Lisa Marie Cramp has lived in Asbury Park for five years, and in that time she has seen the drastic effects of a poverty line that roughly 30 percent of the city's residents live below, as of the 2010 Census.
The beach badge business can be hit or miss in New Jersey, and Mother Nature has delivered mostly a hit through early August. So towns along the Jersey Shore are reporting very healthy numbers as they take on the last full month of summer.
After Sandy there were dire predictions that Jersey shore communities would be forced to dramatically increase fees for beach badges to help pay for cleanup and restoration work. But it turns out the vast majority of shore towns are holding beach badge costs steady this summer.