Good evening HCTA members,
I apologize for the delay in sending today’s update. We lost power again yesterday where I am staying and it was restored tonight. SO…here you go:
Island Access: HCTA President Phil Kunz spoke to the Mayor today. The bridge will open Saturday at 6 AM. The curfew will be adjusted, 11PM to 5 AM. People need to have their re-enrty placards. They are asking that the placard be displayed ( hanging from rear view mirror) at all times while on the island and at least for the next few weeks. Again please remember to lock your vehicles. These placard are valuable and it will cost you $50.00 to replace . If you do not have your placard, please have a tax bill or some other document that identifies your HC address as well as personal identification.The Governor is expected to update his evacuation order within the next 24 hours. Please check www.lbieoc.org for the update and other official information- such as the HCTA website!
As I type, I was informed that Gov Christie did in fact lift the evacuation order. Trustee Jim Loudon forwarded me this article printed tonight: http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/press/ocean/christie-lifts-evacuation-order-lets-long-beach-island-residents-homeowners/article_84a29de0-29ac-11e2-a32d-001a4bcf887a.html#.UJxozTUY7zE.email The bridge will also be open on Sunday.
Lost and Found: It is likely, especially for bayside homes that belongings may have floated/washed away from or onto your property. The HCTA is in the process of setting up a Lost and Found page on our website (Harveycedarstax.org). We will inform you immediately when we have it up and running. In order to post information we will need to know if the item was lost or found, a brief description of the item, and a general street location/address. We ask that before you post an item, you first check with your neighbors to see if the item belongs to someone in the immediate area. Please consider posting an item rather than simply placing it at the curb for trash pick up. Please review the list and share it with your friends and neighbors. You may help reunite someone with their belongings. (If you ‘find’ something on the list-or vice versa- plz inform us so that we may remove it.)
‘Communtity Clean’ up and ‘Workday Wednesdays’: The HCTA along with the Borough of Harvey Cedars will be coordinating a ‘Community Cleanup’ this Saturday, November 10th. All volunteers are asked to meet promptly in the parking lot of Town Hall at NOON. Our simple goal on Saturday is to remove trash and debris off Harvey Cedars’ streets. We will not be removing large items such as mattresses or ‘white goods’, but smaller items such as refrigerator contents, debris, wood, yard debris, etc. Please wear work gloves. Bringing a couple extra trash bags, a rake could come in handy and water to keep yourself hydrated. Those that volunteered their trucks to us… we SO appreciate your generosity. Please report for work at town hall with your trucks. We will assess what assets we have on hand on Saturday. We will divide into teams and cover an assigned area of town.
We are aware that everyone has their own home to attend to as well, so we DO NOT expect to keep our volunteers out for more than a few hours. Along with Mayor Jon Oldham, Bryan and Susan Lewis will be the coordinators of this Saturday’s clean-up .
“Workday Wednesdays” will be coordinated by HCTA Trustee and year round resident Jim Loudon. He will be in touch shortly to those HC residents that stepped up and notified us on the HCTA website, to help during the week. The Borough will pin point tasks in need of timely completion and work details will be handed out the day of. Again, we will not keep you for more than a few hours. In addition, we are looking for volunteers to act as the go-to person for Community Clean-ups for the next two to three Saturdays. If you can help coordinate with a Borough official on site the day of the clean up, please let us know by ‘commenting’ on this post on the HCTA website or responding to this email. The HCTA will do the ‘front end’ work for you.
Finally, a thought for HC’s first responders and town officials. WE cannot thank them enough for their fore site and selflessness thru these past weeks. Are you aware that some of them lost their homes? To follow is the post from the HCPD Facebook page from the HC Highpoint Volunteer Fire Department Chief to his ‘crew’:
“Well its been a long haul, day 13…. Our emergency operations are starting to wind down. We had our last meal at the firehouse. the kitchen is closing, the guys are started to pick up some of the pieces, and try to return to some normalcy. I would like to take this time to personally thank all my guys who went above and beyond during Hurricane Sandy. As always, I am so very proud of all of you. You make me look good. And to my guys who lost just about everything, I have no words to describe the sacrifice that you made. To put your own tragedy behind you to come and stand next to your brother firemen to help others in time of need. Again words cannot express how so very proud I am of all of you. And I’m not the only one who feels that. “For crying out loud, the Governor Chose High Point Volunteer Fire Company to do his press conference”. I would just like to close with High Point’s Motto: “We Lead, Others Follow”. Thanks again guys The Chief We are all able to return to a town we love because people have been THINKING ahead. And when called, our volunteers and Borough employees have stepped up – as a family- to give of themselves and their time. I hope you will observe that HC looks pretty good when you return-because these people have been working round the clock to make it so…. AND… with our Community Cleanup and Workday Wednesday initiative, we hope to give them a hand and carry on as they get back to their ‘regular’ positions in the borough. Sincere thanks to our first responders, police department, Commisioners and volunteers. Sleep well.