Long Branch public commenters praise anti-wind groups; raise concerns about past policing grant and immigration cooperation

Several residents addressed the Long Branch City Council during the Jan. 22 public-comment period on two distinct topics: opposition to offshore wind development and concerns about police cooperation with federal immigration enforcement tied to past grant applications.

Vincent Lepore, who gave his address as 33 Ocean Terrace, praised Clean Ocean Action and other local groups for their role opposing offshore wind development off the Long Branch coast. Lepore credited then-presidential candidate (named in his remarks) and two U.S. representatives for recent federal action; he said that an executive order issued on Jan. 20 placed a moratorium on future offshore wind development. "I want to thank Congressman Christopher Smith. Thank you. Congressman Jeff Van Drew. Thank you. And ... thank you, President Trump," Lepore said.

A separate commenter who identified themselves as Rice raised concerns about a 2017 application under a Department of Justice community-policing program (COPS). Rice told the council they had obtained a completed application that, Rice said, named the Long Branch Police Department and indicated a pledge to cooperate with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, including holding people and turning over data. Rice said the application named local partners and that city and school officials were unaware of that partnership at the time. Rice asked the council for "an absolute commitment" that the city would not promise cooperation with immigration enforcement as part of future community-policing funding.

The council did not record a formal response or a direction to staff on the record during the meeting. A third speaker who identified as "Shadow" spoke at length but did not raise or substantively develop a civic-policy request. The public-comment period closed after those remarks.