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Opinion Page ~Comments in Response to Wesley Grove Report

Subject: Wesley Grove Construction Site

Date: 9/3/2006 8:58:08 PM Eastern Standard Time

From: depetro@optonline.net

To: Restore881FM@aol.com

Hi, Maureen,

I read your informative story on the Asbury Radio Web Site.  Having been in the construction business for 30 years, I was appalled by certain practices and construction techniques that are taking place there.  OSHA would have a field day handing out fines for the lack of guard rails on the upper decks.  The fact that you were allowed to walk through a construction site without a hard hat is cause for another fine as well as the laborers standing at the edge of unprotected balconies with garbage cans filled with debris.  Even before reading your story, I was amazed by the use of particle board siding and wood framing in an area prone to hurricane force winds.  At a minimum, plywood should have been used and installed diagonally to give additional lateral strength.  What doesn't surprise me is the liberal use of fake stucco known in the trade as Efis.   This siding system has been banned by the Department of Community Affairs in New Jersey for use in subsidized housing projects because it is problematic.  What I find problematic about its use is that the Waterfront Redevelopment Plan forbids its use in the development zone.  But since this is Asbury Park and the Council's number one agenda is to make sure Asbury Partners and their cronies reap every penny out of this development, I am sure the Council will pass a resolution allowing its use. The quality and design of this housing being build by a recently released federal criminal, does nothing for the celebration of Asbury Park's historic past.  It merely emphasizes the grave mistake made by our Council when they took the advice of an admitted felon, Terry Weldon, and voted away Asbury Park's heritage. 

Richard DePetro, The Orphan Developer