Brigantine’s City Manager is looking for real estate advice. Manager Blumenthal has asked Brigantine City Council if we should sell some municipal property asap, or wait until property values increase. The old Brigantine Civic Center and old library/beach badge building on 15th Street are two properties that could be put on the block.
We say SELL NOW for 5 Big Reasons.
- Vacant properties depress ALL property values (Steak & Shake, Burger King)
- No one’s in charge of boosting property values & marketing value of Brigantine Real Estate
- Cash in hand NOW, is better than potentially worse valuations later
- Smart developer could beautify/commercialize/create additional tax revenue w/ properties
- Continuing valuation erosion & increase of distressed properties = easy target for unscrupulous ‘insiders’
Other Brigantine City Council Stuff.
Brigantine Historical Museum asked city to consider proposal for a move to 15th Street location.
City purchased 100 new trash cans for the beach. They’re designed to accept advertising (which grows revenue)…and be operated by a one-man crew.
City looking for management group – take over mini-golf course at 42nd st. This valuable city asset has been a money pit. It’s also a feature on Brigantine Island that visitors would LOVE to know about. Alas, it’s NEVER advertised and marketed. EVER. That’s why it still looks brand new after all these years….it’s barely used. Thank you Brigantine Chamber of Commerce! Some on Brigantine City Council think that privatizing the facility could be better. Ya think? Geez. No kidding. The minimum bid to manage the Brigantine Mini-Golf is set at $18,000 and will be a blind bid process.
Mayor Guenther & Councilman Andy Simpson presented an alternative, and VERY SMART proposal to substantially reduce the Brigantine municipal budget. Guenther & Simpson’s proposal is a well thought-out alternative to the scary Brigantine Democratic endorsed 2013 budget. The next council meeting on April 17 will be a big night. That’s when the 2013 budget will get voted in by the Democratic majority on council.
FYI – Brigantine City Council meetings are STILL not available online. They can only be witnessed in person or on local Channel 2. We’re not surprised. Brigantine is reluctant to adopt easy, in-expensive and common online tools to communicate and engage with the ‘non-full time, non-voting residents & taxpayers’. (so called 70%-ers)
The meeting agenda and supporting documents are available online prior to the meeting at www.bb-nj.com.
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SELL or LEASE the LINKS too! I believe it is ANOTHER Money Pit and is not marketed properly. WHY? Because Brigantine is a City NOT a Commercial Venture. SELL all such City Properties. ALL Sales should be completely transparent and Marketed by a COMMERCIAL Real Estate Firm, well versed in similar properties. Insider trading is illegal in stocks and should be discouraged in these transactions. Selling these properties will bring in Real Estate Tax Dollars. BTW- assessments on commercial properties should be reviewed. “me thinks” they are under-valued in relationship to home valuations :{
agree 100%
Would LOVE to see council meetings ON-LINE…. We do not get channel 2 transmission where we are…. Thanks for this idea… hopefully, it will be enacted. Meetings are too early for us to get from work to watch in Brigantine. Can they be available from You-Tube so that they can be watched at the convenience of the viewer? That would be great! THANKS again for another GREAT IDEA!
Find a good tenant for the old “Reynolds”, the old beach tag property (or level it and make it a green space a la Longport) using commercial resort specialists.
I agree with ALL the ideas above. The nearly vacant shopping center on Harbor Beach is pulling down property values on this beautiful island. It is also an eyesore. Someone is being paid to market this island. Why aren’t they doing it??
Offer some sort of tax abatement’s to new business to move to Brigantine
Just read on the city website : Ice cream on the Beach :NOTICE TO BIDDERS Zone 1 & Zone 2 what happened from the 14th north to 12th street south… 14th north to 12th street south should be up for bidding also.. Have veterans handle just the streets. Put the entire beach up for bid. The veteran causing all the stink last summer didn’t live in brigantine and had non-veterans working his truck.. Also bid out for beach chairs & umbrellas..
Zone 1 shall be on the beach starting at 12th street south if extended and proceeding in a southerly direction to 37th street south if extended.
Zone 2 shall be on the beach starting at 37th street south if extended and proceeding in a southerly than westerly direction until the end of the City of Brigantine including the beaches commonly referred to as the Jetty and Cove Beaches.
I like Dave’s ideas… especially about 14th St north to 12th St south- that is a great beach area with lots of hungry, happy beach lovers…. and the BEACH vending should go to highest qualified bidder (not just Vets) and Vets have the streets… as suggested by Dave Smith. Chairs, umbrellas and many other beach-type rentals. Let’s market goods to beach goers… They’ll love it and the City will make money. BTW- DON’T add personnel to handle any new money-makers. It would defeat the purpose… Do MORE with LESS should be the Mantra. How about gourmet Food Trucks, the latest craze in the food industry?
Why not ask all the Brigantine real estate company owners if Brigantine should sell the lot as commercial or as residential for short term (cash now) and long term (Taxes) return? Adding one more commercial building right in the commercial area could bring in more business. As they say, location, location, location for commercial.
We have a Mayor and Council to thank for the gross mismanagement of the City.
How are they selling the City to outsiders. They arern’t.
How could a visitor even know there is a miniature golf course on the island? They wouldn’t. How many signs do you see advertising the miniature course? None. We wonder why we don’t have enough revenue.
We could write a book about the mismanagement in the City. A shame.
Our self-serving politicians are too busy filling their own pockets.
Good points Fran…. Does City Council or Manager read this site? If so, they should appreciate all the good information provided so that they can get “pro-active” on increasing the revenues of Brigantine. Otherwise, keep writing and posting… Make people aware of this site on Facebook because many people will be able to link to it and share more suggestions. Awareness of this kind of information to all Taxpayers is a key to stopping the INSANITY.