Daniel J. O'Hern, a retired New Jersey Supreme Court associate justice and former Red Bank mayor, has come full circle. He's returned to Red Bank to practice law again. This time around, his work will have a heavy Asbury Park flavor to it.

O'Hern, for years a quiet symbol of Red Bank's stability and vitality, has become an emerging figure in Asbury Park's redevelopment. As an attorney, he is setting forth a realistic vision of change for the troubled city, which is starting to make an economic comeback. His words carry weight. His presence brings credibility.

"If I were king, I would restore Asbury Park to what it was," said O'Hern, 73. "But I am not sure that people today share that view, largely influenced by nostalgia." He advocated improved rail transportation that could hasten the city's revitalization.

In a legal coup, the Livingston law firm of Becker Meisel - relatively unknown in Monmouth and Ocean counties - opened a Red Bank office with O'Hern as the star attraction and staffed by his son, Daniel J. O'Hern, Jr., and Michael Holzapfel, two young attorneys with Monmouth attachments.

One of Becker Meisel's important clients is Asbury Partners, a partnership of Oceanfront Acquisitions and M.D. Sass Municipal Finance, redevelopers of Asbury Park's two key shoreline blocks. There also are sub developers, Kushner Companies and Paramount Homes, that could bring apartments, townhouses, retail and entertainment space to the city waterfront.

Local and state approvals will be required. "This is an exciting time in the history of Asbury Park," said the elder O'Hern, facing complicated redevelopment legal challenges.

"What Asbury Park can do is take advantage of some of the most beautiful streetscapes in Monmouth County, its lakes and bridges to rebuild a community," O'Hern said. "The vision of what it will be is for the governing body and the people to choose.".

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