By DON STINE
Improving the quality of life for Asbury Park residents is the goal of a new committee established by Councilwoman Yvonne Clayton.
The Code/Quality of Life Committee held its first meeting on March 21.
“Improving the quality of life in the city was on of the things I campaigned on,” said Clayton, who was seated on the council in January.
She said the 12-member committee is made up of a cross-section of community members from all areas of the city.
“We have broken up into various subcommittees to focus on different issues,” she said.
Issues include dealing with abandoned houses, code enforcement, cleaning parks and the city in general, and cleaning up dirty taxis cabs.
“We want to make the city look nice and we are bringing together businesses, residents and schools so everybody can work together to start cleaning up,” she said.
She said the committee is getting a lot of complaints about the cleanliness and condition of taxi cabs and the blowing of horns during the night and early morning hours.
“There is no longer a taxi commission so we will look to bringing that back or at least talk to cab owners to see what we can do,” she said.
In the long-term, Clayton said the committee would like to look into automated garbage collection, like programs currently in Neptune and Ocean Township.
“We are looking into obtaining some grant money – and it would make the city more attractive and make trash and recyclable collection much easier,” she said.
She said the committee also wants to cleanup the roads that are entrance-ways into Asbury Park.
The Code/Quality of Life Committee meets every third Tuesday of the month on the second floor of City Hall at 5:30 p.m.
“And the public is welcome,” Clayton said.
