Zoned Out

On Thursday, June 6th, Marshall Jackson & Partners were celebrated at the annual New Jersey Advertising Club awards banquet with 8 awards, including three trophies for local Asbury Park businesses and our Open campaign for the Convention Visitors Bureau. All this made us the most decorated agency on the Jersey Shore. Then the very next day, the local zoning police issued a verbal cease and desist and said that the advertising agency had to shut their laptops and leave. The consequences of non-compliance were stated clearly. Stop working right now or be in court with your landlord next week. Nice, right? Ok. Ignorance of the law is not a defense. Having said that, lets talk about this particular law. It is clearly designed to ensure that Cookman Avenue maintains its position as the retail epicenter of Asbury. We agree and can understand that there needs to be control but the sad reality is that very few businesses on Cookman survive on what goes on at the front of house. In order to sustain a business there needs to be more than one revenue stream in this town. This is not 5th Avenue folks. Obviously we want to work with the city to recover our trading position and protect the three businesses that are in danger as a result of this action. With this in mind I will continue to try to understand the rules of the game and play by them. Having said that, my colleague who subsequently appealed to the local code enforcer, was told that he should expect to be closed until July. Clearly groveling is not his strongpoint or someone is making a serious point about how powerful they are. So whats the best that we can hope for here? 1. That the rules that define the usage of buildings in Asbury Park are easily available, transparent and understood even if you are not a NASA scientist. 2. That the city office responsible for enforcement of these codes understands that the bull in a china shop school of management is very unnecessary. We are not on the set of a movie and you are not dealing with the criminal classes. To quote the last Spiderman movie, with great power comes great responsibility. Maybe the role of the code enforcer could be to educate and enlighten? Less fun than the baseball bat, but in the long run probably more productive for a town that is trying to present itself as mature, pragmatic and forward thinking place to bring new business. 3. That an appeals procedure exists to protect businesses and their customers from sudden and inconvenient closure. 4. Let the punishment fit the crime. If the perp is grilling lunch in a wooden building or selling weapons of mass destruction, then sure, close him down. But if being guilty of bringing jobs and

fresh energy to a town is a crime punishable by the potential death of the business then we have woken up in Salem circa 1692. These comments are all made with some amount of tongue in cheek but the events are real and need to be reviewed with business development in mind. I seek nothing more than fairness and a sense of mutual endeavor. We have found allies in your business development department who seem to be counter balanced by your zoning police. Are they pulling together in different directions? Possibly. I know we broke the rules, but maybe the rules are archaic and need to be reviewed? Perhaps something as simple as 75% of the floor space needs to be retail and the office space needs to house an Arts based business? Is it possible to effect positive change without compromising the planners ambitions for the town? We think so. Ian Jackson As a post script to this note: On Tuesday 6.11.13, MJP spoke to Don Sammet. A very nice man who made it clear there were no circumstances under which our business would be allowed to continue supporting the Gallery space. So its over for Marshall Jackson & Partners, Image Tech Photo studio and Kiss my Art Gallery. Don explained that this rule has been challenged many times but never been beaten. True, Asbury has a new team in place who are committed to openness, transparency and developing the town. Heres your first test guys. Do we have mixed businesses that sustain each other or empty store fronts? You decide.