MTOTSA loses a strong advocate

MTOTSA loses a strong advocate

Carmen Venditti
LONG BRANCH - Carmen Venditti, who passed away June 12, never gave up on his resolve to remain in the beachfront home the city of Long Branch was attempting to take through eminent domain, his daughter said last week.

"I don't think my father ever really thought we were ever going to lose our home," said his daughter Lori Ann Venditti last week. "In his mind we weren't ever going to lose the house.

"Your house shouldn't be taken," she added.

One of the staunch opponents of the city's attempt to take the homes in his small neighborhood — dubbed MTOTSA for Marine Terrace, Ocean Terrace and Seaview Avenue - Carmen Venditti passed away at the age of 82.

He died at the Monmouth Medical Center Hospice Unit after a battle with leiomyosarcoma, a tumor in one of his lungs.

Venditti was a tractor-trailer driver and shop steward at Tose- Fowler Trucking Company, Bridgeport, Pa., for 45 years, retiring in 1989.

Residents of Newark, Carmen and his wife Josephine began spending summers in the brick home on Ocean Terrace in 1960.

When redevelopment plans called for the condemnation of properties in MTOTSA,

Carmen and Josephine Venditti joined the fight against the use of eminent domain in the modest beachfront neighborhood.

"He fought just like all of us fought," Lori Ann Venditti said. "We were all fighting to save our homes."

Carmen was the latest of several MTOTSA advocates who have passed on, but whose determined resistance helped to block the taking of their homes through eminent domain. Currently, the city and attorneys for MTOTSA are involved in talks aimed at reaching an agreement that will result in the city abandoning its attempt to take the homes in the beachfront neighborhood.

Contact Kenny Walter at

kwalter@gmnews.com.