Just so sad for the town...people need to check their pride at the door when honoring others. The first shall be last..
I would like to express my thanks to the first responders for all they do, everyday, all year long, with pride and humility. They help not hinder the community so selflessly. It is a shame that a well deserved celebration in their honor had to be cancelled.

What a shame that one establishment can ruin an event for everyone.
Honor the first responders and swear in the new members in a place where
they will be wanted and appreciated!
Shame on you Martell's! You made this about YOU and not the people who helped
all of your town! Shame on YOU!
Mayor Barella, although I only come to visit PPB you are welcome at my house on Staten Island any time you want to stop by!

Put the blame squarely where it belongs on this one, Martells and the Bassinders. The fine emergency responders of Pt Beach will now not be honored due to the childish behavior of a few "small" people!

As always, Mr. Happy told you so. The BW has never cared about the people. Proof positive here, dissing the first responders. Sad.

Honnorees were cancelling because we have all seen the backlash that Vinny can spew if you disagree with him. Vinny is an idiot!

I'm confused...does the chamber work for the mayor? Silly to cancel an event that would honor these great individuals. Maybe the chamber was looking for a reason to cancel since they were receiving heat about charging those "honorees" admission. According to Vaccaro, she wished to sell everyone tickets at cost for $40 (vs. regular $60 prices), but the chamber's a non-profit organization so she had to charge. Was the $20 balance being donated?

Ray...Clearly you are the one who is an idiot! Small town, Small minded people...You must be very tiny!

Just like Good little statist ... Forward comrades !!!!

What a shame that one person can ruin an event for everyone. Shame on you Vinny. You should have taken the high road and let the hard working folks be honored. You are a small man.

The perfect hand in cards: four of a kind. The Mayor looks like a dunderhead. A major business owner in the community looks like an lamebrain. The residents look like a bunch of lunkheads. The Chamber looks like a bunch of half wits for putting the event in this position in the first place. The only real winners are the very few volunteers who bought their tickets before it became clear that the event was only designed as a money maker (which it was not going to be, thus the cancellation). They'll at least get their money back. If the Chamber was really sincere about honoring the volunteers what is preventing them from doing something in the very near future. How about it Chamber? Until you do I won't be patronizing any of your establishments and I would hope others send the same message so that you learn not to take advantage of those who give and sarifice for your benefit without any expectation of a reward or benefit. Shameless!

This whole episode says a lot. Where else can you make a mayor of questionable competence look like a martyr? But what I find telling is that many honorees decided not to go for fear of retaliation by the same mayor. But the real "winners" are the people of PPB. They had a chance to fix this problem when they had a recall election. If they were smart (which I wonder), they would start another recall petition and get it right. Perhaps they like being laughed at. Hey, at least the "Jersey Shore" cast had the sense to make a buck off their stupidity.

As much as I acknowledge the Bassinder's for their generosity for donating to town causes (eg. An unsolicited donation of $3000 to the PPB Recreation Committee of which I am Vice Chairman-to help cover cost of scholarship campers), their decision to exclude the mayor and have a legal letter sent to the town attorney was a poorly judged political decision- not a smart business decision. The hospitality and restaurant business (especially small business on a local level), that relies on the local public to generate revenue year round, should not engage in these types of activities. Often times it leads to otherwise neutral people having a bad taste in their mouth regarding the establishment and a loss of business. It also overshadows the good things that they do- case and point - now the town is talking about what Martells did to the mayor and how it got an event held for the last 66 years cancelled! Vince is probably the sixth mayor that Martell's has dealt with and will not be the last. Politics is a contact sport ..... Hospitality/restaurant business is not. Battles need to be chosen more wisely.

I am sure now that you have spoken out in opinion you will no longer be receiving donations from the Bassinder family until you step down as Vice Chairman of PPB Recreation.

I find it quite insulting that Mr Ramos continues to insult our intelligence with his one sided opinions on issues concerning the mayor. Weren't you a BIG supporter of the mayor during the recall? How can you even comment on what Martells has donated to this town only living here about as long as Councilman Gordon yourself? Dave Bassinder has contributed to the local little league, first aid, fire companies, scholarship funds, animal welfare, school improvements, the local pba, and many many more agencies and groups over the years. You and others who don't know jack squat about the history of PPB now have the audacity to be critical of Dave for defending himself against a lowlife mayor who likes to bully people. Do you think it was right for the so called leader of this town to call Dave Bassinder a small man? This just after Dave donated hot meals to those in need and the members of the national guard stationed here. You sir, do not represent a large sector of people in PPB and you as Vice Chairman of a committee in this town that deals with alot of money should learn to keep your big yapper shut.

How is it considered an 'honor" for a volunteer to be charged $$$ to attend a dinner in their honor? Don't the volunteers already volunteer enough to not have to volunteer their $$$?

How about a simple Thank You letter in the Ocean Star? How about donations to their organizations? How about during things like the Santa coming to town or the Seafood Festival....give them some "Thanks" there publicly. How about a Thank You message on the Chamber sign into town?

I totally agree. I think the chamber felt the heat from charging the honorees for a ticket. If they were smart and did their math correct, they could have increased the price per ticket to cover the cost of entry for each person being honored.

What a circus!! Hundreds of homeless people and they can't even put on a dinner party?

Pt Beach should now be keeping its eye on the ball which is the summer season. From what I am hearing, people are reticent to come down because of all of the damage so that decision will affect beaches and our town. Time to put differences aside and concentrate on getting up and running for Memorial day which was a big day last year!! Let's get the job done and move forward in a positive way. We all need each other.

This whole incident is very sad. Even more sad is the fact that we may have to look to those first responders and police for aid again tonight, as we brace for another nasty storm with more potential flooding. Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to help keep everyone safe through Sandy, and thank you for your continued help as everyone fights FEMA, the insurance companies, and apparently Mother Nature to try to rebuild. We'd all like to put Sandy behind us, but it's just not going to be that easy.

It is true Vinny got a free ticket ?

the event was a fiasco in the making. Canceling was the only avenue for retreat. There are too many angry people in this community. The comments show how much anger exists. Lighten up folks. It's unhealthy to be so po'd over who you like or don't like.

One thing I am starting to realize is that the residents of the beach are getting no help to protect our properties from future storms...Why,
1-Beach is privately owned. (has anyone talked to the BW owners to see if they will put dunes in place.

2- With all this sand being sifted, why not create a Berm around the lakes (Belmar started this 2 weeks after sandy hit.

3-Has the storm drains for these lakes been checked for the removal of sand and debree.

4 A higher sea wall along the inlet. (sorry fishermen)

These are all projects that when completed could lower our flood premiums in the future but no one is talking about them.
All we here is how WE have to rebuild, what about the towns responsibility with the above mentioned

Part Timer, "One thing I am starting to realize is that the residents of the beach are getting no help to protect our properties from future storms"...now, you sound like a monkey. You're only just starting to realize this? Face it, our governing body members are not full-time employees of the town. They have day jobs, which they need to support themselves and their families. That means that they have only so much time in the day to deal with municipal business. You and other proponents of the parking plan have been pushing for a parking plan, and drawing value time to its re-adoption, rather than, in my opinion, focusing on the bigger issues, like the flooding problems. These are big issues, and they're complicated ones. They should've been everyone's top priority post Sandy, not the parking plan. Our town has been grossly behind in its Sandy response. Even the BW reconstruction was tied to something, settling the lawsuits. Imagine what you would've felt like living here in PPB, full-time, post Sandy. While many adjacent towns had patrols from the National Guard, our local police (who did a great job) had to protect the town, alone. I'm glad to hear that you're finally turning your focus to issues that really are more important to the future of our town, even if it is a little late in the game. Let's see if we can get our Governing Body moving in the right direction.

Some are saying Vinny is being denied the right to purchase goods/services from an open to the public business for saying something rude. As anyone who has been to Martell's can testify, rude words/behavior is commonplace among many of those who patronize Martell's..... so clearly "rudeness" is not the issue. The biggest concern here is the fact that a business can exclude an individual from purchasing goods/services for having a difference of political opinion. Beware of the unintended consequences of supporting Martell's position.

To Mr. Corbally, what is being done to protect PPB from future flooding? I'm sure there are plans but I am curious what your plan of attack is. I see you have a new summer parking plan but we're certain the future protection of PPB has come first, right?

"Absolutely". I assume this is Barrella's response to this question: Of all of the self-centered, narcistics acts that you have committed since you were in office, of which there have been many, would you rate this as the most egregious and the one that has offended the most people?

The self centered, narcisstic act that I am referring to is when your uncontrollable ego allowed the actions of Martell's and your reaction by claiming it was an affront to your position of mayor to deflect from, and ultimately, eliminate, the rightful attention that should have been given to the volunteers. Your shameless desire to obtain an additional 2 minutes in the spotlight was more important than affording them their due, which is all most of them will ever get. You don't get it and never will. Book intelligent you are but in "people matters" if dumb was a drug you would have overdosed a long time ago.

Mayor Barrella, all I'm hearing from you in response to questions about protection from future storms is political doublespeak. I believe that a dune expert came to visit PPB recently. Did that dune expert recommend that dunes be used along our coastline to help protect against future damage? Do our local experts agree with this opinion? If so, have you spoken with the owners of the beach to learn what measures they are willing to consider to help protect PPB? You say that, unlike other towns, "we are not only dealing with someone's views of the Ocean, but the capacity of a component of their business." Yes, that's true. But, you're also dealing with significantly fewer beach owners than other towns are. Perhaps it would be better if you put your personal issues with the bw businesses aside, stopped adding fuel to the fire, and all sat down to figure out what can be done along the beach, if anything, to help protect the town. If measures have already been taken along the beach front, please tell us what they are and who had been responsible for creating them.

I thought their was federal money to build dunes from Cape May to the Manasquan Inlet?

There you go again. More attorney-speak. Deflect and misdirect. Protection is an issue that is well above you and any municipality. That's a given. Your personal actions are not. No denial on the Martell's debacle that you robbed the volunteers of their rightful recognition by your ego-centric selfishness? Unless you do I guess it is fair to assume that you have come to the correct decision that you exercised some narrow minded decision-making that you like to have a "do over" with. You don't have to address it further with me. Focus your next response on addressing the volunteers. They are the ones that deserve it.

..and keep this in mind. You'll be around for awhile, Mr. Mayor, but you will be poison to any of your chosen candidates in November. Better make sure you pick a volunteer as a candidate, otherwise, he/she will be shunned by the volunteer voter and their families and friends. Bad decision personally, professionally, politically and most importantly as a supposed friend, neighbor and supporter.

Not taking the bait so stop wasting your breath. I ask again, on the question of what is being done to protect PPB, were any of you at the Council meeting on Tuesday evening?

Ok, I get it. You can't tell me how any of this benefits the people of PPB, because it doesn't, and even a lawyer from Brooklyn can't make it look like it does.

More of the same misdirection. Keep your focus on the issues that you can control. You can't control a federal and state issue. You're just a little minnow in the big sea when it comes to the bigger issues. Your refusal to acknowledge that you did not make a good decision in the Martell's matter just gives greater credence that you are motivated by self centered gains and could care less about others. You can keep trying to avoid it but the more you do the lesser of person it shows you to be. I feel only sadness for you.

A Resident, Below is the link to the raising of Belmar Lake...
http://haleybehre.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/9-20-lake.pdf
A berm is not a wall, it is a couple of feet (like a sand dune) around the lake that you can use as a planter to beautify. No one is saying to close off lake Louise.
Sea wall... Yes a Higher sea along the inlet. Does anyone know if the water went over the PP canal sea wall.
And Yes, FEMA will take into consideration everything that has been done to protect future flooding, Dunes, Berms, Sea Walls etc.....
If other towns are willing, why aren't we.
By the way, I still haven't seen or heard anything with regards to the future protection of PPB.

I know dunes are being seriously considered, although the proportion of private beaches may be an obstacle. Sea Walls have also been talked about, but they don't seem to be the answer we hear most. I don't feel Berms around the lakes would have prevented much of the Sandy Damage. Most areas saw a large amount of sand debris left behind which didn't come from the lakes. Their are more than a few residents and experts discussing various approaches of mitigation for PPB.

The Mayor was told in writing he would not be permitted in the premises. Since the Mayor of PPB (like him or hate) has always sworn in the new Chamber Officers and was asked to present the awards to the First Responders (as the Mayor) I believe Martell's over stepped their bounds as the catering hall. I may not like the President but I will always respect the office. I try not to respond to idiots. Oops.

Mr. Corbally I understand how Vince Barrella's decision to publicly complain about Martell's excluding him served your political agenda, and I understand how publicly complaining made Martells look bad, but can you tell me how any of this benefits the people of PPB?

What was more important; maintaining a longstanding tradition of swearing in chamber officers that means very little to most residents or recognizing community volunteers for their service during a once in a lifetime emergency? Are you suggesting that it had to be an all or nothing proposition? The mayor either presents the awards of no one does. If that's not self-centered I don't know what is? That reaction is usually reserved by small children or those with challenged personalities. By the way, be careful who you address as an idiot. You know, the pot calling the kettle black or people in glass houses.....Even if that is not the case, the fact that you are defending this empty suit suggests a lot about you beyond your shattered house. You are obviously made for each other.

The mayor not wanting to respond to the question about ruining the event speaks volumes. He waited until the council meeting on Tuesday night to bring it up so he could stir the pot as much as possible as close to the event as possible. This is what this small man does. He sits in his water soaked basement and plans his every political next move that he thinks helps him. The fact that he would not contact Dave Bassinder privately to try and work things out tells alot about his personality or what he cares about. The chamber wanted to honor the hard working folks in this town that truly deserved it and the event really didn't need Vinny Barrella, but Vinny didn't care about that. And by the way the mayor has not "always" sworn in chamber officers. Don't believe everything Mike Corbally posts !! And while I'm on Mike Corbally, his decisions and actions in the past have been , well, I'll be nice and leave it as suspect and clouded. He ran as a person that wanted to come in and "clean things up " and create a better atmosphere on council. He has done the complete opposite ! These jokers time is up in November and there is nothing they can do about it. Tooker and Corbally are finished. I believe Stu Fisher could beat either of them at this point. And by the way, Dave Bassinder has every right to turn Vinny away and he certainly had due reason.

yes and what does that have to do with anything I said Vinny.

Mayor Barrella, I'm not sure why you felt the need to leave me a lengthy post explaining why the ordinance was pulled, when all I did was respond to your question as to whether any of us were at the Council meeting, but this now brings me back to my comment that we are grossly behind other towns. As usual, you seem incapable of explaining things without putting your own personal spin on it. I have several family members who own property in other flood-ravaged towns. I've been to Council meetings in other towns, as have some of my family members. The model ordinance is exactly that...a model. The State is not dictating to you, but it is providing you with "model" language to help towns know what is needed. Residents cannot apply for certain grants until the town adopts the FEMA map. If you look at Lavalette's website, you can see that they've already introduced an ordinance. Similarly, if I'm reading my Patch articles correctly, Pt. Boro introduced an ordinance back in January. According to our website, there was a PPB planning board meeting scheduled for February 6, the night after the Council meeting. Now, residents will have to wait another 1 1/2 months for you to adopt an ordinance. Residents need to rebuild, and they need to know how high they can rebuild. Every zoning ordinance needs to go to the planning board for review. Didn't you know that, after 6 years in office as the Mayor? If you don't understand, please learn it ASAP so that we can move forward.

This Governing Body hasn't adopted any ordinances to help residents rebuild since the end of last year. That ordinance was introduced by Lurie. As good as it was, the FEMA flood insurance issues have made it pretty useless now for those who were more than 50% destroyed. The Mayor has used our tax dollars for lawyers' fees to defend useless lawsuits, but doesn't seem willing to spend our tax dollars to learn the things we really need right now, like what ordinances need to be passed to help the residents rebuild their homes and comply with FEMA. Of course, we're the same town that stopped offering residents free pick up of flood damaged materials back in early December, when it's clear that many other towns were still offering it. Bring back Lurie so that at least someone on the Governing Body will know what to do to help the residents. Please stop this bickering over things like the feud between the Mayor and Martells and the parking plan and focus on the things that the people of PPB really need to get back in their homes.

Lurie can take care of two things for the price of one. Nobody is more knowledgeable than he on engineering matters. You can't deny him that. He can also smooth things over with Martell's since he has been on the Bassinder payroll for engineering services for quite some time and they seem happy with him. While he is on recall, maybe he can also do something about the town funding the chamber with tens of thousands of dollars for advertising since it doesn't seem that will be able to do anything constructive with it. They have such a lack of direction and focus they will probably be marketing the town as a ski lodge. While we are at it, and in the spirit of bi-partisanship, let's get Hennessy, Cervino and Dyer back and really destroy what's left of the community. Until there is real leadership motivated by the desire to serve the community rather than self the only difference between the Beach and Keansburg will be the classier town will be located in Monmouth County.

But, of course, you can’t point to a single action taken by Mr. Lurie in his many years as a councilman, over two different terms, that was motivated by anything other than what he thought was right for the town he loves, can you? I’ll take someone who is accomplished and connected, even though there will be some small minded people who think there is something vaguely wrong with the connections, over those who form the Barrella block, motivated by ego and personal vendettas, any day.

Grinch- Lurie was a good councilman. Unfortunetly, you support the likes of Korbel-ly, Tookerella, Flash Gordon, and Vincanity wince egomaniac Barrella. These four could easily be replaced by Charlie Sheen, Barbie, Capt America, and the joker and it would be a vast improvement !

Be careful what you wish for. People who are satisfied with the means justifying the ends are the ones that scream the loudest when they find that their so-called savior overstepped their boundaries well beyond what was initially acceceptable. Everybody thought Ritacco was a financial genious and a tax savior. They tolerated his personal extravagances until they got excessive. Those that praised him the most become his biggest damning critics. As to Lurie doing everything out of his dceep love for the town that is just a lot of sentimental nonsense. His love was deepened by opportunity.

But, of course, you still haven't pointed to a single action taken by Mr. Lurie in his many years as a councilman, over two different terms, that was motivated by anything other than what he thought was right for the town, because you can't, can you?

Be real. Lurie was a giver and a taker. No more. No less. Don't make him out to be Mother Theresa. Has he volunteered to assist the town in the storm aftermath when we really need his engineering genius? I don't think so. Where's the love? As far as being a Barrella fan, you need to awaken from your coma.

How was him representing the Bassinder's while he was a councilman a positive for the town? Where there's smoke there's usually fire.

Right. You can't point to any action he took as a councilman that was motivated by anything other than what he thought was best for the town because the improper motives are all in your imagination because "where there is smoke there is usually fire." Pathetic

Voting on issues that directly involved his private client is not an issue for you? You are obviously infatuated with him. Send him a Valentine's card if you want but he'll probably only be moved if there is a check or a referral business card in it. Speaking of pathetic.

If there was any substance to any of your musings do you think Barrella would have reported it to the DCA? In a heartbeat! Think he would have told us about his complaint to the DCA? In a New York minute.

Give me one vote where you think Lurie voted differently that what he personally thought was right. Bar Closings? Think he WAS right on that. Parking Plan? Ditto. Got one? Didn't think so. I think I hear the Rolling Stones----"Just my imagination running away with me.......

Oh, I get it. First, you would like me to place myself in the mind of Lurie to determine what his thought process was when he voted in favor of his influential client and family. That's easy to do, isn't it. Only if you are delusional. You really are smitten by him, aren't you? Secondly, your logic that there's no substance to Lurie's actions because, Barrella, the person you loathe, and maybe rightfully so, has not reported the ethical violation to the DCA suggests that no one else has. Initial complaints to the DCA are confidential anyway, I believe. Only confirmed complaints are available to the public. How do you know that a complaint has not already been made by someone else and is pending? Send the guy some flowers, would you please, get together with him and answer your own question of what was/is going on in his own head. With your thought processes you must be a party or club official so maybe you can convince to come back. He's done it before. We do need his engineering smarts. We don't need his poor judgment.

Hey Vinnie. You probably thought we forgot about you. Not a chance!

I am so tired of hearing this "conflict of interest" nonsense. We live in a small town. People work for and with one another. People in private industry end up with a whole variety of clients, but that doesn't mean that every time they do something, they have a conflict of interest. Using this logic, the only people who should ever sit on our Governing Body are public employees, retirees, and people who just moved into town. We have one those new transplants on our Council, and he has trouble figuring out where are streets are located. Should we get to see a list of all of the people that Corbally has helped to find homes or sell homes? Give me a break. Now, if, for example, Corbally is helping John Smith to sell his home and, while he has that contract, John Smith comes to the Council to ask for something, that would probably be a conflict of interest. But, if the contract with John Smith is over, then the conflict is over, too. Grinch, if you think that the town could benefit from Lurie's engineering smarts, then ask yourself why Lurie wasn't asked to serve on the Planning Board or Zoning Board or some other ad hoc committee that the Mayor has formed? And, really, why would Lurie agree to do that with people like you who regularly want to accuse him of engaging in a conflict of interest? If the Borough Attorney says that it's not a conflict, then other non-lawyers should stop trying to pervert the law. All of this nonsense is only hurting PPB.

If you have to explain ethics and morals to someone you are wasting your time because they are never going to get it anyway. You either understand it or you don't. You obviously do not. Private people servicing private clients are none of our business but if you can't restrain yourself from peddling influence in a mile square town while actively serving the public then, yes, you should not be an elected or appointed official. That leaves you 500 more towns to peddle in which is plenty and is certainly not a restraint of trade. Lurie peddled his wares while he was on council, not before or after. Show me where the town attorney cleared Lurie of any possible conflict in advance and I'll send him a Valentine's Day card along with Cindy Lou Who. Chances are you are a present or former politico and you don't like the restraint since it is/was an affront to your yearn to personally capitalize on your new found power and influence. You've got it all wrong. People like you are hurting PPB.

Jersey Shore Grinch, so then, what is your opinion of Barefoot Realty sending out postcards to PPB homeowners during the past year, offering to sell their houses? Do you feel that is also unethical since Councilman Corbally is a principal of that company? What do you think of the Barefoot Realty website advertising that one of its member is a Councilman? While we're at it, I'm sure you know that, years ago, PPB had a Councilman and then a Mayor who was a local barbershop owner. He cut the hair of many local residents on a regular basis. Was it unethical of him to serve as an elected official considering that so many of his clientele were locals and he was "peddling his wares" locally? Personally, I think that these individuals have the ability to separate their business interests from their official responsibilities, and that perhaps their business relationships at times give them an advantage in making good decisions for our town, as compared to people who simply "drop from the sky" and run for office. I notice that you didn't respond to my comments about whether you'd like to see a list of all of Councilman Corbally's customers. Maybe your real problem is that Lurie had a business relationship with the owner of Martells, not just any business in town, and that because you dislike the boardwalk businesses, you want to create a problem where there isn't one?

I have recused myself when any business client or personal friends have had an issue before the council, planning board when I served, and BOA member when I served.

The new norm is for towns to rip the residents off. How dare you ask questions and expect honest answers.

I just copied this from the Barefoot Realty website. It's under the tab "Who is Barefoot?" I have omited one paragraph, to comply with Patch posting restraints:
"So a councilman, an Italian Ice guy and a film producer walk into an office…
…and we end up figuring out that this town could use another Real Estate Agency. And we’re just the trio to do it!...
They bring a varied background into the Barefoot office. Kim has built a film production resume that includes work on The Departed, The Interpreter and Public Enemies, among others. Mike has been a successful business owner and is a current PPB councilman. Doug grew up in Long Branch and has worked..."