The expressed opinions or views of this letter does not necessarily represent the opinion of the MiddletownMike blog:
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| Betsy Ross Farm Market |
What the heck is going on in Middletown? It looks like the town is shutting down. There are so many businesses that have closed and many more are for lease or rent.
Betsy Ross Farm Market and the Gulf station at Wilson Avenue, Crustini (a pizza place), Werner Dodge, Enterprise Rent A Car, Bath Fitters and Ryan’s Ice Cream on Route 36 have all closed within the last year. The Depot Inn closed and the Wild Scallion has been closed for years. These businesses are within 2 miles of each other.
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| Junction Getty station |
In the Junction, the Getty station closed as did the cigar store, the nail salon and the children’s consignment store. The old Shell gas station across from Carvel on Leonardville Road has been abandoned for decades and is a disgrace to our town.
Head over to Route 35 and you will see that Pathmark, Steak and Ale, Friendly’s and Pizza Hut are closed. There are other businesses closed too, including but not limited to Bayshore Music Center and the old Hess station by Carraba’s that was abandoned decades ago. These closed businesses are among the multiple for sale/lease/rent properties in town.
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| Steak & Ale |
So what the heck is going on in Middletown? What’s going on has everything to do with the Republican leadership for the past 20 plus years. Their lack of vision and deficit of business sense is shutting down Middletown. Will the last one out please shut off the lights?
Paul J Jansen
Middletown
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Here are a few more pictures of empty or abandoned businesses around Middletown.
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| Wild Scallions |
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| Rt 36, Gulf station |
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| Rt 36, Werner Dodge |
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| Napoli Boy's (Ryan's) Ice Cream |
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| Junction building, across from St. Mary's |
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| Rt 35 Navesink, Bank of America |
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| Computer World, Rt 35 |
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| Rt 35,Steak & Ale |
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| Closed Hess Station, Rt 35 |
25 comments:
It's not just Middletown or Monmouth cty or New Jersey or THe United states, this is happening all over. All roads with these empty businesses on them lead to the leadership in the White house.
Businesses depend on customers. If people don't patronize a business, it closes. It really has nothing to do with municipal government or policy.
I am sure that if the letter writer has any big ideas that the Township Committee could put into place to help bring businesses to the empty locations they'd be glad to hear them.
Too bad he didn't include those ideas in his letter...
What an absurd letter. Two of the businesses, Enterprise and Bath Fitters moved to bigger locations in town because they outgrew their old locations. The owner of Werner Dodge retired. The cigar shop closed due to fire. The Betsy Ross store closed due to a family illness. Chains like Friendly's and Pathmark closed dozens of stores across the country as a corporate business decision. Independently owned gas stations all over the country have closed as larger discount chains like waWa and QuikCheck have emerged. That's the result of competition. Finally, over 50% of small businesses fail within two years due to undercapitalization or poor business models. This letter is nothing more than a lame attempt at trying to score political brownie points. Yet Steve Sweeney and Speaker Pietro continue their crusade to jack up taxes on businesses even further. That's the real problem in this state.
This doesn't appear to be happening in places like Holmdel. People in Middletown leave town to do their shopping in places like Holmdel where there are an abundance of businesses to patronize.
Middletown has had a "stellar" Economic Developmet Committee for a number of years now. What are they doing to improve our business community?
We rely on our elected officials to make decisions to grow our community. That is what they are elected to do. If we left the decisions up to anonymous bloggers, who knows what the town would look like. Maybe 8:24 has a point. Maybe the town should be run by anonymous bloggers.
@ anonymous 1:56 - are you kidding? Holmdel has had a rash of businesses close. Top Tomato, TZ Greens, Ruby Palace, the Holmdel Motor Inn, A&P, and on and on. Look at all the empty store fronts near Jos. A. Bank. This phenomenon is affecting every town in New Jersey. Better not to post if you don't know what you are talking about.
You can't have it both ways. Credit can't be taken for Ice World and Sloan Kettering and blame other failures on politics in Trenton.
I was in Charlotte ,NC this past summer and the empty store epidemic is bad there maybe even worse there. They have entire strip malls empty and there was a medium sized enclosed shopping center boarded up. Have you seen what's happening in most midwest cites? This is not a local problem its a country wide problem and like i said before all roads lead to the nations capitol.
@anonymous 6:51 - don't know where anyone mentioned them, but since you did, sure the town can take credit for SLoan Kettering and Ice World because it was their creativity that made those projects happen in spite of the disastrous, business killing, tax happy policies of Sweeney, Pietro and company. That is a fact, as painful as it may be for you to admit it.
What a pathetic, desperate letter. I work in northern Jersey and everytime I go to has empty storefronts and for lease signs. this is something that is happening all over the state not just Middletown. In fact Middletown seems to have a lot of businesses coming in including duck donuts Sloan Kettering, the new car wash on 35. there's a new medical building that they just did a ribbon cutting on this morning and those are the ones I just know about. a new Wawa gas station opened up on 36 not too long ago. I guess the letter writer conveniently forgot about all of those
Ice World is a success? For whom? First of all it is an eyesore. The drawings presented when it was proposed showed the front of the building. It did not indicate that the front of the building would not face the road. It might as well be the side of a Home Depot or a warehouse facing Harmony Road on the edge of this residential area.
If you install a pool in town your filter/equipment must not be visible to your neighbor yet they were allowed to put their enormous mechanicals on the Harmony Road side of the building in plain view. They planted evergreens with a mature diameter of thirty feet, five feet from the sidewalk. What amazing foresight.
And they flagrantly violate out local ordinances by hanging advertising banners on their fence.
This was billed as a great deal for the residents but the property was never even listed. Why should we believe that we taxpayers got a good deal when the powers that be did not even find out what the property was worth on the open market?
It's been my experience that when real estate changes hands without it being advertised, the buyer got a sweetheart deal because somebody knew somebody. I want to know who at Ice World knew somebody in power. Maybe it is the Anon who claimed it was a success and turns a blind eye to them.
I have been a longtime proponent of hockey in Middletown, first as a parent of two boys who played since they were old enough to skate and then as a supporter after they graduated. For years we had longed to have a facility of our own for hockey in Middletown. When Ice World came to town, it was like a dream come true. Not only is the facility beautiful, the local teams say it is the best in the region. Now we have a minor league hockey team to call our own. This is a.big win for everyone and a source of pride for Middletown. My deepest appreciation to whomever made this happen.
"This is a big win for everyone and a source of pride for Middletown."
With all due respect, no it isn't. It is a big win for you, your kids and others like you who are into hockey. I would suggest that you represent a very small portion of the taxpayers in this town, and I suspect you live on the south side of town where most of the hockey players are from.
This was not a win for the kids and parents on the north side of town who don't have lunch money, much less expendable cash for the equipment/ice time to participate in an expensive sport like hockey.
Would you be claiming it was big win for everyone if they had put an indoor tennis facility there? Or an indoor soccer facility? No. You would be saying that it was a win for tennis or soccer fans.
This was a big win for the owners of Ice World who did not have to compete with other potential interested parties for the property.
But this was not a big win for the vast majority of people in Middletown. This was a win for a small, elite special interest group who had someone on the TC in their corner.
The question remains who is the hockey fan on the TC that knows the owner of Ice World? What's the connection? Why hockey of all things?
The property was sold for what the town owed on the loan it was carrying. Relieving the town of this debt was the major benefit for the town. The ice rink is a great home team field for our high school teams, too. Plus, we can now enjoy a drink or two while watching the games, or our children practice.
"This is a big win for everyone and a source of pride for Middletown."
I disagree and I think you might be a bit out of touch. It is a big win for you and your hockey pals. But I would suggest that your group represents a very small portion of the taxpayers in this town.
This was not a win for the kids on the north side of town who don't have lunch money, much less disposable cash for the equipment/ice time to participate in an expensive sport like hockey. They're never going to see the inside of that building unless they happen to know a parent who is willing to pony up the $32 per kid that it costs to have a birthday party there.
In the month of October there are exactly two Friday nights for a total of five hours when the public can skate on weekend nights for the entire month. There is no public skating on any Saturday night or Sunday night. During the week when our kids are in school? There is no public skating after 3pm when they get out of school. That isn't my idea of a public facility. I'd call it a private club.
Would you be claiming it was big win for everyone in town if they had put an indoor soccer facility there that was only for soccer team members? No, you would be saying that it was a big win for soccer kids and their parents, no one else.
Why not a polo club?
This was a big win for the owners of Ice World who did not have to compete with anyone for the property.
Was this a big win for the vast majority of people in Middletown? I don't think you can make that argument. This was a win for a small, elite special interest group; hockey parents and their kids who are on teams that play competitively.
A source of pride? I'm not feeling it. I think a source of pride would have been something that was inclusive like an affordable swim club, like other towns manage to have, not something exclusive like this, that can only be utilized and appreciated by a handful of residents.
There were other groups that wanted to bid on the property, but were excluded.
Ice Word was set up as a non-profit so they don't have to pay property taxes on the property. There was a stipulation the township placed on the property and that was that the property had to be used for recreational purposes.
It is a source of pride that both schools can claim an ice rink in town as home field. Ice World should now enclose the pool so we have a home pool for the high school teams. These teams travel to Perth Amboy for practice. I'm sure they are making enough to do this. Especially now that they are serving alcohol there.
@ anon 12:19. I think you need some schooling in the difference between a private and public facility. Sloan Kettering, Ice World WaWa, Carrabas, Enterprise, etc are all private facilities. They can set the hours, services, prices any way they see fit. That is called the free market system. Even public facilities such as schools, have set hours of operation. You seem to look at Ice World from a very selfish viewpoint - because you or yours don't like hockey, there is no value to you. There are thousands of hockey enthusiasts - players, coaches, and fans who would strongly disagree. I don't have kids in the schools, but they are still a source of pride. I'm not a senior citizen, but still see the value in the senior center. I don't have young kids but still see the parks in town as a great source of pride. That's just my unselfish view of the world.
@ anon 12:19. I think you need some schooling in the difference between a private and public facility. Sloan Kettering, Ice World WaWa, Carrabas, Enterprise, etc are all private facilities. They can set the hours, services, prices any way they see fit. That is called the free market system. Even public facilities such as schools, have set hours of operation. You seem to look at Ice World from a very selfish viewpoint - because you or yours don't like hockey, there is no value to you. There are thousands of hockey enthusiasts - players, coaches, and fans who would strongly disagree. I don't have kids in the schools, but they are still a source of pride. I'm not a senior citizen, but still see the value in the senior center. I don't have young kids but still see the parks in town as a great source of pride. That's just my unselfish view of the world.
"Even public facilities such as schools, have set hours of operation."
Excellent point. The state mandates how many days per year students must attend school. Why didn't the TC mandate how many hours the facility would be available for the residents as a stipulation of the sale? What about reduced rates for residents like municipal swim clubs routinely offer?
"because you or yours don't like hockey"
Who said I don't like hockey? I have no problem with hockey. I think the fights are stupid, but other than that it is a great sport.
I do have a problem with the town losing a ratable, selling the property without listing it, the building being an eyesore with the side facing the road, the flagrant violations of our building codes and the fact that it doesn't have adequate hours for the taxpayers who subsidize it to use the facility.
"I don't have kids in the schools, but they are still a source of pride. I'm not a senior citizen, but still see the value in the senior center. I don't have young kids but still see the parks in town as a great source of pride."
I too take pride in those things. But I take as much pride in Ice World as I take in having a Staples in town. If it were five miles away in Holmdel what difference would it make to the residents of Middletown? It would still be closer that Ocean Township and we wouldn't have lost a ratable. Unless you are going to tell me that our school teams play there for free, which I seriously doubt, I don't see it being a source of pride to have that facility within our town borders.
Would you be a fan of the senior center if it was only open to the general public on a very limited schedule that most seniors could not take advantage of? Would you be proud of the park system if kids had to pay to use the basketball backstops and preference was given to kids who belonged to the teams who owned the courts? You named things that we taxpayers pay for. We also pay for Ice World every year because our tax revenue is reduced because they don't pay municipal taxes. What benefit do Middletown residents get from Ice World that is not available to someone from any other town?
Now you are saying they have a liquor license? Hockey and alcohol. Perfect together.
Why not? They probably bought the license with the money they saved on taxes. Which means we taxpayers helped buy their liquor license. Great, one less restaurant in town.
Who owns the building? Is it Ice World? Or is it the New Jersey Junior Titans Hockey Club? Who is getting the tax break? Are they one in the same?
The Titans have an interesting tax return with a couple hundred thousand for outside administrators, about $650,000 paid to Ice World of Ocean as a outside contractor, about $200,000 in travel expenses. I'm no accountant, but to a layman it sure looks like someone is making a lot of money.
You say it benefits "thousands"? According to their tax return they trained (their stated reason for existing)about 200 players last year.
http://www.guidestar.org/organizations/20-0944132/nj-junior-titans-hockey-club.aspx
Middletown Methadone, pardon me, Middletown Medical, is thriving...
The people who are going to the methadone clinic are the least of our worries. They are somebody's son, daughter, sister, mother. You get the picture. They recognize that they have a problem and they are doing something about it. Good for them.
If you don't know a family in town that has been touched by the heroin epidemic, you must live a pretty sheltered life.
Maybe the clinic should be considered a source of pride for Middletown.
Pride over a candy store for junkies you have to be kidding.
That comment doesn't deserve a response.
Doesn't deserve a comment?? Let ask you how many "hard core junkies" do you know? Have you ever seen friends begging for loose change in a subway station? Have you ever have a wife call you crying asking you to save her husbands job because of his drug problem? Have you ever have a fellow employee call in DEAD because he was found hanging from a tree because of a drug deal gone wrong?? Have you ever had someone telling you I'm okay when he was so stoned he couldn't stand up? Have you ever know anyone who died from AIDS because he used a dirty needle?? I could go on and on with questions ,so only if you said yes to even ! question can you question my comment.
I have been to too many funerals of friends who said they could handle their problem. I recently saw a old friend, who had a shot in the mets org, walking on the street with the 1000 yard stare , absolutely nothing in his head he didn't recognize the 2 of us who at one time best friends. I recently had a relative so wasted he couldn't talk and he had the balls to tell me its just a headache.
You know what they all had in common? they all started with POT so don't let this so called experts called pot a harmless fun drug and is not harmful or habit forming.
Is there any help for "hard core junkies" , there isn't, they are the walking dead and methadone is the saving factor you are only kidding yourself.
Okay, Okay...We're getting off the subject. I think one of the main issues here is that there are so many abandoned and empty store fronts in Middletown. The fact that they keep building more structures for new stores instead of utilizing what's already been built. I don't know if they're being deemed 'not good enough, not big enough' or what. Another issue, it seems, is some of these stores that are in 'strip malls' must be paying exorbitant rents - otherwise - maybe they'ed have a chance....I just can't figure out why they keep building when there's so many empty store fronts....We're the 'Garden State' alright - the only thing 'growing' are the taxes and the 'new' buildings. Just sayin'
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