Garden State beachgoers bummed
“Gov. Christie, get the hell off the beach!”
That was the tongue-incheek response from Larry Manno of Ridgefield, Conn., when he learned Saturday that Christie and his family were spending the weekend at the governor’s official retreat in Island Beach State Park even though the 10-mile-long park was off limits to everyone else.
Manno was turning the tables on Christie’s signature line from August 2011, when Hurricane Irene was bearing down on the Jersey Shore and the public seemed unconvinced of the potential danger.
Throughout the day Saturday, New Jersey State Park Police turned away one motor vehicle after another, one bicyclist after another, one pedestrian after another, who came up to the main gate of Island Beach State Park to find it looking as secure as a crime scene.
There, plastered over the wooded entrance sign to the park were two posters with the words, “CLOSED,” emblazoned over an unflattering photo of Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto.
Beneath the Democratic leader’s mustachioed visage were the words: “This Facility is CLOSED Because of this Man,” along with a telephone number for his office.
However, most of the anger on the Shore Saturday was directed not at the little-known speaker, but at the rumors that New Jersey’s first family and their friends were inside the park at the governor’s beach house — enjoying the surf and sun all for themselves — while the public was locked out.
Earlier in the day, Christie told reporters he understands that people may have a negative perception that his family gets to enjoy Island Beach State Park while the public cannot, but he pointed out that the governor also has a state-owned residence there.
“That’s just the way it goes,” Christie said when asked by a reporter about those concerns Saturday. “Run for governor and you can have a residence.”
A dispute between Christie and Prieto has blocked the Legislature from passing a state budget. With no new spending plan, Christie ordered all nonessential state services halted at midnight Friday.