Business Owners Asking for Progress in Convention Hall Project

CAPE MAY — Business owners are asking City Council to move forward with the project to construct a new Convention Hall citing decreased business because of the lack of a facility and fewer activities in Cape May for visitors.
At a June 15 City Council meeting that featured a more than three hour closed session, Mayor Edward J. Mahaney Jr. said after discussion with council and council-elect members, it was decided to wait until the July 1 reorganization meeting to announce plans for Convention Hall.
At council’s June 8 meeting, it had been announced plans for a new facility would be announced at the June 15 meeting.
The mayor said council and council-elect members had continued to make progress on “sharing philosophies and working towards a solution.” He described the discussions as “cordial and amiable.”
Joe Bogle, an owner of the Original Fudge Kitchen, said he has had a business on the city’s Promenade for 32 years.
“When that Convention Hall got condemned, you might as well condemned the businesses up there,” he said. “Do you know how many buildings are closed up on that Promenade right now and it’s the direct result of no Convention Hall?”
He said it was distressing to see the project being revisited by council.
Bogle said some of the council-elect members during campaigning said a new facility would be a burden to taxpayers.
“The burden to the taxpayers will be greater if we don’t generate revenue all over town and keep visitors coming here,” he said. “And if there’s nothing to do and there is nothing to right now for the kids that come here.”
Bogle said he has heard comment there are no kids visiting Cape May.
“Why would you come here? To go to an arcade?” he asked.
Bogle said when he was a child, he went to the Cape May boardwalk every night.
He called a new Convention Hall a centerpiece for the community that everyone will use and will benefit everyone in Cape May.
Taxes will go up in the city if visitors don’t arrive to feed parking meters and buy beach tags, said Bogle.
“Businesses are dying on the Promenade, we’re going to have blight up there,” he said.
Bogle said if did not also have a store on the Washington Street Mall, he would not have a store on the Promenade with one store feeding the other. He said his store on the Promenade enabled him to open the store on the mall.
“Today, it’s the opposite,” said Bogle.
Gallery owner Dawn DeMayo said activities in Convention Hall in fall and spring are crucial to her business.
“We should try to do everything we can to move forward and make this happen, so we can open (Convention Hall) as soon as possible,” she said.
Resident Susan Mullens said if bids council received for construction met their criteria for funding, she hoped the city would not revisit the decision that had been approved by voters. She said she realized some residents believed the proposed facility was the “wrong fit” for the city but starting from scratch on the project was not a good idea.
Susan Tischler, editor of Cape May Magazine, said years ago an activity took place every night at Convention Hall from dances to religious services. She said delaying construction of a new facility was “potentially devastating.”
Innkeeper Barbara Masemore said business was declining all over Cape May.
“We need to think we need to spend money to make money,” she said. “Please, please, please, sooner than later.”