The latest episode of “Hometown Histories,” our oral history TV
program and webcast taps the memories of three people who were there
in the 1970s when Deal Test Site (today’s Joe Palaia Park) was
saved from development and set aside permanently as open space. Host
Dallas Grove, herself a former Environmental Commissioner active in
the campaign for the park, interviews long-time commissioner Ken Lutz
and landscape architect and local business CEO Ray Hodnett. Their on-camera conversation covers the site’s history. But
most fascinating are their recollections of the visionaries who
worked to win the hearts of the public, overcome resistance, secure
matching state funds, and create Ocean’s own “Central Park.”
Funding
for Hometown Histories was provided by the New Jersey Cultural Trust.
Click [_] box on the bottom right of the video for fullscreen