Photos taken mid- to late-morning Sunday by Philipp Schmidt for the Riverside Signal.
Following the departure of Hurricane Irene, numerous area residents made their way to the waterfront areas to view its effects. This shot was taken from inside the Huddy Park bandshell pavilion, facing east.
Huddy Park, Sunday morning.
Huddy Park, Sunday morning.
Huddy Park, Sunday morning.
Huddy Park, Sunday morning.
By mid-morning, the park had become a beehive of activity, with area residents wandering around holding up their cellphones to snap photos that friends would see across various contemporary social media.
The River Lady appeared able to paddle right down Robbins Parkway following the departure of Hurricane Irene on Sunday morning.
Robbins Parkway, Sunday morning.
This teenager straddled a downed tree on a residential property adjacent Fischer Boulevard as if trying to ride it on Sunday morning.
All images are (C) Riverside Signal, LLC and may not be used without explicit permission.
Photos taken mid-day Saturday by Erik Weber for the Riverside Signal.
E-Scows at the Toms River Yacht Club waited silently on trailers beside the club.
A steady stream of cars still flowed west over what is commonly called the Seaside Bridge (but is actually the J. Stanley Tunney Bridge), and intermittent cars still headed east over the adjacent Thomas A. Mathis Bridge despite a mandatory evacuation of the barrier island.
Downtown, graffiti art popped up on the boarded up windows of Jimmy C's on Washington Street.
While Capone's Restaurant, once the location of Priest's Pharmacy, which produced many early 20th Century postcards found in collections today, saw its boards unscathed.
One boatowner in Gilford Park discovered a solution to the hurricane: trailer the boat and moor it to two small trees in the front yard.
Some inland residents of the Gilford Park section of the township took matters into their own hands to ward off the effects of the impending storm.
These two young men decided the growing winds, rain and waves on the Barnegat Bay in Gilford Park proved an excellent time to fish.
All images are (C) Riverside Signal, LLC and may not be used without explicit permission.
From Toms River Office of Emergency Management, 8:49 pm:
Intermediate North and High School North shelters are at full capacity. All residents please use High School East, located near Coolidge and Dunedin avenues. Supplies are extremely limited. Residents are asked to bring a pillow, blanket and snacks.
Evacuation Update: Evacuation is MANDATORY for the barrier islands only. Mainland and low-lying, flood-prone areas are on a voluntary evacuation.
From the official township website as of 4 pm Friday:
Recreation Facility Closings
Ortley Beach, Shelter Cove Beach, and the Snug Harbor Pool will be closed Saturday and Sunday.
Bey Lea Golf Course will be closed at 1:30pm on Saturday and closed on Sunday. The last tee time on Saturday will be 1:00pm.
Winding River Skating Center will be closed at 7:30pm on Saturday and closed on Sunday.
Please check back for updates.
The Ocean County Office of Emergency Management is strongly urging residents and visitors to prepare for Hurricane Irene. This is a serious weather event and should be taken seriously.
Tune into WOBM FM 92.7 for any updates. Directions to Poland Springs Arena: Route 37 West to Route 166, make a right (crystal Diner). Approx ¼ mile turn right onto Old Freehold . Shelter on right approx. 2 miles on the right. (Poland Spring Arena at Toms River High School North).
Please be aware that local police and municipal offices of emergency management officials may be advising you what actions you need to take to prepare for the storm. We urge you to heed their recommendations.
Also, it is recommended you have a plan in place for this event including stocking up on water, batteries for a flashlight and battery operated radio, top off your gas tank, have nonperishable food items available, if you need to leave take medication and prescriptions with you.
If you have any questions regarding the storm please call the Emergency Operations Center at 732-818-9904.
Emergencies please dial 911!
TOMS RIVER – [From Toms River Township] Mayor Kelaher announced a Mandatory Evacuation of the Barrier Island, which includes Ortley Beach, Ocean Beach Units, Chadwick Beach, Normandy Beach and Pelican Island commencing today at 4:00 p.m. today, Friday, August 26, 2011. All personnel are to be evacuated as of 12:00 p.m., Saturday, August 27, 2011.
As of 8:00 p.m., Friday, August 26, 2011, only personnel who have legitimate reason will be allowed on the Barrier Island. Police will be located at the base of the Mathis Bridge to check all traffic eastbound. Red Cross Shelter is located at the Poland Springs Arena (formally the Ritacco Center), also located at the Toms River High School North is the Pet Friendly Shelter.
Directions to the Poland Springs Arena from the barrier island are as follows: Route 37 West to the intersection of State Highway 166 (just short of the Garden State Parkway entrance), a right turn onto Route 166 to the first traffic light, take a half right turn onto Old Freehold Road, approximately 1 mile on the
right. The American Red Cross will supply food and water. Evacuees should bring bedding, blankets, pillows and medications.
The Toms River Emergency Operation Phone numbers are 732-818-9901 through 9913.
Business Founders Kim Ratto and Helen Harris Discuss Reigniting the Downtown Toms River Spark
Kim Ratto (l) and Helen Harris stand outside the new Traco Theatre, soon to open near its original Washington Street location.
TOMS RIVER – For hundreds of years, downtown Toms River has been considered many different things by many different generations, but always underlying the changing currents of time it has been known as one thing: a focal point. Whether it was the British soldiers who treated it as a target on a map to be burned, the early sea captains, traders and shopkeepers who saw it as a marketplace for survival, or the early- to mid-20th century residents who wanted it for a destination of commerce, citizens from the mid-eastern portion of Ocean County have looked upon this intersection of land and water travel routes as a reflection of their identity.
In the years since the advent of the enclosed and climate-controlled mall marketplace at the edge of suburbia threw this center of local culture into an identity crisis of its own, numerous attempts have been made to “bring it back” to where it once was. Across the country, downtown revitalization projects have often met with success or failure based upon the right- or wrong-headedness of these ventures and the people that helm them. Such is the case today in our own township, once known as Dover, where two pioneering and dedicated business partners and friends, Kim Ratto and Helen Harris, set up shop on the northeast corner of Washington and Hyers streets in a storefront that in the past fifteen years has been a comic book shop, a cigar lounge, and the home of a Subway sandwiches franchise.
The Cookie Cab boasts not only a wide array of baked treats and sandwiches that many have been heard to say far exceed the processed fare that once graced its countertops in the previous incarnation, but it also holds the key of what could be the start of something it seems everybody has been waiting around for: a resurgence of downtown Toms River as a regular destination that lives beyond the two o’clock curtain call of nearby teen-aged Toms River High School South patrons.
Ms. Ratto should know – she once stood on the edge of what felt an awful lot like a cultural reawakening here, only to watch it drain away with her deteriorating health, as almost immediately after opening the instantly popular Java Joint coffeehouse across the street in the mid-1990s she was diagnosed with leukemia. Three years later, she had to sell the business and watch it fall apart in the hands of lesser visionaries. Today the Java Joint sits across the street, fallow and empty, reflecting nothing but the dark, watery images of passersby and lost opportunities.
But today Ms. Ratto is back and, along with Ms. Harris, ready to rumble against the dark economic times that still roll in as aftershocks of the great crash of 2008. A year and a half into their new business, which was founded on the economic faith of friends who saw what they were capable of, the pair even came up with a novel idea to further attract the masses back to their concrete and glass shores: reinvent the once-famed local Traco Theatre, a classic movie house that stood from before “the Great War” until the second year of John F. Kennedy’s presidency, into an early 21st century destination.
But after rejection upon rejection from area banks that, scared of the storm clouds still grumbling overhead, refused to believe in their new idea, it was an unexpected group of helping hands that did: their customers.
This is their story in their own words.
~
Read the full story in the Late July 2011 edition of the Riverside Signal.
The following report was submitted this evening by Toms River Township Police Chief Michael Mastronardy.
- On Thursday morning, August 4th, a 45-year-old Toms River woman reported a theft of her black cloth pocketbook from her unlocked vehicle, which was parked at 1144 Hooper Avenue. She stated the suspects stole the item after the car had “inadvertantly left the car unlocked” after retrieving some items from the trunk.
- At 3:30 pm, Officer James Skriko responded to a theft from vehicle by a mother who was picking up her child at the Cherry Lane Child Care & Learning Center at 806 Main Street. She reported that while exiting the center, she observed a black male inside the rear seat of the vehicle. The male, who was described as being tall and wearing jeans with a yellow-striped shirt, reached over and grabbed the woman’s purse from the front seat and fled north on Main Street on a dark bicycle. The purse was an imitation Coach brand and contained $100 in cash. Anyone with further information may call township police at 732-349-0150.
- James Giannuzzi, 50, of Florence Drive in Manchester Township, was arrested and charged with theft by Officer Travis Seaman following his attempt to shoplift merchandise worth in excess of $1,900 from BJ’s Wholesale Club on Route 37 at approximately 6 pm Thursday. At the time of the report, he was being held on $5,000 bail in addition to a $704 warrant from the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department and a $150 warrant from Tinton Falls.
- On Thursday, August 4th, a 26-year-old Toms River woman reported a theft of items worth in excess of $500 from her car, which was parked in the Wawa convenience store on the Route 37 East at approximately 7 pm. The township resident stated that she left her vehicle windows open prior to entering the store because her air conditioner was not working and returned to discover her black and grey Versace purse missing from the interior floor. Contained within the purse at the time of the theft were Pro-Air inhalers, a Virgin mobile phone and a leather planner. Officer Joshua Kuhlwein is investigating, and anyone with further information may call township police at 732-349-0150.
- At approximately 9 pm, an iPod music player was reported stolen from an unlocked car in the parking lot of the Pisces Seafood restaurant on Route 37. Anyone with further information may call township police at 732-349-0150.
The Toms River Township Police Department once again reminds everyone to please secure their vehicles and reduce the opportunity for thefts.
The following report was submitted this evening by Toms River Township Police Chief Michael Mastronardy.
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