The following is an ‘Ask The Mayor’ question submitted to TLS, and the Mayor’s response. Email your questions for the Mayor to AskTheMayor@thelakewoodscoop.com.

Question:

Good morning,

I am a Jackson resident and enjoy playing tennis very much. I lived in Lakewood for eight years and greatly appreciated all the amazing work you did for us.

Tennis and pickleball has become very popular in the last few years, and the Jackson parks have gotten very full, especially at night starting right after Passover.

Johnson Park has beautiful lighting, and the courts are used until late at night. At times, there can be a line of people waiting to play even at 10 PM. The demand has been so high from the Orthodox Jewish community that the township graciously extended the night hours until 11 PM.

Many of the players come from Lakewood, which is wonderful. I’m happy to share the courts, just as we benefit from many services and amenities in Lakewood. However, it’s reached a point where there simply isn’t enough space for everyone.

I’m not sure how long this kind of planning takes, but I believe it would be a fantastic idea—and a tremendous service to the community—to add lighting to the tennis courts at Pine Park and Ocean County Park.

Many people are busy with work and family during the day and can only get outside for exercise and fresh air after nightfall.

We would greatly appreciate your attention to this matter and would love to hear if it’s something that can be arranged.

Thank you so much in advance!

Sincerely,
Avid (Nighttime) Tennis Players

Response from Mayor Coles:

Thanks

I love hearing stories about how neighboring towns and residents get along. It is so refreshing after the discord of the last couple of years!

We will be resurfacing our courts at Pine Park this spring. We are also actively pursuing installing a sports bubble which could provide additional weather protected activities, maybe even some courts

Ocean County Park is a county facility. They all close at sundown. I will forward your email to the county and see if they can accommodate some additional courts in their parks

Have a wonderful holiday

Ray

Question:

Hello Mr. Mayor.

Thank you for this great forum.

The new park located on Drake and Neimann is a great addition to our neighborhood and we thank you for that.

However, accessing the park is really unsafe. Cars speed down Drake without expecting pedestrians to be crossing the street. I really believe a stop sign or at the bare minimum a crosswalk is necessary.

Also when coming from Clarkson It is very hard to access the park safely. You must cross the street to reach sidewalk and then cross back again. Can there be sidewalk directly along the part of the side of the street which has the park? I have seen way too many close calls.

Thank you for taking care of our town.

Response from Mayor Coles:

Good morning

I spoke worth our engineer, and he tells me we already have a plan in place to address this. Our maintenance contractor, is scheduled to come in this week to take care of the intersection. Our DPW crews will also be prepping for the HMA paths shortly as well. Most likely around April 15th.

Ray

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