Overall, it is estimated that hundreds of benches line the Promenade.
There are plenty of places to sit down if someone wants to take a rest or simply enjoy the oceanfront scenery on Sea Isle City’s Promenade.
The walkway is lined with dozens, if not hundreds, of benches that offer an inviting place to relax.
But Allen Fisher believes that too many benches are in “horrible condition,” creating an unfavorable impression for tourists and other people who stroll the Promenade.
The Sea Isle resident urged City Council during its meeting Tuesday to spend as much money as needed to replace the damaged or rotted benches.
“The benches on the Promenade are in horrible condition,” Fisher told the Council members. “Most of them need to be replaced, especially the ones that are wood. Some of them have splinters in them. Some of them have slats that are missing. I think you should make an appropriation, a considerable amount of money, to replace all of them.”
Fisher estimated that some of the benches have been on the Promenade for 25 to 30 years and are showing their age.
“It’s a bad impression. I go to Ocean City and other places, and it looks good,” Fisher said in an interview while comparing Sea Isle’s weather-beaten benches to the ones that are in prime condition in other shore towns.
Katherine Custer, Sea Isle’s public information officer, spoke to Fisher after the Council meeting to update him on what the city is planning to do with the benches.
“We still have a plan to hatch out. We don’t know what we’re getting yet,” Custer said in an interview.
Sea Isle resident Allen Fisher and the city's public information officer, Katherine Custer, speak about the benches after the City Council meeting.A walk along the Promenade reveals that some of the wood benches appear rotted in places or are in otherwise rough shape. Some of them have peeling paint on the support braces holding the main part of the benches.
Other benches on the Promenade seem to be in great or good shape. They look like newer ones that appear to be made of a hard, durable material similar to composite plastics.
City officials don’t know exactly how many benches line the Promenade, although the rough estimate is in the hundreds. Most of the benches are touching tributes by family members in remembrance of deceased loved ones.
The benches are remnants of a Sea Isle program started years ago that allowed families to pay for makeshift memorials that were placed on the Promenade by the city.
The program was stopped when space ran out for more benches, city officials said.
In 2022, Sea Isle began considering the possibility of reviving the program so that families may be able to memorialize deceased loved ones again with tributes inscribed on benches.
However, city officials are not sure which way would be the best way to do it. One idea floated in 2022 was to perhaps place as many as three memorial plaques on the benches instead of having each bench reserved for just one family. If need be, the plaques could be rotated to create space for new ones, city officials said in 2022.
No decisions have been made up to this point. Custer emphasized that city officials need to discuss the benches in more detail before coming up with a plan of action.
“We plan to pick up the conversation this fall,” she said.
Many of the benches are family memorials dedicated to deceased loved ones.
