Cape May’s Town Hall Session: Looking Back and Forward

CAPE MAY – Cold temperatures and bitter winds on Nov. 28 may have kept the crowd smaller than usual, but Cape May officials used the last town hall meeting of 2018 to review what they considered the year’s success stories.
On the way, they:
* Celebrated a citizen’s career of service to the city.
* Applauded the young people who designed the 2019 beach tags.
* Reiterated that the city’s future is intimately tied to its past.
Year in Review
Looking back over 2018, Mayor Clarence Lear used the work of some of the city’s volunteer advisory committees to highlight progress on a broad agenda.
The Parking Advisory Committee presented its interim recommendations to reduce parking congestion through the more efficient use of space.
It called for:
* Variable parking fees dependent on the desirability of locations.
* A new transportation agreement with reliable trolley schedules.
* Better use of the Bank Street parking lot after flood mitigation work is done.
* Creation of an evening free parking zone in areas largely unused after the beach closes.
* Use of online technology to inform visitors about parking rules and options.
City Manager Neil Young reviewed capital projects completed or underway, noting that capital planning is essential to the city’s long-term progress.
Both Young and Deputy Mayor Shaine Meier said that the committee reviewing bids from architectural firms for a new public safety building is ready to make an award recommendation to city council.
Young highlighted road work completed and planned, he focused on areas of public interest.
Working with the county, the city will get the speed limit lowered from 35 mph to 30 mph on the heavily-trafficked Pittsburgh Avenue.
Median strips are already in place on parts of Pennsylvania Avenue and will continue until they run from the Coast Guard Training Center to Pennsylvania Avenue.
Both of these recommendations from yet another of the city’s advisory groups are meant to increase safety on these roads especially for Coast Guard family children traveling daily to the elementary school.
Young also said that a federal and state beach replenishment program would begin in January and be completed by March 2019.
Lear spoke of ongoing work to study options for the Franklin Street School, to aid the Allen African Methodist Episcopal Church on Franklin Street in its rebuilding after this year’s fire, and plans for a public presentation early in 2019 of the work being done on the city’s Master Plan Reexamination.
A Life in Service
Officials took time to celebrate the many years of service of ex-mayor William “Jerry” Gaffney. 
Gaffney served on City Council for 16 years, four of them as mayor.
Gaffney was presented with a Volunteer of the Year Award. Lear spoke of Gaffney’s current work on the Public Safety Building Advisory Committee which he chairs, along with some of Gaffney’s achievements as a public official. 
Lear credited Gaffney with moving the city to the Joint Insurance Fund, noted that Gaffney played a key role in the design and development of the city’s desalination plant.
Lear said Gaffney was “key to implementation of the city beach replenishment plan.” 
Lear, a retired police officer, also noted that Gaffney “broke the glass ceiling” when he appointed the city’s first female police chief, Diane Sorrentino.
Lear noted that Gaffney had served as a borough commissioner in Medford Lakes before moving to Cape May. Gaffney’s 20-plus years of service in elected office led the League of Municipalities to place Gaffney in the Elected Officials Hall of Fame.
The Past is the Future
Council member Roger Furlin used the town hall to amplify the call for creation of a National Historic Landmark City Visitors’ Center.
The impetus for the concept of a center was the need for a location for an impressive exhibit of Cape May’s Victorian architecture which is ending its run at the Emlen Physick House.
The exhibit includes 29 panels containing architectural drawings of many of the city’s most renowned buildings. The drawings were created as part of a project in the 1970s that helped propel Cape May to its landmark designation.
The panels contain the drawing of a specific building, photographs of the building then and now, and a narrative on the structure.
Collectively they tell of a city that chose to let its past define its future as a unique resort community.
Furlin said that the transition of the exhibit from the Physick House would initially see the panels on display at City Hall. Longer term the plan calls for their relocation to a visitors’ center that both explains and celebrates the municipality’s status as a landmark city.
The center would become an advocate for Cape May history with the panels joined by historic photos, a newspaper archive and a presentation on what it means to be a Historic Landmark City.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.