Bike Absecon
Cycling to and from Margate and Atlantic City could get easier in the near future, after several different grants were made to bike-related projects on the island. Ventnor and Margate have been awarded $275,000 from the South Jersey Transportation Planning Organization to install 50 bike racks across the two towns. Atlantic County has issued a request for proposals for professional services related to the project on Friday and the document contemplates installing racks on public property. Under the current proposal, that would add racks to all beach blocks in Margate as well as sporadic locations throughout the city, and racks in Ventnor would be clustered around City Hall, the recreational fields and three different business districts. The racks could be installed within four to six months. The bid deadline is July 18th, details via the county bid site here. Ventnor and Margate are participating in the first ‘regional’ bike and pedestrian plan prepared by the New Jersey Department of Transportation.
On the other end of the island, Atlantic City received a $300,000 grant from the NJDOT to build a bike path along Atlantic Ave between Jackson Ave and Albany Ave and another path along Ohio Ave that will connect the Venice Park neighborhood to Downtown AC. The city also received a $558,000 grant toward its Boardwalk extension project that will bring cyclists and pedestrians up to Gardner’s Basin in the Inlet. This summer the city will also build a bike loop that will connect Gardner’s Basin to the Boardwalk via city streets.
Recount
Today there will be a recount for the Atlantic City Democratic mayoral primary, Lynda Cohen reports for BreakingAC. City Council President Marty Small went to court to request a recount after he had been ahead at the polls, but lost after a final tally that included mail-in ballots. Small’s rival Frank Gilliam said that Small is just being a sore loser, Cohen reported. “Listen, I know how to lose,” Small said in response. “But we are going to make sure it was fair and square.”
Whitesbog, via @aqvaluq on Instagram.
Buzby’s
Buzby’s General Store in Chatsworth closed for the last time under current ownership on Saturday. We were there – Buzby’s owner Marilyn was a big supporter of Bill’s book – and it was pretty sad. By closing time, historic counters, tables, chairs, mugs, and many, many copies of Marilyn’s own books had been sold. Bill wrote about Buzby’s and Marilyn in November here. From her wheelchair on Saturday, as friends and shoppers and locals stopped by to talk to her, she was characteristically realistic about selling the historic property. There has been a lot of interest in buying it, she said, but no one has come up with the money. “I’m old fashioned. I like cash,” she told us. You can see some of our pictures on our Instagram page.
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In the rest of the best reporting from the weekend and this morning, read this feature on the Ventnor-based dragon boat racing team, a Camden hotel project proposed by investors with ties to George Norcross has been awarded $18.3 million in tax breaks, an energy research organization says the state’s biggest utilities could do more to help customers cut energy use, state groups want to spend more to curb smoking, and Democratic Assembly Speaker Vince Prieto and Republican Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick want to make NJ politics more polite. All that and more below:
One family displaced by fire Sunday in A.C.–A fire in a four-story, multi-family building in the one hundred block of North California Avenue in Atlantic City displaced a seven-person family late Sunday afternoon, according to Deputy Fire Chief Thomas Culleny. The call came into the fire department at 5 pm Sunday, but all the family members - two adults and five children - in the unit where it started were able to safely leave the property, along with other residents in other homes in the building, Culleny said. Press of Atlantic City
SJ Federal Credit Union Awards Scholarships to High School Students–South Jersey Federal Credit Union (SJFCU) has awarded seven college-bound high school students with scholarships totaling in the amount of $3,250. To be eligible, the student or a parent was required to be a member of South Jersey Federal Credit Union. NJ.com
South Jersey Gas Lends a Hand to Meals on Wheels of Salem County–With its freezer broken for the past year, Meals on Wheels of Salem County had difficulty storing meals for its elderly and disabled clients and had to depend on a local supermarket for freezer space. Now, with a $5,000 grant from South Jersey Gas, the program bought a brand new industrial freezer that holds dozens of boxes of meals. NJ.com
7-Year-Old Injured in Collision Involving Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian–Atlantic City police said a 7-year-old girl ran off the sidewalk and into the street — and straight into the side of a car being driven by Mayor Don Guardian on Saturday afternoon. The mayor was driving west on Route 30 in front of the Highgate Apartments when the child and Guardian’s rear, passenger-side door connected. Philly.com
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