Two NJ towns fought back against local government —both won

Sometimes the good guys win.

I know. I barely believed it myself.

We have spent 36 years on this station talking about what New Jersey does to its residents — the taxes, the fees, the policies that arrive without warning and leave you wondering if anyone in a municipal building has ever actually lived here. And sometimes I wonder if we have all just gotten tired. Not angry. Tired. There is a difference. Angry people show up. Tired people shrug.

But this past week, two towns on opposite ends of New Jersey reminded me that showing up still matters.

Diamond Beach: They voted without us. Then we showed up

Start at the bottom of the map. Diamond Beach is a small, quiet community tucked at the southern tip of Five Mile Island in Lower Township, Cape May County. Maybe 200 full-time residents. The kind of Shore town that still feels like a Shore town — no meters, no kiosks, no app required to park on your own street.

Then in March, without any advance notice to the people who own property there, the Lower Township Council approved an ordinance requiring parking payments from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m. from May 15 through October 15 — $2.80 an hour, enforced through the ParkMobile app. No warning. No community input. Done. 

The residents of Diamond Beach found out the way most New Jerseyans find out about decisions that affect them — after the fact.

They did not shrug.

Week after week, summer residents showed up to township meetings and made their feelings known. They lambasted the paid parking plans. They raised complaints about their property tax burden and the limited services they receive in return. They kept coming back. When the mayor of neighboring Wildwood Crest wrote a letter asking Lower Township to pump the brakes, the pressure only built. 

On Monday, May 4, the Township Council voted unanimously to introduce an ordinance repealing the paid parking — both the per-hour fee and the $250 seasonal permit. Council member Thomas Conrad said afterward: "Yes, we listen. But sometimes we need to be kicked to listen." 

That is an honest statement. I will give him credit for it.

SEE ALSO: I support data centers in NJ — just not in the Highlands 

Data center fears stoke chaos at public meeting on May 7, 2026 in Andover Township, NJ (Courtesy Sussex Visibility Brigade)

Andover Township: A town torn apart — and then it pushed back

Now drive three hours north.

Andover Township in Sussex County has been in the middle of something far more combustible. A proposal to allow data centers in the Route 206 economic development zone had split the town in ways that left even elected officials shaken. The mayor says he has received death threats. The deputy mayor said police were being wrongfully vilified. This was not a parking dispute. This was a community tearing at its own seams.

And still — the residents did not quit.

After a contentious township committee meeting last week, Mayor Thomas Walsh and Deputy Mayor Krista Gilchrist announced that a new ordinance will be introduced at a special Tuesday meeting to prohibit data centers as a permitted use in that zone. The ordinance that opened the door to the AI center is going to be repealed.

What these two towns are telling the rest of us

Two towns. Two completely different issues. One at the Shore, one in the Highlands. One about parking meters, one about industrial development that would reshape a community's character permanently. But the same result — residents pushed back against decisions made without them, and the decisions got unmade.

I've been associated with this station for 27 years. I have watched New Jersey residents fight and lose more times than I can count. Property taxes go up. Warehouses go in. Fees appear. Roads crumble. And gradually, the calls get a little less passionate. The comments a little more resigned.

Maybe the era of apathy is receding. Maybe people are remembering that showing up is the job.

Bravo to the residents of Diamond Beach. Bravo to the residents of Andover Township. You reminded the rest of us that the good guys still win sometimes — but only when they show up.