With the project substantially completed, the City will be coordinating with representatives of FEMA to obtain reimbursement of 75% of the eligible costs of the project. The beach-fill and dune reconstruction from 1st to 15th and 40th to 52nd Street was previously determined to be eligible for FEMA reimbursement, based on the damages that had occurred in a November 2009 storm event, which was a federally declared disaster. The beach from 30th to 40th Street, while not eligible for FEMA funding, was 75% funded by the State of New Jersey, as the City was successful in its efforts to obtain available funds from the state’s dedicated shore protection funding source.

Please see photos below of Sea Isle’s beach replenishment efforts and new dune fencing…

Phase 2 of Excursion Park, Beach to Bay Corridor – This project involves streetscape improvements to the public corridor along JFK Boulevard from the Promenade to Landis Avenue, and widening of the sidewalks along each side of this corridor by 3 feet. The contractor, Fred M. Schiavone Construction, is in the process of placing the surface pavement, in efforts to open up the street for the coming weekend. The landscape planter walls, landscaping, sod and sidewalk pavers have been substantially completed for the entire project. New, relocated utility poles have been placed; and the electric, cable, and phone utilities are scheduled to relocate the overhead wires over the next two weeks. Delivery of the new, decorative light poles is scheduled for April, at which time the project will be able to be completed.

Please see photos below of Phase 2 construction, taken earlier this week…

Demolition of Existing Library / Beach Tag Facility and Conversion to Parking Lot – NO CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS UPDATE – Demolition of the old library facility will start in April. Construction of the parking lot will follow immediately afterwards. The completion of the parking lot will be prior to Skimmer Weekend (June 16 and 17).

Construction of Welcome Center Addition to the Community Lodge and Renovations of the Existing Lodge Facility and Site – The contractor, R. Wilkinson and Sons, has completed piling installation for the Welcome Center addition and the handicapped access ramps. Renovation work inside the Community Lodge is in progress, to completely rehabilitate the restrooms. The City has relocated the Lodge activities to the former Library Building; and the renovation work in the Lodge will be complete in order to allow re-entry into the Lodge at the end of March. The Welcome Center addition is scheduled for completion by mid-June. The project will provide for improved heating, ventilating and air conditioning in the existing lodge; improved restroom facilities that comply with handicapped accessibility requirements; improved access to the lodge that also complies with handicapped accessibility requirements; and a complete addition of a Welcome Center. The project is the culmination of several years of public discussion about the need for a Welcome Center, as well as the need for continued utilization of the current lodge facility.

Improvements to T.I. Park – The contractor, Axios, Inc., has completed framing for the new decks and ramps and is in the process of installing the deck on the access ramps. The project involves replacement of all the ramp and pavilion decking with Timbertech (plastic material similar to that used at the Marina); replacement of the wood railing with aluminum; addition of a handicapped ramp at the southern end of the park; and other various improvements to the facility to ensure compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Given the magnitude of the work and the removal of existing ramps and accesses, in order to ensure public safety, the park will be closed to public access while the construction takes place. The project is expected to be completed by early April.

Please see photos below of T. I. Park, taken March 6…

Lagoon Dredging – On February 14, City Council authorized award of a contract to Wickberg Marine Contracting, of Belford, NJ, in the amount of $719,336. Letters have been issued to property owners adjacent to the lagoons, advising them of the particulars of the project, and providing contact information for the contractor, in the event the property owners wish to participate in the project.

The current status of the project is as follows:

*The contractor has mobilized his equipment on site and has started construction of dike walls in the dredged material disposal area, located west of the library, adjacent to Rio Grande lagoon (Rio Grande is along 47th Place). Dike construction will take approximately 6 weeks.
*Dredging of Rio Grande Lagoon and a portion of Rio Del Isole (along Venicean Road) will take place from about mid-April through May.
*Dredging work will cease over the summer and re-commence after Labor Day, when the remainder of the lagoons will be dredged.

The lagoons to be dredged are as follows:
Rio Grande (south side of 47th Place)
Rio Delle Stelle (between 46th and 47th Place)
Rio Delle Luna (between 45th and 46th Place)
Rio Del Amore (between 44th Street and 45th Place)
Rio Delle Isole (along the east side of Venicean Road)
Rio Del Barache (between 43rd Place and 44th Street)
Rio Del Affare (between 42nd and 43rd Place)
Rio Delle Ponte (along Park Road on either side of 43rd Place)

The project provides for the ability of private property owners adjacent to the project area to enter into an agreement with the successful dredging contractor to dredge their private slips (at the private owner’s expense).

Please see photos below of the preparation efforts at the dredge disposal area adjacent to Rio Grande Lagoon, taken March 7…

Sewer and Road Reconstruction on Central Avenue (49th to 69th Street) – The project has been contracted to the firm of Lewandowski Construction Industries, Inc., of Waterford, NJ, and will be performed in two phases. The first phase is from 49th to 63rd Street (prior to the 2012 summer season) and the second phase is from 63rd to 69th Street (following the 2012 summer season). The project will rehabilitate or replace the deteriorated underground sewer system, as well as provide for reconstruction of the entire one mile stretch of roadway. The contractor has mobilized on site, and is currently working between 60th and 63rd Streets (traffic is currently detoured between 60th and 63rd on Central Avenue). Work will proceed through the spring, then be halted for the summer. The current plan includes installation of the required manholes and sewer lines, along with reconstruction of the street surface from 63rd to 49th Street, prior to the summer season.

Please see photos below of the construction on Central Avenue near 63nd Street…

Utility Reconstruction on Landis Avenue (54th to 69th Street) – The project has been contracted to F.W. Shawl & Sons, of Marmora, NJ, and will provide for water and sewer line replacement in advance of the County project to resurface Landis Avenue from 54th to 69th Street. The contractor has started to mobilize on site and work will start this week. The project is scheduled to be completed around mid-May. The County is scheduled to resurface Landis Avenue, from 54th to 69th Street, either in the fall of 2012 or spring of 2013.

Inflow and Infiltration (I & I) Remediation –The firm of Video Pipe Services, Inc., of Newfield, NJ, is in the process of performing work associated with internal repairs of sewer pipelines and manholes throughout the City. The portion of the project involving sealing of sanitary sewer mains has been substantially completed. Repair and lining of sewer laterals identified as needing corrective work is in progress, and that work is now scheduled to be completed in April, which will complete this phase of the I & I remediation. The need for this project was identified over the past several years through a comprehensive investigation and analysis of the City’s sewer system. Sewer systems are prone to both inflow (overland water entering the sewer system through manhole covers and other surface openings in the system) and infiltration (entry of groundwater into pipelines through cracks, deteriorated pipe, and pipe joints). The effects of I & I are symptoms of deterioration of the sewer system that must be corrected to avoid more problematic maintenance issues and potential failure of the sewer system. I & I is also costly, in that the City must pay for the unnecessary treatment of water that enters the sanitary sewer system. This is the first phase of a multi-year citywide sewer maintenance and improvement project that will ensure the continued viability of the City’s vital sewer infrastructure. As indicated above, this project is expected to be completed by April. The next phase of I & I work will involve replacement of sewer lines that cannot be corrected through internal, “no-dig” repairs, as are being performed in this phase. As those projects are engineered and prepared for bidding and construction, we will provide updates on the specific details of the projects.

Utility Reconstruction, Various Streets – The City is in the process of preparing plans and specifications for a project to replace deteriorated underground utilities (water and sewer) in several streets as part of its comprehensive road and utility program. The following streets are currently being engineered for utility work in order to put the project out to bid; and the City expects to advertise for construction bids within the next three weeks. The work will be completed in the spring, with a summer hiatus and a fall completion. Following utility work, the streets will receive new surface paving. The following streets are included in this project:
1. 50th Street, Landis Avenue to Promenade
2. 51st Street, Landis Avenue to Promenade
3. 60th Street, Landis Avenue to Central Avenue
4. 43rd Place street-end with guide rail barrier
5. 42nd Street, Landis Avenue to Promenade
6. 79th Street, Landis Avenue to Central Avenue
7. 60th Street, Landis Avenue to Beach End
JFK Boulevard Reconstruction, Bridge to Landis Avenue – The County has been working with the City for design of the project to reconstruct and reconfigure JFK Boulevard from the Bridge to Landis Avenue. The project limits also include reconstruction of Landis Avenue from JFK Boulevard to 40th Street. The project scope will include the addition of widened sidewalks, decorative lighting, streetscape improvements and landscaping, drainage improvements, and elevation of the road surface, which will assist during times of flooding. The County Engineer and the design engineering firm of Urban Engineers (which is under contract to the County), along with the City Engineer, made a presentation on the JFK Boulevard project on March 7, 2012 in council chambers, at which those in attendance were informed of the project details and the proposed timing of the project. The meeting was attended by approximately 30 members of the public and the media, with the opportunity for questions and concerns to be raised. The engineers addressed issues relative to drainage, traffic, the proposed elevation of the road surface, changes to the road configuration, and the new streetscape. The project involves federal funding, and the next step is for the County to obtain authorization from federal and state agencies to proceed to bidding. If authorization is received, the County will put the project out to bid by July in order to award a contract for a fall 2012 construction start. In this event, construction will take place between October 2012 and May 2013.

Paving of 43rd Street from Landis Avenue to Park Road – The City will receive bids for construction of the project on March 14. The work will involve final re-surfacing of the street. This paving project will finalize a complete reconstruction of this section of 43rd Street, which previously received new water and sewer lines. The paving work will be completed prior to the summer season.

GAY TALESE  never learned to swim and only occasionally ventures onto the beach. The wind makes it impossible for him to read the newspaper and, he said, during a recent visit to his second home in Ocean City, N.J., “I’m not going to sit on the sand swatting flies.”

Yet for the last 40 years, Mr. Talese, a writer, and his wife, Nan, a Manhattan book editor, have spent weekends and summers there, in the town where he was born, tucked into a rambling red-shingled Victorian they own that sits just one block from the ocean.

Unlike the Hamptons or Litchfield, Conn., where many of the couple’s Manhattan friends seek refuge, Ocean City has long been a getaway for middle-class Philadelphians.

SECOND-HOME TOWN Nan and Gay Talese at their 1902 house in Ocean City, N.J., where Mr. Talese was born

The Taleses like it because it’s the antithesis of the Manhattan literary whirl. So, don’t ask for a whole-wheat roll at the hoagie shop, or a chic mixed drink when you’re dining out. Ocean City has been dry since its beginnings as a Methodist retreat in 1879. Night life? Choose between the kiddie rides on the boardwalk or star-gazing on the beach.

“It’s a great contrast to New York,” said Mr. Talese, who is 75, as he conducted a tour around town, pointing out the building on Asbury Avenue where his mother owned a dress shop, his father ran a tailoring business and the family lived in an upstairs apartment.

Large parts of many of his books, including “The Kingdom and the Power”; “Thy Neighbor’s Wife”; “Unto the Sons,” a family reminiscence that’s largely set in Ocean City; and his latest, “A Writer’s Life,” were written in the third-floor office of his Ocean City Victorian.

“Nobody bothers me here,” he said. “I much prefer it in winter. It’s empty, and you can see the sky. It’s light, and cheerful.”

Built in 1902, the house sits on a tree-lined street in one of the resort town’s most desirable neighborhoods, the Gardens. As in most houses of its kind at the shore, the first floor is raised above street level to take advantage of sea breezes, with a wraparound porch, white wicker furniture and a green-and-white-striped awning. Although the original view from the front porch favored dunes stretching all the way to the Atlantic, by the time the Taleses arrived there were already houses across the street. Five years ago, those were torn down and replaced by town houses, which still did nothing to revive the old sea view.

If you squint, though, you can still see a bit of ocean from a wide window seat in the second-floor master bedroom. Mrs. Talese, who is publisher of Nan A. Talese/Doubleday books (her writers include Margaret Atwood and Ian McEwan), likes to read there in the afternoons after her morning swim and some weeding in the garden. “It’s marvelous with the sun on your skin,” she said.

The house has seven bedrooms, four on the second floor and three on the third, one of which is Mr. Talese’s office. The three bathrooms on the second and third floors contain original claw-foot tubs, each painted to coordinate with the wall color.

Their purchase of the house came about almost by accident. The couple rented it for the summer in 1967 when their older daughter, Pamela, was a toddler, and their younger daughter, Catherine, was a newborn. They were planning to rent it again the next summer when they discovered that another family was considering buying it to live in year-round.

“I said to Gay, ‘Buy it,’ ” Mrs. Talese recalled. They were renting an apartment in an Upper East Side brownstone, a building they would buy many years later, and had little money to spare. But it didn’t deter her. “It was on the spur of the moment,” she said. “He’s cautious. He wants to be unfettered. But I like real estate.”

It turned out to be a wise investment. The house cost $32,000, including the adjoining lot. Mr. Talese said he recently had offers of $1 million to $1.4 million.

Although the two considered buying a place in the Hamptons or Connecticut in the 1970s to be able to spend more time with friends, they decided it would be too much like their social life in New York.

“It’s a place to be away,” Mrs. Talese said. “When we come down, we just stay at home.”

One of the first major changes they made was to winterize the house so Mr. Talese could write there year-round. A deck was added on the back, and bookshelves were added to in the dining and living rooms. And a pantry wall in the kitchen was demolished to open up the space.

Mr. Talese’s third-floor office is set up so that he rarely has to leave. There is a bed that he sleeps in when he’s in Ocean City alone; an ancient IBM Selectric with a grimy plastic cover; and a five-year-old Power Macintosh, which is not connected to the Internet. (Mr. Talese does not engage in e-mail and prefers to hand-deliver his manuscripts to his editors). To reduce the glare from a skylight, Mr. Talese has put together a plastic foam canopy that swoops over his U-shaped desk like a sail on a blustery day. Mrs. Talese calls it “the suspension bridge.”

His summer routine is to write in the morning, play tennis in the afternoon, then maybe watch a game on the 36-inch Sony Trinitron with DirecTV service that he has set up in his office. His tastes run from the Yankees to Japanese skiing.

At the other end of the hall is a room that doubles as a home gym (Mr. Talese lifts weights, and Mrs. Talese uses a videotape for Pilates) and a guest room for visiting writers. The novelist William Kennedy and Mr. Talese’s cousin, Nick Pileggi, are among those who have stayed and worked there for extended periods.

The house is strictly a kick-off-your-shoes-and-stay-awhile place, even though Mr. Talese continues his habit of dressing formally — even in the heat of summer.

“There’s nothing spiffy about this place,” Mr. Talese said one 90-degree day earlier this summer, looking natty in a long-sleeve, pink linen shirt with contrasting white collar, cufflinks, tan pants, a yellow-and-green neck scarf, white belt and brown shoes. Outdoors, he covered his silver hair with a straw fedora and, by early evening when the sun had lost its edge, slipped on a beige jacket with a yellow silk handkerchief tucked in the pocket.

Memories are what seem to count most in the Taleses’ Ocean City home. In the living room, the surface of an old baby grand piano with yellowing keys that once belonged to Mr. Talese’s parents is crowded with family photos and pictures of him with his writing peers — John Irving, Kurt Vonnegut, William Styron, Norman Mailer, Joseph Heller. In one baby photo, the Taleses’ daughter Catherine, now a photo editor in New York, sits on the lap of the legendary Random House editor Bennett Cerf.

Journalist pals, like the late David Halberstam, have always been frequent guests. Pamela Talese remembers her father and his writing cronies lined up on the front porch in their chairs in the mornings, each with his own copy of The New York Times.

Growing up, the Talese children remember old-fashioned summers of swimming, biking and baseball games in the yard. But they also had chores. Each morning they would buy their father a glazed doughnut, leave it outside his office door, then return at 11 a.m. with a plate of poached eggs. After reserving a tennis court for her father in the afternoon, Pamela would bring him a hoagie sandwich and half a beer at 3 p.m. while he watched a ballgame on TV. “Then he would go back and write,” she said.

Although the Talese children have long been on their own, they say they still love visiting the Ocean City house. Once there, they fall into the old routine — padding around in bare feet and taking daily dips in the ocean with their mother, who’s an avid swimmer. On a rare day, they might even catch a glimpse of their father on the beach in a long-sleeve shirt, straw hat, neck scarf and swim trunks, struggling with a newspaper and swatting flies.

By RICHARD DEGENER Staff Writer press of Atlantic City0 comments

CAPE MAY — Rising scallop prices helped boost this commercial fishing port’s catch to $81 million in 2010, an increase of slightly more than 10 percent over 2009.

Dock foreman Herb Singleton (right) checks the weight of bags as scallops are offloaded from the boat at the Lobster House Dock in Cape May. The Port of Cape May is the number two port for fish landings along the easter seaboard for value of the seafood.

“The catch is the same. It’s just that the price is better,”said Tom McNulty Jr., 30, of Middle Township, who works on the family-owned scallop boat Negotiator.

The 2010 data kept Cape May — including docks in Wildwood — the second largest port on the East Coast behind New Bedford, Mass., which retained its No. 1 ranking with $306 million in catch. New Bedford, also a large scallop port, totaled $249 million in fish in 2009.

Massachusetts remained the top state for scallops by harvesting 31.2 million pounds of the 57.5-million-pound U.S. catch. New Jersey was No. 2 at 14.2 million pounds.

Cape May’s $81 million is what the fishermen are paid, but the federal government says the value increases sixfold as fisheries’products make their way to wholesalers, retailers, and consumers.

McNulty returned to port Thursday from a five-day fishing trip to an ocean area known as the Hudson Canyon. The Negotiator returned with its limit of 18,000 pounds of sea scallops and unloaded them at Cold Spring Fish & Supply on Schellenger’s Landing.

But it isn’t the catch that resulted in Port of Cape May’s total increasing from $73.4 million in 2009 to $81 million in 2010. The average price paid for East Coast scallops jumped from $6.59 to $7.92 per pound during the year. The 2010 fisheries data are just being released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and there are indications that 2011 will be an even better year.

Keith Laudeman, who owns the dock where McNulty unloaded Thursday, said scallop prices have gone above $10 a pound at times this year.

Visitors line up to purchase seafood at the Lobster House market in Cape May

“It’s good. It’s always good when you get more for your product. Scallops are in all the restaurants wherever you go in the country. You go anywhere now and they’re on the menu and I don’t see that changing,” Laudeman said.

Jeff Reichle, of Lund’s Fisheries on Ocean Drive, said the March tsunami in Japan has helped boost scallop prices even higher by hurting aquaculture operations in Japan. A weak dollar also helped scallop exports.

“Most people look at scallops as a luxury item that is still affordable,” Reichle said.

Squid also helped boost local catch. Lund’s Fisheries is New Jersey’s major squid company. California led squid catches with 286 million pounds, but New Jersey had the second highest catch at 20.3 million pounds.

Reichle said a weak dollar helped with exports of squid and other fish. The industry saw record prices for illex squid this summer, and Reichle said boats are looking for good fall fishing for loligo squid.

“We’re exporting more products all the time,” Reichle said.

Hampton Roads, Va., was the third largest port on the East Coast, trailing Cape May, 2010 data show.

Cape May did slip from the fifth largest port in the country to the seventh largest due to the phenomenal growth of the fishing industry in Alaska. Dutch Harbor-Unalaska, Kodiak, Naknek, Cordova, and Akutan are the five Alaskan ports ahead of Cape May.

“Alaska is very strong on salmon and halibut. Some vessels operate at huge scales, way beyond ours,” said Greg DiDomenico of the Garden State Seafood Association.

Still, DiDomenico said, optimism is high with scallop prices rising and quotas increasing next year for a number of fin fish, including fluke and scup, or porgy.

“What we’re getting back is the opportunity for our traditional winter trawl fisheries,” DiDomenico said.

Barnegat Light and Point Pleasant also saw increases in the value of the catch, but a decline in surf clams hurt the Port of Atlantic City.

Barnegat Light — which includes all of Long Beach Island — went from 8.1 million pounds worth $21.7 million in 2009 to 8.5 million pounds worth $25.8 million. Barnegat Light is one of the most diverse fishing ports, with scallops, tunas, swordfish, tilefish, monkfish, bluefish, bunker, croakers, spiny dogfish, and many other species. The port specializes in fresh fish and has a fleet of smaller boats that use nets to catch fish by their gills.

“You have really the last gillnet fleet in New Jersey,”DiDomenico said.

Barnegat Light was the 38th largest port in the U.S. in 2009 but moved up to No. 33 in 2010.

Atlantic City, which mostly has ocean clamming vessels, declined from No. 37 to No. 49 as inshore surf clam beds continue to disappear in New Jersey. The value of the Atlantic City catch dropped from $24.2 million in 2009 to $17.3 million in 2010.

Point Pleasant Beach, Ocean County, also registered gains with a jump from 18.4 million pounds worth $20.2 million to 20.9 million pounds worth $22.8 million. The port rose from No. 41 in the nation to No. 37. Point Pleasant Beach could continue rising with a big increase in the scup quota next year.

“It’s becoming a strong scup port. You have these guys going back to traditional trawl fisheries,” DiDomenico said.

On the beach near The View Condominiums at 101 Boardwalk, Atlantic City. Produced and edited by Ian Lazarus, The View Condos, Project Director, For more information about the condos contact us at info@ViewAC.com 609-457-0258  ~ www.TheViewAtlanticCity.com

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