Light the Signal, Start a Fire

The Riverside Signal is constant. It’s unbiased. And it’s free.

Much like the Toms River, we’re a calm, watching presence within our communities. Our digital light is always on, beaming through the darkness to show the people, places, things and ideas that make our area tick.

Six months ago, the Riverside Signal was quietly created quietly among the loud, boisterous culture of national and global 24/7 news outlets, gigantic news conglomerates and endless streams of opinion masked as information. Our ideals were focused and mission simple: our communities are lied to by existing publications pretending to provide news coverage; therefore, real news coverage must be produced independently.

Calling upon a small army of friends, volunteers and favors, we quickly moved forward: attending, writing about, photographing and videotaping municipal meetings, officials, organizations, schools and events that haven’t seen a reporter, in some cases, for over a decade.

In short measure, we captured and covered fierce winter storms, municipal policy changes, political conflicts, building demolitions, community maintenance projects, wind turbines, waste management programs, the growing local “green” movement, art shows, farmers’ markets, historical vignettes, alternative sports, new business openings, real estate reports, police blotters, Easter egg hunts, energy audits, riverfront erosion, little league and youth baseball, roadway closings, bridge construction, vehicle accidents, non-profit housing projects, yacht club regattas, emergency service activities, waterfront improvement projects, yard sales, neighborhood conflicts, firehouse dinners, professional service changeovers, spring cleanups, parks systems, heritage trees, business redevelopment districts, Memorial Day ceremonies, parades and picnics; charitable fundraisers, library events and programs, school visits, local volunteers, road races, budget debates, charity raffles and breakfasts, rail trails, bike paths and roller girls.

Severe storms on March 13th took down many trees, causing area fire companies, including Pine Beach, above, to respond to dozens of calls over the course of an 18-hour period.

Paint a picture using the palette of colors from our daily account of life along the river, and you’ll see a living, thriving culture of people with a myriad of interests, abilities and opinions.

Take a look at any other publication distributed locally and distilling their own brand of “coverage.” Try and paint a picture using their work, and you’ll get a fairly blank canvas.

Things missing from their picture would be South Toms River youth playing baseball all spring before running around summer camp all summer. Pine Beach officials, staff and residents hosting hundreds of runners each year for a riverfront race the weekend before celebrating our country’s birth with a parade and games for all the kids. Island Heights residents coming together and restoring a natural, environmentally-sound waterfront habitat for native species of plants, insects and animals. Ocean Gate honoring a longtime community volunteer and role model as their first citizen of the year.

On Monday, May 3rd, Ocean Gate Borough Hall was packed with residents attending a public Q+A session with scientists, contractors and experts over the contentious borough wind turbine project.

Strip away the press-friendly images of peanut scrambles and firetruck tours from this cauldron of ignored culture, and you’re still left with a proactive citizenry working together in times of need or expressing independent freedom through use of the public forum.

Such scenes, taken from these first six months alone, show volunteer firefighters, first aiders and police responding to dozens of calls for service through some of the fiercest weather and dangerous conditions seen in recent memory. Volunteers sweating through 90-degree heat to restore a meeting hall or rebuild a boardwalk. Borough officials mediating differences of opinion between borough departments, neighbors and surrounding municipalities. Hundreds of hours spent dedicated to preventing furloughs, layoffs and cut services in the worst economic period since the Great Depression. Land use board volunteers studying and practicing the art of property rights through dozens of applications and many more hours in order to try and reach a balance between the public good and private equity. Members of the public pointing out flaws within the system, conflicts within the human nature of politics, and inequality in the rights of residents, and demanding that things be made better.

This is our community as much as it is yours. The Riverside Signal is an experiment created to give our voices, our actions and our goals a forum to be recorded, debated, disputed, embraced and remembered today and for decades beyond our time. Our role is to watchdog and question our elected leaders, guard our personal freedoms and reconnect the culture and heritage that makes our chosen home the unique and thriving community that it is. Our news and information are provided to allow people the ability to make informed, intelligent decisions in their daily life and as they participate in the democratic process.

With an eye toward embodying part of that democracy, the Riverside Signal was set up to let our readers and residents choose whether or not our services are wanted and needed. As of today, you can start casting that vote.

Your financial support is a vote for our services and the existence of a free, unbiased and independent fourth estate operating to maintain the news and information vital to our culture and sustainable future.

Please consider keeping our signal lit by becoming a member-sponsor of the Riverside Signal.

Make your contribution today by clicking the donate button below, or by sending a check or money order to Riverside Signal, P.O. Box 93, Beachwood, N.J., 08722, noting ‘member-sponsor’ on the note or subject section. Please also know that member-sponsors’ names will appear on an Honor Roll unless specifically requested otherwise.

Thank you for your support.