Cape May looked as anxious for change in 2008 as the rest of the country. Changes in the city’s political landscape came early in May when incumbent Mayor Jerome Inderwies lost a bid to extend his six years as mayor to Dr. Ed Mahaney, who previously served both as a council member and as mayor from July 1995 to July 1996. Terri Swain, of Swain’s Hardware, handily won David Craig’svacated council seat and City Manager Lou Coreafound himself out of job  June 17 when city council unanimously passed a resolution to oust him over a mishandling of patio permits on the Washington Street Mall. The new council endorsed the decision in August and inherited a lawsuit filed by Mr. Corea, (bringing suit against both the outgoing and incoming council members) maintaining wrongful dismissal and demanding his full salary – about $200,000 in salary and sick time – to the end of his contract which would have been January 31, 2010. Chief Financial Officer Bruce MacLeod was immediately appointed interim city manager. The appointment became permanent in late October.

In other political news, longtime Cape May Point Mayor Malcolm Fraser did not seek a fifth term this year and was replaced in May by former commission member Carl Schupp. Interestingly enough Cape May Point also elected its first woman commissioner Anita vanHeeswyk. Now there’s a borough ahead of its time – it was founded in 1878. Cape May city council member David Kurkowksiwill be around next year. His bid to upset the seven-term, “I believe in term limits” U.S. Rep. Frank L. LoBiondo (R-2^nd) was unsuccessful.

The biggest change in the physical landscape of Cape May was the completion of theWashington Street Mall renovation which began in November of 2007 despite a referendum the previous year demanding the project be downscaled and a failed lawsuit by “concerned” taxpayers which strived to stall the project once more. The June 21 rededication of the mall also celebrated the first dedication in 1972 when a tired and worn Washington Street turned into a pedestrian mall. Mayors both past and present gave speeches and the controversial $4.5 million project could finally be put to rest. In its place, a new controversial project down on the beachfront stood ready to capture the headlines.

April 4 saw the unceremonious closing of Convention Hall. An independent engineering firm out of Philadelphia, Pennoni Associates Inc., recommended the 40-something Convention Hall – built as a “temporary” measure when a destructive ’62 nor’easter came through and felled its old and more elegant predecessor – close the facility. The report said, “The present condition of the Convention Hall is structurally unsound. Due to the amount of deterioration observed, the structural integrity of the floor framing is severely compromised. It is our professional opinion that this building be closed to public use until repairs can be performed in accordance with the recommendations outlined in the RVWE reports.” This left organizations like the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts, the Chamber of Commerce and the Jazz Festival, not to mention all the programs sponsored by the city’s Recreation Department, scrambling to find alternative locations like the Cape May City Elementary School. Other activities like the NJ Audubon Society’s Bird Show held in the fall, cancelled until a proper venue could be found.

Meanwhile, in June a petition was circulated calling for a referendum to rescind a $10.5 million bond ordinance passed by the Inderwies council the previous month to fund construction of a new Convention Hall and to ask voters if they even wanted a new Convention Hall. The ordinance passed despite mayor-elect Mahaney’s objections to it. Sure enough, one of the first acts of the Mahaney administration was to rescind the bond and to set up a series of five town meetings to get public in-put on a design for a new facility. The grass roots work paid off in the end and voters, in a record turn out, approved construction of a new Convention Hall by a 2-1 margin. Demolition of the old facility is being held up pending state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) approval – which could take up to as much as four months to acquire. The new facility is slated to open in 2010.

So it could be a dismal sight down on the beachfront next summer because the city’s Planning Commission at a Dec. 23 meeting approved development of the Beach Theatre, (right across the street from Convention Hall) which includes demolition of the 1950 movie theatre built by William C. Hunt and designed by movie theatre architect William H. Lee. In its place would be a retail stores complex with six condo/apartments above. The Beach Theatre Foundation (BTF) has been trying to save the building since the owners, Frank Enterprises, closed the movie theatre in the fall of 2007. BTF leases from the Frank family and has an option to buy the property. The organization has until March of this year to get the deed done, but have been hampered by adverse economic times and restricted in their protests of the demolition and development of the building by a gag rule imposed by the Franks.

Another dismal sight is that of a closed WaWa on Bank Street next to Swain’s Hardware. It would seem that if the WaWa chain can’t have a Super WaWa, it’ll take its marbles and go home, along with a list as thick as Webster’s Dictionary regarding deed restrictions for anyone even remotely interested in buying the property.

On a more positive note – although the word around town was it would never happen –renovation of The Sea Mist came to fruition this summer. You know the house – it looks like a red and white wedding cake and often had a Phillies flag flying at the top of the cupola. Well, new owner Barry Sharer bought her, tore her down and rebuilt her again – good as new. She is a condo now not a guest house, but she is also intact and still providing breathtaking views of the ocean and the island, and will continue to provide inspiration for photographers for many years to come. If you don’t already know it, The Sea Mist is one of the most photographed houses in Cape May.

In other not so noticeable landscape changes – the Chalfonte Hotel on Howard Streetchanged hands this year. Would be congressman, golf course owner and Cape May Point resident Bob Mullock purchased the 132-year-old hotel built by Civil War hero HenrySawyer, from Anne LeDuc and Judy Bartella, who bought the hotel from the Satterfields. Between 1888 and 1911 the hotel changed hands six times and was sold at Sheriff’s sale twice. Fortunately for the Chalfonte, the Satterfield family of Richmond, Virginia stepped in and put a stop to all that nonsense. Mullock plans to keep the grande dame just as she is, but with some improvements to the structure with particular attention to those pesky fire codes. It is the oldest continually operating hotel on the island.

Down at the other end of Beach Avenue, the old Rusty Nail/Coachman’s Motor Inn was purchased in the spring of 2006 by Congress Hall entrepreneur Curtis Bashaw and associates with the idea in mind of A: demolition and B: building in its place an upscale condo-tel called Ocean House. Naturally, the Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) granted the group permission to demolish the complex in March, but wait – what’s that sound? Why it’s the sound of real estate heading on a downward spiral, particularly where it relates to condominium complexes. Suddenly, Ocean House was being remarketed as The Beach Shack and demolition morphed into renovation.

One project the beleaguered city manager Lou Corea did accomplish without controversy was the opening of the Cape May Dog Park on Lafayette Street in April. Doggie owners can obtain a license or permit to use the park by walking down to City Hall.

And speaking of beleaguered – the former Ponderlodge Golf Complex, taken over by the state for preservation as a wildlife refuge was threatening to demolish the lodge unless a more viable plan was offered by county and local officials – no problem. The lodge caught on fire in September and burnt to the ground. Local, county and states officials have been bickering back and forth since 2006. The state acquired Ponderlodge Golf Course under its Green Acres program for a purchase price of $8.4 million thus trumping Lower Township and Cape May County’s efforts to purchase the property and lease it to a private concern to maintain it as a golf course and keep the leasing revenue. DEP got into the mix and that, as they say, was that. The fire put the finishing touches on any efforts to use the lodge for community activities.

The on-going Beach Replenishment Plan made the headlines throughout the year beginning with a clash between DEP and the city officials regarding the town’s successful TNR (Trap-Neuter-Release) program designed to protect and neutralize the island’s feral cat population. DEP wanted the feral cats kept at a further distance from the beach front to protect the Piping Plover nests and wanted the TNR program eliminated or they threatened to pull the plug on beach replenishment financing. A compromise was finally reached between the state and city officials to keep the cats at a “safe” distance. Not word whatsoever on how to keep people at a “safe” distance, however. Additionally, residents and experts were reporting the beach replenishment has caused unnatural breaks in the sand making some spots in Cape May and Cape May Point’s beaches unsafe for surfers and swimmers. The Cape May Beach Patrol (CMBP) reported an unprecedented number of “spinal” injuries this summer. And sand for this year’s project will be trucked into the city and stored at the U.S. Coast Guard Base. The cost of dredging the sand barges off Cape May and Cape May Point’s coast was cost prohibitive this year. It was estimated that between 300-350 trucks would be needed.

So what’s in store for 2009?

The fate of the Beach Theatre is number one on the list. With the BTF’s lease coming to an end in March and the theatre already closed because of heating and electric issues, the prospects do not look good. But who knows what deals could be forged in these tumultuous economic times.

The borough of West Cape May passed a referendum in November allowing them to sell two liquor licenses one for restaurant consumption the other for package goods sales. The restaurant liquor license minimum bid will be set at $650,000 while the retail store minimum bid will be $750,000. That should prove to be an interesting bidding process.

The City of Cape May passed an ordinance in November setting up a Business Improvement District (BID) for the Washington Street Mall. An annual assessment on the participating merchants of either $500 or $800, depending on the square footage, per mercantile license, could net as much $65,000 for the management, operation and promotion of The Mall. All eyes will be on the BID board, to be established via internal election sometime in January, to see how well this new venture fares. Look for this to be a citywide effort in the coming years. Once Convention Hall opens in 2010, the merchants in that district will most certainly set up a BID for beachfront operations. And the politicians? Well, they’re absolutely gleeful – it puts more of the burden of maintenance and promotion on the shoulders of the merchants and takes the heat off city council members.

Look for some fun events to come out of the establishment of a 400^th AnniversaryCommittee dedicated to celebrating Henry Hudson’s “sail-by” the island in 1609.