As police officers wrestled Gustavo Martinez Contreras to the ground while clearing out protesters in Asbury Park last month, newly released video shows he repeatedly tried to tell them “I’m a reporter” through his face mask.
Martinez Contreras, a reporter for the Asbury Park Press, was charged with failure to disperse — accusations that were later dropped.
But a report released Wednesday by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office found the officers who arrested him “had no knowledge they were apprehending a reporter,” clearing them of wrongdoing.Videos released Wednesday provide new details of … Read the rest of this entry »
Asbury Park, NJ, USA – March 5, 2020: Madam Marie’s fortune telling booth on the boardwalk
By Thomas DeSeno
A review
of the pleadings filed on Friday in State v Mayor John Moor and Asbury Park,
docket number C-56-20, shows that Governor Murphy filed a complaint against the
City and sought an emergent preliminary injunction. The purpose was to restrain Asbury Park from
enforcing their resolution of last Wednesday, where they tried to allow Asbury
Park restaurants to conduct indoor dining.
People
waiting to read the pleadings to finally see the “data that drives the dates”
as Murphy likes to put it, were greatly disappointed. There was no scientific material attached to
the pleadings.
Superior Court Judge Robert Lougy Ordered the City of Asbury Park not to implement their resolution allowing indoor dining in City restaurants effective Monday, June 15. Judge Lougy’s Order was requested by Governor Phil Murphy who had filed a lawsuit against the City earlier on Friday.
Deputy Mayor Amy Quinn posted an announcement of the Order on facebook and asked restaurants to comply.
Two days after Asbury Park revealed it would violate Gov. Phil Murphy executive order and allow indoor dining, Murphy announced the state was suing the Jersey Shore’s premier dining destination to stop the service.
“We have worked with the governing body of Asbury Park to try to amicably resolve the issue of their resolution regarding indoor dining. Unfortunately, they have not done so,” Murphy said at his daily coronavirus briefing on Friday. “We have one set of rules and they are based on one principle — ensuring public health.”The Attorney General will be bringing a lawsuit later [Friday] ag… Read the rest of this entry »
In a move that runs contrary to Gov. Phil Murphy’s latest executive order, Asbury Park will allow its restaurants to have limited indoor dining for the first time since the state’s eateries were banned from allowing patrons to dine inside during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Asbury Park City Council approved a resolution Wednesday evening allowing restaurants to allow indoor dining at 25% of the building’s capacity or 50 people, whichever is lower, beginning June 15.
The measure was part of a larger resolution outlining plans for establishment to allow outdoor dining and outdoor retail display a… Read the rest of this entry »
Several protesters were arrested and a police officer was injured during a melee in Asbury Park Monday at the end of a protest prompted by the police killing of George Floyd a week ago in Minnesota.
The protest had been peaceful for four hours after the 5 p.m. start, with officers from multiple departments at times kneeling with the demonstrators in support.
Tensions arose when police, at around 9:30 p.m., began attempting to disperse the remaining 200 or so protesters, in keeping with an 8 p.m. curfew announced earlier in the day by Asbury Park officials.Several protesters were arrested an a po… Read the rest of this entry »
Asbury Park Mayor John Moor and Emergency Management Coordinator Garrett Giberson, Jr have proclaimed a State of Emergency in the City and imposed a curfew from 8 pm tonight until 5 am tomorrow morning, in the hopes of preventing the looting and rioting that has occurred elsewhere in the country following peaceful protests of the murder of George Floyd.
Revolution is delightful in the preliminary stages. – Aldous Huxley
Tom DeSeno
By Tom DeSeno
Asbury Park feels like we are dancing on a volcano.
An Asbury Parker named Felicia Simmons is running a rally on
Monday, at 5 pm, on the sidewalk in front of the Post office. At this writing, 3,000 people on the event
page are either going (1,023) or interested in going (1,947).
I justify the cause.
George Floyd suffered the only thing worse than death; he was tortured
first. Face down in the gutter, knee on his carotid artery, knowing he was
dying and begging for a life endowed by his creator especially for him, for
which no one had the right to take or make him beg. He died terrified. It didn’t last 9 minutes.
It lasted George’s forever.
Police officers on patrol heard shots fired at the Asbury Park Village Housing complex at about 10:30 p.m. on Friday May 15.
Tykee Mitchell, a 26 year old resident of the City was found suffering from a gunshot wound, according to a statement from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office. Mitchell was taken to the hospital.
In its first telephonic meeting of the coronavirus outbreak, the Asbury Park Board of Education put off voting on a 2020-21 school budget that would raise taxes 22%, even before hearing residents’ warnings that such a steep hike amid the economic hard times wrought by the virus would drive some of them out of town.
The reason for the proposed $2 million increase in the amount to be raised through local property taxes is a $5 million cut in state aid to the district for the 2020-21 school year under a funding formula adopted three years ago, according to Asbury Park Superintendent of Schools Sanc… Read the rest of this entry »
