 7:46 am on July 29th, 2016:

    Art – I’m not one to comment on political related issues but having read your blog for years now, this is without a doubt, one of your best posts ever.
    I hope you realize that any chance of being invited over to the Mayor’s home for tea was shot with this article.

  2. Jimmy Jones said at 4:37 pm on July 31st, 2016:

    I’m laughing – to keep from crying