Holding on to the American dream I am a Desert Storm veteran, a full-time chiropractic student, a father, husband, son, uncle, and, less importantly, a homeowner. What was I thinking when I moved into a (former Section 8) boarded-up home in 1998? I’ll tell you what I was thinking: I was using my veteran’s benefits to purchase my first home. The American dream is owning property, right? It has been seven years since we purchased our property. In that time, I have built a shed, a deck, remodeled my kitchen, insulated, painted and replaced the windows, to name a few. Honestly, I saw a diamond in the rough. I live so close to the beach, I may never be done fixing, upgrading, replacing, rebuilding, expanding and otherwise improving what I still consider my home. Forget the home, let’s talk about the location: 700 feet from the water’s edge, and a two-mile boardwalk even closer. We live less than one mile from the Long Branch train station, and 15 minutes from the Parkway entrance. A commuter’s utopia. This is not a real estate advertisement; it serves only to illustrate how ideal and convenient it is living on the Jersey Shore. My house is not for sale. Long Branch blighted our area in 1996, and this will hang over our heads until 2026. Shame on Long Branch Mayor [Adam] Schneider and the council members. I am not against redevelopment nor revitalization, but losing my property to the rich developers (Matzel and Mumford and Applied Group) to build monstrous condos and townhouses was not my intention when my family moved to Long Branch in 1998. This up-and-coming Shore town has made me a victim, and, well, I don’t play a very nice victim. This is not what property ownership is about. Long Branch has since moved hundreds of families out of their homes and relocated them so they can demolish their buildings and build bigger and more expensive homes. The tax dollar ultimately wins. If you feel safe sleeping in your home today, be careful, because tomorrow your neighborhood may be the next epicenter for the next redevelopment. One of the fundamental rights our founding fathers wrote into the Constitution is the right to own property. Long Branch has twisted and distorted the law so they can take my house and my property to generate more tax revenue. And guess what? Your house and property may be next. Michael LoGiudice Long Branch