If you’re in New Jersey, it seems it would be unwise to start publicly feuding with Jon Bon Jovi. That’s like going to Boston and badmouthing Dunkin’. But that has not stopped Daniel Rodrick, the mayor of Toms River, from going after the singer’s local charity work.
Since 2011, Bon Jovi has run a nonprofit restaurant called JBJ Soul Kitchen, which works to help feed people experiencing food insecurity. It operates under a pay-it-forward model, in which there is a suggested cost for the meal and those who can’t afford to pay can volunteer their time. According to its website, the nonprofit has served over 200,000 meals across its locations. Seems like an okay setup, right? Well, not according to Rodrick.
In February, a pop-up location of JBJ Soul Kitchen opened in Toms River inside the Ocean County Library. This is a temporary location in addition to the permanent one in a different part of town. The pop-up is set to close in May, but Rodrick felt the need to speak his mind before its run ends. The mayor is arguing that the restaurant has contributed to a rising population of unhoused people in Toms River, even going so far as to say people are being bused into his town for the restaurant.
“I definitely want it gone,” Rodrick told CBS News this week. “I want the county to stop dropping people off in Toms River.”
In what was probably an attempt to keep his New Jersey cred, the mayor noted he wasn’t upset with Bon Jovi himself but rather with the county government. “We certainly don’t think that the library is a good place. The issue was never Bon Jovi. It was Ocean County Board of Commissioners who engaged with these nonprofits,” he said. “It’s a real safety concern. These folks aren’t vetted.” It’s unclear whom he meant by “these folks,” but it sounds as if he may actually have an issue with Bon Jovi — or whomever he picked to run his nonprofit.
Speaking to NJ.com, Rodrick doubled down on his displeasure with the restaurant using a taxpayer-funded library as its location. “If they’re going to turn this into a homeless shelter, hell, cut everybody a check and give them a Barnes & Noble gift card,” he told the outlet, clearly thinking he had fired off an incredible zinger.
For their part, the people behind the pop-up don’t seem too put off by Rodrick’s fit. “He’s saying that incidents have increased? We have data that they have not increased,” Ocean County commissioner Robert Arace told CBS News. He denied the idea that the county is busing anyone in and reiterated the fact that the pop-up is closing in a month.
Bon Jovi and his wife, Dorothea, are standing behind their work. “The JBJ Soul Foundation and JBJ Soul Kitchen are committed to ending homelessness through real solutions,” they wrote in a statement. “We are not here to just move people around or force them into the shadows.”
Dang, it’s hard to see who could be in the right here. Is it the cool rock star who’s using his fame and fortune to help feed people in his home state or the politician who’s mad that a community building is being used to help the community? We might have to take this all the way up to New Jersey High Court, where Bruce Springsteen and a tray of cold cuts will get to decide.
