Shark River Hills Property Owners – March Newsletter

Read the APP.com article, Making Friends with the Horror, to learn more about Warren Disbrow, a fellow shirker, and his latest film, “Haunted Hay Ride: The Movie”.

If you didn’t hear the sirens in the Hills last night, a house burned to the ground over on South Riverside Drive. Thank goodness the owner escaped and that the fire was contained to the one home.  Thanks to all the firefighters who fought the blaze.

APP article: Cause of Neptune house fire still unknown

Firefighters on the scene at 511 South Riverside Drive, Neptune
photo by Scott Wentworth/Special to the Asbury Park Press

Today, Saturday Aug. 9th is National Marina Day and is being celebrated down at the Shark River Marina over on South Riverside Drive. Here is an excerpt from The Coaster article:

Neptune Township and the Harbor Commission are hosting the town’s first National Marina Day event Sat., Aug. 9.

Both groups are promising a celebration of water activities, free refreshments, free fishing lessons (bring your own rod and reel) and an inflatable basketball hoop.

The festivities begin at 1 p.m. at the Shark River Municipal Marina on South Riverside Drive.

Adding to the day’s festivities, Vessel Safety Check Examiners will be on hand to conduct courtesy safety checks for free.

So, walk or bike on over to the marina (don’t forget your fishing pole) and enjoy the festivities this afternoon!

Found this video showing the Shark River Hills Fire Company over the years. House fires, commercial fires, car fires…even a boat on fire! These guys handle it all. They’re an all-volunteer force, and I’m glad we’ve got them close by. Thanks guys!

Don’t be alarmed. The subject of this post is the headline of an amazing article I recently discovered that was published in the New York Times on August 21, 1892! It talks about how people were alarmed, even back then, at how low the Shark River was getting at high tide and how this was affecting the oysters, crabbing, and boating. It mentions how the river was filling up with sand and being choked with grasses, and the fears that the river would eventually be completely filled. Another interesting fact in the article — the Shark River used to be 10 feet deep! Hard to imagine that these days, when you can practically walk across the river from Shark River Hills over to Belmar at low tide. Fast forward to 2008, and this same article could almost be printed today, as we’re still waiting for the river to be dredged once again.

The Shark River Hills Property Owners’ Association was founded in 1923 and incorporated in 1932. The association is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization striving to better community life in Shark River Hills. Meetings are held at the Shark River Hills Fire House on Brighton Avenue the fourth Tuesday of the month at 7:30 P.M., unless otherwise noted or announced. Membership is open to all residents and/or owners of property in Shark River Hills. New members are always welcome.

The Coaster, a paid, family-operated weekly newspaper covering the central Monmouth County area, posted an article this week on how the Shark River Hills Property Owners Association is celebrating its 85th anniversary.

An excerpt from the article:

The association represents about 265 families and issues a monthly newsletter keeping its membership up to date on important issues.

“We hold food drives, hold open forums for our members on important issues that affect our residents,” Collins said.

In addition to holding many informational forums on a variety of issues during the year, the association also maintains the Memorial Park on South Riverside Drive by planting flowers and shrubs and providing the flags for the flag pole.

“If you live in the hills come join up and meet your neighbors,” Collins said.

To join the SRHPOA telephone Collins at 732-774-2695 or send $10 for a yearly membership to SRHPOA, P.O. Box 68, Neptune, NJ 07754.

For additional information, a recent letter from SRHPOA President, JoAnne Collins, appears in the Ocean Grove Record.

If you’d like to take part in your community or just know what’s going on in Shark River Hills, this is a great organization to be a part of. If you do end up joining, be sure to tell them The Shirker sent ya!

I found some interesting demographic information on Shark River Hills taken from the 2000 Census:

As of the 2000 Census, there were 3,878 people, 1,509 households, and 1,106 families residing in Shark River Hills.

Of the 1,509 households, 30.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.7% were married couples living together, 8.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.7% were non-families. 21.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.57 and the average family size was 3.03.

The median income for a household in the Hills was $68,508, and the median income for a family was $71,591.

These are just some of the highlights I thought would interest folks the most. Oh, one other interesting fact: the 1990 Census has the population of Shark River Hills at 4,228, whereas the 2000 Census has us at 3,878. That’s a drop in population of 8.3%. Is Shark River Hills shrinking? It will be interesting to see the results of the 2010 Census when it comes around. You can find this and even more detailed information on Wikipedia.

Kelly Heyboer, who runs the Jersey Blogs section of NJ.com, introduced this little blog to the world (or at least a good part of the NJ.com readership) this afternoon by writing a very nice post about us. Thank you very much Kelly, and welcome NJ.com readers!

This site is still in its infancy, but like I said in my first post, I’m looking forward to growing this site and am looking for my readers and local residents to actively participate and help steer the conversation. I welcome you to take a dip and read some of my initial posts on how Shark River got its name, the local real estate market, and how the Neptune Public Library has embraced social media. Feel free to comment and let’s start a conversation. Also feel free to drop me a line if you have any ideas for topics or would just like to send any private feedback.

Thanks again for visiting and be sure to check back regularly.

In looking for some good local resources to add to this site, I happened upon the Neptune Public Library website, and to my surprise, they have their own blog.

Launched in August 2006, the Neptune Public Library blog offers links to general information found on their public website, but also offers very timely information on such things as new book, dvd and audio book arrivals, book signings, and ongoing library programs such as ‘preschool storytime’, ‘tween scrapbooking’ and ‘read across america’. It’s great to see a public institution embrace social media like this and broaden their reach.

Of course, you can search the library’s catalog online and even place an item on hold, all from the comfort of home. And when you go to pick up your reserved books and dvd’s, be sure to bring your laptop, as the library also provides a free wi-fi hotspot for your web surfing pleasure.