This is an open letter to the mayor of Long Branch, the City Council members, Representative Frank Pallone and our state senator.

I am appalled with the city of Long Branch.

I have been a homeowner in the city of Long Branch for the past seven years. Originally I am from New York. I came here because of the draw of the Jersey Shore and the fact that Long Branch provided beachfront living that was not completely inaccessible to a middle-class, single career woman. The townhouse I own was purchased after many years of hard work. I am not wealthy, but I have acquired my possessions through hard work and dedication to constantly improving my life. As a homeowner in Long Branch, I have suffered through paying some of the highest property taxes in New Jersey. Yet, I continued to reside in Long Branch and contribute to the community financially.

I am a resident of the Ocean Villa condominiums, one of the developments that is currently not on the very short list of developments that will be preserved if the Beachfront South project is approved. According to information I have received, there are residential developments and buildings that actually will be preserved if this project is approved.

The Pavilion Beach townhouses are on that list, which is what has prompted me to write this letter.

The Pavilion Beach townhouses are very similar to the Ocean Villa townhouse condominiums in that there are a small number of units. Ocean Villas are slightly closer to the boardwalk, but both are inhabited by upper middle-class families.

Both have spacious units, are nice to look at, and are well-maintained. I am sure both developments contain residents who pay high levels of property taxes to the city of Long Branch, and neither development presents an eyesore to the oceanfront area between Pavilion and North Bath avenues. If anything, they improve the neighborhood that they are in.

Though Ocean Villas are not brand new, they are only 13 years old, so they are not homes that have not been maintained for long periods of time.

I am appalled that our development of condominium townhouses is not on the list for preservation should the Beachfront South project be approved.

As a resident of this city, I am demanding reconsideration from the officials I helped elect and whose salaries my tax dollars contribute to paying.

There does not appear to be just cause for our development to be eliminated while a similar development will be preserved. What is the criteria for such a decision?

I understand that eminent domain is often invoked in order to improve communities and provide increased housing in an area for community rebuilding purposes.

In cases where it is utilized evenly and without favoritism or bias, I believe that it could provide communities with improved facilities and increased residential capacity.

If every property between Morris Avenue and North Bath Avenue were slotted to the same fate in the Beachfront South project, I would not be happy but I would readily understand the situation. But when invoking eminent domain in a situation where it will not affect certain people, it becomes an unfair and biased proposition.

I can only wonder if a city council person has ties in some way to the buildings and developments that will be preserved should the Beachfront South project be approved. Perhaps if I could invoke some favoritism I would not have to worry about losing my home and a great deal of what I have worked hard for over the past 15 years. I cannot help but wonder how this decision is being made and by whom.

Eminent domain appears to me to be designed to benefit the bloated developers who are the great benefactors of such a project and not to the actual tax-paying residents of the community. I bought oceanfront property with my hard-earned money seven years ago in order to make an investment in my future.

Why should I be robbed of the benefit of my foresight in purchasing a beautiful condominium that would only increase in value over the years that I own it?

I continue to pay my $6,500 dollars of property taxes each year without complaint or issue. Those tax dollars are at least double the taxes of any other property valued similarly to mine in probably any other shorefront community in New Jersey.

One can’t help but wonder, sitting in my chair, why those taxes don’t afford me fair treatment and a voice in what happens to my property and my development. This is my home and I resent the fact that some developer can create a proposal and make a decision such as Beachfront South that affects my life and my future without any consideration of me and other folks like me.

Perhaps the mayor or City Council members or whoever else is involved in this project should stop looking at the properties along the oceanfront as numbered blocks of land on a city map and should start looking at the people who are residents.

We are not lifelong residents of this town who happened to own an oceanfront home we have not maintained over the past 30 years, as values escalated. We have chosen to be here.

If Beachfront South aims to improve the community through providing residential housing as one of its aims, perhaps you should consider the types of people you hope to attract to this community.

Those types of people, hard-working citizens who financially contribute to the community, are already residing in the development at 295 Ocean Blvd. in Long Branch.

Perhaps you should speak to me or to my neighbors. We are the very folks you are trying to bring in to improve the community. And we are already here.

I would like some answers as to what can be done about this unfortunate situation.

Julie Basello is a resident of Long Branch