Commentary from ‘Scott S’… Am I the only one who’s beyond upset about the lack of communication by Brigantine government to the homeowners about what is happening in Brigantine? I certainly realize there are many things going on right now however I feel that one of their responsibilities is to communicate to the home owners of Brigantine. There was 0 communication with Irene and there has been near 0 communication with Sandy.
The official Brigantine website is a complete joke! This must change in the future. I certainly hope it’s a long time before anything like this happens again but this can not continue!
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from Lou Gana: Brigantine Government needs to do a better job. Total BS that we haven’t received official word on when we can return. They need to update their websites and use social media to get the word out. Very frustrating to think that they mayor can’t hold a news conference like every other shore town. I have a house on Hagen and the only info I know is from a picture I saw on 6abc of my house courtesy of my neighbor. It didn’t look to bad but not sure when the pic was taken. Any info would be great and please let us know when the ‘official’ word of when we can get on the island is announced.
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from Gary Shea: I just spoke to a friend of mine who is a city councilman and they are having a meeting at 11AM this morning (Wednesday) in which they will most likely decide to let people back on the island this afternoon. However, many if not most areas still do not have power and the place is still a mess.
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Scott, I totally agree with your comments.
Thank heavens for the Brigantine Now site, otherwise I would have no idea what was happening on the island. All the police station site says “do not call”.
110% agree, the police department arrogantly post warnings to not to call them about the status of our home or when we can get back in. Maybe they should have an admin answer calls and update anxious residedents abou whats going on. Isn’t public communication to the people who pay their salaries part of their responsibility? It only take 5 minutes to post an update on their web site.
absolutely agree!!! Thank God for the people who stayed behind and ignored the evacuation , they are our only source of info.
100% agree and it’s not due to their concern over our safety but more due to their convenience. Totally unacceptable!
Amen!!! Shame on you Brigantine officials!!!
It’s a shame that the people that were riding around Brig plowing sand, cutting down trees, and getting the power pack on in 24 hours did not have time to tweet!
and if one of those people was about to turn your power on, and they stopped to tweet, you’d be okay with that?
I think we are all upset and hoping for info. I’m sure with the Power out, the very few emergency staff left behin. They are focusing on getting conditions safe for our return. With an event this severe we all need to excercise patience.
I am almost 200 miles away and very worried about my place by the beach on 8th street. God bless the emergency staff and us home owners. We are praying for us all.
I think you the folks who work for our town government have a few different and more important issues to deal with than what your concerns are at the moment. Perhaps that is why sites such as this are doing so well. I have not heard anything about my home either but I will eventually.
Yes, hello, Mayor G? I know you’re probably assessing island, but come on, your town wants to hear from you.
Totally unfair to the homeowners. I have no clue what happened to my home and who to contact. Can someone fill the rest of us in. It would be greatly appreciated.
Here is another score for the communications from Brigantine government. . . ZERO. Absolutely the worst. I accept that Brigantine is smaller than most of the towns that held press conferences, in person or by phone, but there is no excuse for not establishing some channel of communications. Sorry, I have to re-score to a THREE. I recalled a phone interview on TV by Mr. Bennett, early on, but I don’t think there has been anything since the storm passed. Very frustrating.
Scott,
I also agree. Thank goodness for this site. It should be someone in government’s responsibility to communicate to the public since we are not permitted on the island.
I totally agree with your comments. Too much emphasis is being placed on other shore points, but no one is saying what’s going on in Brigantine. The police say they are too busy, don’t call.
Anyone w info on when we can return to our paradise please call me 6093317759
I agree, I tryed to call police and all they said was they were only answering emergency calls and watch the media. What media,nothing been said about Brigantine at all
Scott, same here. I respect the fact that they closed the island and understand their decision, but there should not be a news “black out”. Give us updates and aerial coverage so we can get a sense of what we may be dealing with. My only source of information has been this website and thankfully a few good souls kind enough to share their info with us.
Agree with everythig said here. these posts need to be sent to the Mayor and Town Council….unacceptable actions on their part. I don’t care how dire the situation, communication to residents isn’t an option, it’s a must!
Yes, this is very unfortunate. Please take a look at this Blog feed to see more commentary on the Brigantine Government, namely the Police Force’, lack of genuine leadership and simple communication to it’s residents: http://local.nixle.com/alert/4906560/
I am thankful for the brave police and fire fighters who stayed and rescued people who were in trouble. City Leadership is awful. There has been a news blackout since the hurricane hit. The police are plugged into social media – twitter, etc. It takes all of 30 seconds to send out a tweet. And I don’t want to hear that their Internet is down. Cell phones are working.
They did themselves a tremendous disservice as well. I am sure the city phone operators are swamped. All they would have to do is leave a message on the phones to check twitter, Facebook, website, etc. Why bother setting up social media accounts if they aren’t going to be used? Larry, Moe, and Curly are running the island.
I understand that there are few police and emergency personnel on the island but they had advance warning – like we all did – that the storm was coming. I visited my home on 5th St S. Saturday ahead of the storm to make sure it was secure (as it could be)so couldn’t the public officials also take steps to be prepared. You can pay a temp to sit in the City office and type messages or answer calls and emails. Our tax dollars would pay for that! I’m very disappointed that I know more about other shore towns than our own. We were directly in the line of fire. A true leader in the government of our town should have thought about us and made plans for communication.
My husband tried to go onto the island today10/31 and the police are saying that obama is with chris christie and they are looking at the damage, but as soon as they let us back on we are going there and i will give everyone an update.
I am totally in agreement with all of you that the City of Brigantine needs to do a better job communicating with the residents and updating us on the status of things. Leadership is obvious lacking, and for a place we all call home it’s unnerving to be in the dark. In the future this is all needs to be addressed and corrected. However, with all that being said, can you stop and listen to what you are saying? Thank God for the people who stayed on the island and didn’t evacuate? SERIOUSLY? Sandy was the worst storm we’ve encountered in a long time, and what I care about most is that for those who decided to stay (friends, family and neighbors) didn’t get seriously hurt, because this could have been catastrophic for them. Our island survived, and we have so much to be thankful for. I am so disgusted that what I keep hearing from some of you is how you can’t go see your houses and assess the damage. Guess what, NONE OF US CAN! Let the FD and PD and officials do their jobs to assess the damage and clean up the streets to make it safer for all of us to get on the island and check out our homes and beloved island.
Tina and others are right: C’mon people, lighten up. I understand the frustration you have, but the island has no power, no phones, no sewer, no cell service, no food, no gas. It’s likely worse than the ’62 storm. Let the professionals do their job—there’s nothing you can do on the island right now except get it the way of the relief efforts.
I know it’s tough not knowing (I myself have extended family and friends on the island and finding info has been difficult), but don’t be so anxious to return—let them get some power back, clear some streets, let the water recede a bit.
There’s nothing you can do right now but pray (or, if you’re not religious, hope)
I’d rather have personnel out working (remember, they’ve been on the job with little rest for days now!) than answering calls about a specific property. And that’s assuming they have an easy method to send out communications (and update a website!)
That’s the risk you take having a seaside home: most of the time, it’s great. But once in a while, sh!t happens. Be thankful you got out and, in many cases, you’re blessed enough to have a (second) property at the shore
By some fluke i was able to get through on the ac expressway at about 3pm on wed. Got all the way to ac(could have gone into the city) and took exit 1 got through the tunnel and got over the brigantine bridge. On the brig side of the bridge there was 5 cop cars that had it blocked off. I live on brigantine blvd right on the outbound side a few houses from the bridge. They wouldnt even let me walk over and take a look at my 1st floor. Saw the street there was no reason i shouldnt be allowed. I understand the north end is very bad and feel for everyone in the disaster areas but I know people who stayed and they have told me the south end isnt terrible and that was right after the storm. I saw with my own eyes that there was no reason anybody on brig blvd shouldnt be allowed back. If they need more time to clean up the north end fine let the people who have homes on the south end salvage and start the recovery process. Dont shut us out for 3 or 4 days cause the other end of the island is messed up.
I am “Scott S.” the person who started the thread on poor communication from Brigantine officials
I would like to keep things rolling on this because 99% of the chat on this website is because we, the people of Brigantine, have been kept largely in the dark throughout this whole ordeal!
I started this topic originally with a tweet and had by far majority support but still some who felt otherwise. The following is in response to my first tweet:
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Let’s talk facts folks…..
First and foremost, I am forever indebted to the men and women of Brigantine’s EMS, PD & FD (& other first response personnel). Actually, not just Brigantine but all those along the Jersey shore and the rest of our country that have more guts than I do allowing them to do what they do for the rest of us. My original post has NOTHING to do with them… NOTHING!
My point was, and continues to be, that our local government clearly has absolutely no plan on how to communicate to the residents and others that care about the status of Brigantine during times of turmoil. I’m very happy to see that the large majority of people who have left comments are in agreement with me on this. For those of you who differ in opinion, I do respect your viewpoint, I have considered your angle but I COMPLETELY disagree with it!
Here is why….
Please click on the following links and see if you see a recurring theme:
http://www.longbeachtownship.com/
http://www.ocnj.us/
http://www.sea-isle-city.nj.us/
http://margate-nj.com/cfm_docs/mun_notices.cfm
http://www.ptboro.com/
(See “Upcoming News and Latest Events” for updates throughout Sandy)
http://wildwoodnj.org/wp/
http://avalonboro.net/
http://www.stone-harbor.nj.us/
…and the list goes on but I think you get the point… or at least you should!
Now take a look at this:
http://www.brigantinebeachnj.com/
If it does not come right out and smack you in the face then it’s time to go to the optometrist and get the prescription changed. For those of you with good eyes or accurate prescriptions, I am sure you noticed right away that the first group of websites all have updates about the status of their community during the whole Sandy ordeal. Some more in depth than others but all of them have at least something to communicate to the outside world (i.e. you & me). Now look at Brigantine’s site….. Nothin’! Not a single word.
Now come on! Seriously… no access to internet, phones and whatever else some of you said they don’t have access to. JUST STOP IT! Have you seen the pictures of Long Beach Island? It looks like Normandy on D-Day over there and somehow they have communicated beautifully to the outside world what is happening on their island… I have no idea what Brigantine looks like (my original point!) but my GUESS is that we are likely better off than LBI and all somebody has to do to find out about the status of things on LBI is….. you got it… GO TO THEIR WEBSITE! It’s 2012, stop making excuses for them and let’s call it like it is. They have completely dropped the ball here and I for one am not going to make excuses for them. I agree, I am sure they are all working like dogs right now and I do appreciate that. That does NOT however absolve elected government officials from their DUTY to report back to the people who have elected them in times of craziness like what we have seen the last several days. Take the time to come up with a plan Brigantine… you can clearly see that we the people of Brigantine are begging you to do so!
I had first hand observance of what was going on in the dispach center before/during/after the storm. ALL phone lines lit up at once, as well as 9-1-1, some asking where to get a cup of coffee??? When those phone lines ring, you never know before you answer if it is someone needing help or someone looking for information that can be found elsewhere. I KNOW people are concerned. But I also heard the city’s phone lines were down for days. The Police/Fire/OEM ARE making notifications via Nixle.com and the reverse 9-1-1. People will get no different answers on the phone than they get via those notification procedures. PLEASE sign up for these services. If you can’t now, do it for the next time…and there will be a next time