The Business at Hand >> Parkway security fencing needs to go

Last Updated on Monday, 06 February 2012 16:31 Written by Ann Richardson Tuesday, 07 February 2012 04:00

Eight feet tall and more reminiscent of a high security prison than the gateway to a pristine seashore resort area, the chain link fencing topped with barbed wire is about as ugly as it gets.

Recently installed between the Great Egg Harbor and Drag Channel bridges at the northern entrance to Cape May County on the Garden State Parkway, the $250,000 worth of “high-security” fencing is supposed to protect motorists from a terrorist attack. What a hideous way to greet visitors entering the Jersey Cape.

Beyond the unwelcoming and possibly frightening message the unsightly fence conveys: warning, danger, look out! – it’s a repulsive reminder that our government will never stop wasting money nor take us for fools. The piggies have to be fed, so the bureaucrats fill the trough with taxpayers dollars. Then they raise the tolls.

The revolting mix of chain link and barbed wire is part of a larger $6.9 million project to “protect” 10 bridges along the New Jersey Turnpike and the Parkway.

It all started with the New Jersey Domestic Security Preparedness Act. Signed into law in 2001, it created a “task force” involving Homeland Security and a mix of bureaucracy.

These folks were required to access the security “vulnerabilities” of the state’s bridges and roadways and disperse millions of taxpayer dollars where “needed.”

“Vulnerability assessments” it seems, not only provided paychecks, they determined that these bridges posed such a menacing threat to our safety that our government needed to borrow 40 cents for every one of those $6.9 million from China to protect it.

It’s sickening, coming on the heels of another questionable project, the infamous $6 million project that brought down hundreds of trees along 34 miles of the Parkway from Somers Point to Stafford Township.

First it was for safety – trees kill people in head-on collisions when cars run off the road. When that preposterous explanation didn’t go over, Turnpike officials said the trees were chopped down because the Parkway was going to be widened. The unfunded project was years off, but the trees were massacred, just in case.

Millions of dollars wasted and the Parkway looks like Guantanamo Bay.

“It’s unbelievable and it’s disgusting and it’s going to screw up tourism,” said Jeffrey Monihan, an Ocean City Realtor.

Joseph M. Sanzari, Inc. of Hackensack was paid $6.9 million to install the fencing. Weidlinger Associates, Inc. assessed the threats.

“You can see that this fencing does not even come close to doing what they say,” Monihan said. “They say this bridge is vulnerable, what qualifications do they have? How did they come to this conclusion?”

Politicians, from President Barack Obama on down, he said, carelessly toss taxpayer dollars around. Greedy contractors get the jobs and in turn line the pockets of greedy politicians and the already overburdened taxpayers are left holding the bag.

“The fence is offensive, unsightly and a turn-off to tourists,” Monihan said. “They cut all the trees down and put this fence up. Their response that this bridge could be a terrorist target is laughable. This fencing has got to come down.

“It’s an embarrassment, and I think every mayor in the county should demand that it be removed,” he said. “It’s a waste of money; it will do nothing to deter a terrorist.

“Obama is just pushing money out the door; it’s bad enough that they blew all this money on the fence, but now we have to look at it,” he said. “It’s a daily visual reminder of the wasted money.

“People come to the Jersey Shore because it’s nice and safe and then they see this fence and they ask themselves, ‘Is this something we should be concerned about? Should we be worried, because why else would they put up this prison fence?’” he said.

“Customers coming into our office have asked about it,” he said. “They’ve never felt uneasy coming to Ocean City; they can’t understand why it’s there. Just like last year when they couldn’t understand why anyone would take down all those trees.”

On Jan. 24, the Cape May County Freeholder Board passed a resolution requesting that the Turnpike Authority remove the fencing. Freeholder Susan Sheppard said a call from Monihan spurred her to take action.

“I took Jeff’s comments and concerns to heart. He is really upset and he’s not alone. A lot of people are outraged. I thought, ‘I have to do something about this,’” she said.  “I got right on it and the other freeholders were right there with me. We drafted the resolution and we got the attention of the Turnpike Authority.”

Sheppard said Turnpike officials said the fence would stay at least until a new bridge is constructed. The plan, she said, is to demolish the southbound span, which was constructed in 1955 and build a new one. The northbound span, constructed in 1973, would then be refurbished.

“This is in the planning stages, but it’s not going to happen for a while and the fence is just unacceptable,” she said. “It’s ridiculous, they used no common sense to put that fence up, but they say they’re not taking it down.”

Sheppard, who oversees the county’s tourism department, has been lobbying for new signage at the bridge, welcoming folks to Cape May County. The fencing, she said, is counterproductive to that warm welcome.

“It’s just not the message you want to send, it doesn’t make a very good first impression,” she said.

Not only does the fencing “denigrate the natural beauty of the wetlands and marshes for our residents,” she said, it creates a “disheartening image and unwelcoming impression for tourists.”

Sheppard said she contacted Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, who has been responsive to the county’s needs in the past. Guadagno has not yet responded; the horrid fencing will speak for itself the next time Guadagno visits the county.

Diane Wieland, director of the county’s tourism department, said the fencing “is not a real pretty sight.”

“That’s our gateway,” she said. “I don’t understand why we have no input; all of the sudden it looks like a prison. We’re trying to tell people how wonderful the county is and then they put this fence up. We’re not on the same page.”

“We have 19 million people entering the county and they have to look at a barbed wire fence,” Sheppard said. “That’s their first image, barbed wire.

“Tourism studies reveal that people come to family resorts like Ocean City because they’re clean and safe. Would you feel safe driving past that fence?” she asked. “It creates fear and worry.”

Freeholders, she said, do not claim to be experts on homeland security, but they collectively believe the fencing “provides exceedingly limited deterrence to a genuine and sophisticated terrorist threat and overreaches any reasonable and practical anti-terrorist measure.”

“The fence doesn’t look like it’s going to stop anyone,” she said.

Sheppard said she is tired of rumors and speculation.

“We want the truth; we want to be a part of what is happening,” she said. “Let us know ‘we’re taking down the trees, we’re putting up a fence,’ just tell us. Don’t put the fence up and then say, ‘Oh, it’s for terrorism.’ We want them to seek the appropriate input, from the public and from elected officials.”

At a Tuesday press conference with Sen. Chris Connors, Sen. Jeff Van Drew said help is on the way.

“We don’t have a voice, and we would like to change that,” he said.

“The Turnpike Authority’s meetings are all up in Woodbridge,” he said. “Folks like you and me are not going to drive up. Local officials don’t hear much about them.”

Projects are recorded in the minutes of meetings, but the details get lost in the big picture when North Jersey bureaucrats are involved.

“Deep South Jersey” is the neglected step-child.

“We want to mandate that we rotate the meetings in Ocean, Cape May and Atlantic counties, have at least a couple down here,” he said. “We want deep South Jersey involved.

“We also want one of the seven commissioners on the Turnpike Authority to be from deep South Jersey, there is no one from our area,” he said. “They are all from North Jersey, what do they care what happens to us? They see chain link fencing and think of their areas, where it wouldn’t much matter. It matters a lot down here.

“Someone familiar with our area would question it and say ‘boats go under there anyhow,’ and offer a common sense explanation that it won’t help. It’s a scenic area, no need for a fence. It would make a difference, but with no one there to say that these things our message doesn’t get through. We don’t want this to keep happening.”

Van Drew said issues like a full interchange at exit 20 for Seaville, fencing, trees, wetlands mitigation issues, and getting rid of the traffic lights on the Parkway could be more easily addressed.

“We need more voice and more power in South Jersey. If we had better representation on this board, some of these things might not happen.”

Van Drew said it was unlikely that the fence would come down. The state, he said, has funded the $400 million Route 52 bridge and causeway. They are demolishing the Beesleys Point Bridge “for free.”

“I absolutely will look into it,” he said, but taking it down would cost more money. “Really dumb stuff happens. It’s a concern and we are going to try to come up with a remedy. I hope to get legislation through that will give us a voice so that this kind of thing doesn’t keep happening.

“I’m a nature guy, I live in the woods, I appreciate the beauty our area offers,” he said.

The gateway to Cape May County, he said, looks like “an industrial contamination sight.”

“I will do everything in my power,” he said, to restore the beauty. “The ugly, stupid chain link fence is something we don’t need. Unfortunately, without a seat on that board, I am not privy to the information. Someone from our area needs to be at the table, we need the meetings to be where we can attend. We’re going to draft legislation and give it a shot.”

Taxpayer dollars are too tempting; bureaucrats can’t help themselves. The fence is going nowhere. The only shot we have is to implode the system.

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