We Have Some Big News To Share

🎡 Ocean City, NJ's only weekly newsletter (is back)

We are back.

After a long hiatus - which we will explain in this email - Walking The Boards has returned.

And boy oh boy do we have some news to share.

Short version: Walking The Boards is now part of the largest media company at the Jersey Shore, which also owns the leading news website in town, OCNJDaily.com.

More on that, Mayor Gillian blasting the state, and the closing of Wonderland.

Let’s get to it.

In the email today:

📆 Upcoming Events in (and around) Ocean City

Saturday, October 19

  • 🚘 Porsche Boardwalk Reunion | Ocean City Boardwalk | 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

  • 🎭 SHOUT! The Mod Musical | Ocean City Music Pier | 7 p.m. on Saturday, 2 p.m. on Sunday— get tickets here

Sunday, October 20

  • 🏃 John R. Elliott HERO Walk and 1-Mile Fun Run | Ocean City Boardwalk | Starts at 10 a.m., details here

Wednesday, October 23

  • 🙋‍♂️Annual Welcome Night | Ocean City Sports & Civics Center | 6-7:30 p.m.

Thursday, October 24

  • 🎃 76th Ocean City Halloween Parade | Line up at 6:30 p.m. at 6th and Asbury | Details here

See more local events right here.

You can see the full list of events in all nearby Shore towns with the following links: Ocean City | Sea Isle | Margate | Avalon | Stone Harbor | Somers Point | Wildwood | Cape May | Ventnor

Also note the Ocean City Library has many events for adults and kids alike on their calendar, which can be viewed here.

🎡 Gillian Blasts State Over Wonderland Closing

Wonderland Pier is officially closed. And Mayor Jay Gillian is pointing the finger at Trenton.

On Thursday, the mayor ripped into state regulators during an Ocean City Regional Chamber of Commerce legislative luncheon:

“One of the biggest issues we have in the amusement industry is this state is putting us out of business. They don't care. And I know that sounds horrible. And I hate talking about that or [Gov. Phil Murphy] or anybody because of the politics. But New Jersey is in a very serious position right now.”

Mayor Gillian

Wonderland, controlled by Gillian's family for nearly a century, had grappled with significant financial issues in recent years. An $8 million mortgage default in 2021 almost put it into a sheriff's auction before developer and investor Eustace Mita intervened to save it. Mita now controls the site.

Gillian previously cited Murphy's move to increase the state minimum wage as a factor in Wonderland's downfall.

He now says the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs also deserves blame due to its onerous oversight and red tape. Gillian claimed he once spent $100,000 to get an amusement ride up and running, only to have the state kibosh it.

"I did everything the professionals said. Structural engineer, all the paperwork. I took it up to the state of New Jersey and the engineer up there said, 'You know what, Jay, I need this done, you need to do this,'" Gillian said.

"He started telling me that my engineer didn't know what he was talking about and they knew better. That is scary."

Meanwhile, Mita has told city officials that he needs six months to study the Wonderland property before coming up with a redevelopment plan. In 2023, Mita proposed building a $150 million luxury boutique hotel on the site, but failed to win support for the project from Gillian and other elected officials.

And boy don’t you worry, we are going to cover the Wonderland site like it’s the Watergate Hotel … which, ironically, is what everyone speculates it might turn into.

📰 We Have Joined Forces With Leading Ocean City Outlet OCNJ Daily

Well, well, well.

The quick version: Walking The Boards is now part of Access Media, which also owns OCNJDaily.com, making us the largest media company in Ocean City, and likely at the whole Jersey Shore.

Other sites include: SeaIsleNews.com, SomersPoints.com, DownBeach.com, BreakingAC.com, the sports site OnPattison.com, and a bunch of other hyperlocal websites throughout Philly and South Jersey. Can you say media mogul? I can.

The background: Earlier this year, local media entrepreneur Jim McDonald acquired a number of hyperlocal news websites throughout the Philly area and rolled them all into a company called Access Media.

Through one of those acquisitions Access acquired OCNJ Daily and its sister sites in Sea Isle, Somers Point, Margate, and, through a separate deal, Atlantic City.

Jim and I (Kyle) met this summer and talked about partnering up on some ad deals since we owned arguably the two biggest media brands in town. Pretty informal stuff.

But it turns out, the opportunity was bigger than that.

Access’ weak point was email newsletters (our strength). They were also lacking a Philly sports brand (my strength).

We were lacking scale (their strength) — as our plan was always to create a version of Walking The Boards for every Shore town.

So, two became one.

We are now part owners of Access Media, and Access Media now has a stake in Walking The Boards.

Jim, who is CEO of Access, formerly served as the publisher of the Philly area Metro papers and launched the Washington Examiner prior to starting a media consulting business

I now work full-time for Access as its President, overseeing our sports brand and all email newsletter efforts (including Walking The Boards!).

Does this explain why we haven’t sent an email in 3 months?

Yes, it does.

Ironically, our weekly cadence was caught up in the muck of getting the deal done, and launching OnPattison.com, our sports site, prior to the start of the Eagles’ season and Red October (however short-lived it was).

But now that we have our ducks in a row, you can expect to receive Walking The Boards again every week, usually on Friday or Saturday.

Will our coverage be better?

You bet!

We often leveraged the quality reporting of Donald Wittkowski and the OCNJ Daily team to build our newsletter.

Now we have direct access to their resources, reporting, and additional manpower from Access. The awesome James Kratch, who is a seasoned newsletter writer and used to work for NJ.com, is also joining the team to help create and build Walking The Boards each week.

So what’s the big plan?

Our plan was always to create a Walking The Boards for every other Shore town, and build the largest media business at the Jersey Shore.

We are now better positioned to do that, thanks to the already-popular sites in our network, which reach upwards of 1 million people per month.

If you’d like more details on what we’re building, here is some recent coverage we’ve received:

🍻 Find Yourself a Man Who Loves You The Way Jay Wright Loves Twisties

Let’s pour one out for Twisties.

Now that they’re closed, perhaps Jay will have some time on his hands and can return to coach Villanova (or, at this point, the Eagles).

🚮 Over The (Trash) Barrel

Ocean City has achieved garbage can reform, but it will be costly.

Property owners can use larger trash and recycling containers starting next month, and pickups are expected to be much quicker. But only after City Council held its nose and signed off on a hefty price hike.

Pineland Construction, Ocean City's solid waste hauler, will get an additional $660,000 through 2027 after the city moved to allow property owners to use 64-gallon containers starting Nov. 1. 

That is an increase from the current 32-gallon limit, but still not codifying the 96-gallon drums many folks use (no load heavier than 50 pounds will be picked up, like some bizarro checked baggage clause).

Officials say the move should reduce the number of containers haulers have to clear— Pineland is also now required to pick up containers on private property moving forward after previously raising liability concerns.

City Council approved the changes in a 6-1 vote, but begrudgingly.

"Not having trash collection is worse than increased costs," Council President Pete Madden said after a rundown of the potential disruptions and upheaval a non-approval could cause, plus discussion on how Pineland has been vastly superior compared to past trash haulers.

Pineland will now get roughly $2 million a year -- coincidentally about how much a scrapped 2022 plan to buy every house a 96-gallon container would have cost. Alas.

🛩️ Prepare For Takeoff

Ocean City Municipal Airport is getting a new terminal building.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held this past Tuesday after Berger Realty owner Leon Grisbaum, a lifelong pilot, made a $3 million donation toward the project. The new building will be the Leon and Elizabeth Grisbaum Terminal Building, also in honor of his late wife. The current terminal will eventually be demolished.

Final designs are still a work in progress. But the new two-story terminal will include a new restaurant — the previous one closed during the pandemic — with views of the bay and marshland. Grisbaum hopes the new digs will help revive the airport, which has seen traffic slow since 2020.

Construction is tentatively expected to begin next year. The city is still working to secure an FAA grant in the seven figures to further fund the project. If that grant does not come through, some slight changes to the plans may occur.

🗳️ Local Political Action Group Invites You To Free Presentation on New Jersey Flood Regulation Requirements

FOCUS, a local political action group which has supported the mayor and several members of City Council, is holding a free presentation on an executive order from Phil Murphy that many say will have an impact on construction, insurance, and home costs.

We’ll have much more on these proposed regulations in the coming weeks.

You can RSVP to the event here.

🏈 Friday Night Lights

Ocean City and Holy Spirit played for the first time in over a decade … and it was worth the wait. The Red Raiders fought back from an early deficit to take a 13-9 lead, only to see the Spartans score a late touchdown for the come-from-behind 15-13 triumph.

🤳 Recommendations

As we mentioned before, Walking The Boards is now part of a larger network of websites and newsletters.

Here are some of our other newsletters (with more on the way). You can subscribe with one click.

For Philly sports fans (sent 5x per week):

On PattisonTHE Philly sports newsletter. Go beyond the score with analysis, observations, stats, memes, links, and more. Sent every weekday and read in 3 minutes or less. Join the fans, beat writers, and spor...

For people who live in the Blue Bell, Ambler, and Whitpain areas:

Wiss NowStay up to date on everything going on in the Blue Bell, Ambler, and Whitpain area-- 🤳 news, 📆 events, 🥩 restaurants, 🌤️ weather, 🚴 recreation, 🏡 real estate, and more. Join the residents, business...

For people who live in Central Bucks:

Central Bucks NowStay up to date on everything going on in the Central Bucks area-- 🤳 news, 📆 events, 🥩 restaurants, 🌤️ weather, 🚴 recreation, 🏡 real estate, and more. Join the residents, business owners, and visit...

For people who live in the Lansdale, Montgomeryville, North Penn and Harleysville area:

North Penn NowStay up to date on everything going on in the Lansdale, Montgomeryville, North Penn and Harleysville areas-- 🤳 news, 📆 events, 🥩 restaurants, 🌤️ weather, 🚴 recreation, 🏡 real estate, and more. Join...

📊 Poll

There is much conjecture about what will happen to the Wonderland site. Many people posit that Eustace Mita will open a hotel, potentially with a restaurant.

This is not an exhaustive list of options, but we’d love to know how people feel. You can add additional commentary after you make your selection, and we will post some of the responses next week.

Which best describes how you would feel about owner Eustace Mita opening a hotel where Wonderland Pier was?

Choose one:

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

Have you taken our subscriber survey yet? We want to learn a bit more about our readers so we can continue to bring you THE BEST Ocean City content. If you haven’t already, take 30 seconds to tell us about your favorite part of the island, pizza, and ice cream. Take the subscriber survey right here.

If you enjoy Walking The Boards, please share it with a friend! Just tell them to go to “WalkingTheBoards.com” to subscribe. Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

Thanks! Enjoy the weekend.

Reply

or to participate.