New Jersey mayor’s feud with Jon Bon Jovi giving rocker’s charitable efforts for unhoused a bad name
A New Jersey mayor lashed out Friday at Jon Bon Jovi’s charitable, “pay it forward” restaurant, claiming the eatery is attracting a problematic number of unhoused people to the town of Toms River.
Mayor Dan Rodrick claims that Bon Jovi’s popup restaurant, JBJ Soul Kitchen which operates out of an Ocean County library, is nothing more than a “soup kitchen” that’s within walking distance of a school.
“We appreciate that Bon Jovi wants to feed people that are needy,” Rodrick told NBC News. “But the public library down a block from a school is not the appropriate place to bus homeless in from all over the state of New Jersey and other states.”
Through the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation, the “Livin’ on a Prayer” singer and wife Dorothea run JBJ Soul Kitchen, a nonprofit community restaurant where patrons pay a “suggested donation.”
“There are no prices on our menu,” according to the restaurant’s website. “Instead, we offer a suggested donation to our paying customers and we ask that you Pay it Forward to cover the cost of those who are unable to pay for their meals.”
It has permanent locations in Red Bank, Toms River, Newark and Jersey City and this recently opened pop-up Toms River location.
That temporary spot opened doors in February on Washington Street.
“It is not a restaurant,” Rodrick said. “It is a soup kitchen that they put there for the homeless that they’re bussing in.”
A rep for the famed Garden State rocker could not be immediately reached for comment on Friday.
An attorney representing the Ocean County Library Commission said the JBJ pop-up has a lease that goes to May 23. But the lawyer didn’t immediately address the mayor’s assertion that unhoused people coming to that location are taxing town resources.
“They’re (patrons at the pop-up) not from Toms River and Toms River should not have to bear the brunt of homelessness for the entire county of Ocean, especially when not a single one of these folks are from Toms River,” Rodrick said.
While the town has no immediate options to have the eatery shuttered, Rodrick said his legal team is weighing lawsuits that could eventually lead to its closure.
The Ocean County community of about 99,000 residents has a median household income of a little less than $95,000 and is probably best known for its youth baseball.
The Toms River East American team, featuring future MLB player Todd Frazier, won the 1998 Little League World Series.
Free agent pioneer Andy Messersmith and longtime big league pitcher and MLB analyst Al Leiter were both born in Toms River.
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