It certainly seems like an unlikely grouping. But if you live in Asbury Park and you care about any of them, an hour - or less - of your time could pay big dividends now. How?

1. Seniors. As I described last time, Miz Kiz (a.k.a. Marianne Kislowski) is the new senior delegate on the Asbury Park Recreation Commission, and she's organizing to gather input on how senior recreation dollars should be spent.

Are you interested in trips, classes, movies, shows, dances, shopping, exercise programs or something else? Now is the time to let the Recreation Commission - and the city council - hear from you.

And, yes, there's great news on the senior bus front: City Finance Director Rick Diaz tells me that the city received a successful bid last Friday for a brand new senior bus. The council is expected to approve that bid at their April 5 meeting. Be sure to thank them when they do.

And since the cost came in significantly less than expected, I hope that the council will also take action that night to substantially raise our bus driver salary. As I've described before, the seniors are missing out on cherished activities like monthly trips to Seabrook Village because the city can't attract properly licensed drivers at the pay scale it offers.

2. Kids. If this is spring, then it's time for my annual plea on behalf of Asbury Park's almost 3,000 school children: Please prepare yourself to vote in those all-important school board elections on Tuesday, April 18.

Yeah, yeah, I know - If you don't have children, why should you care? Try this on for size, particularly if you are a New Jersey taxpayer: Because Asbury Park is a so-called Abbott District, the state pours a whopping bounty of tax dollars into our city school system - money that we need to spend wisely now because it may not always be there.

At approximately $82 million last year, the Board of Education budget was almost three times that of city hall - with a "per pupil" total that was one of the highest in the state. And that doesn't count the large number of school construction dollars the state also invested here.

And while the Board of Education seems fairly stable now, those of us who have been around for the past five or ten years can tell you horror stories of money misspent on everything from rented luxury cars and sneakers for traveling board members, to questionable construction deals (remember the luxury press box for the high school stadium?), to shaky professional contracts. (And, by the way, doesn't one former Board attorney still owe the school system more than $300,000 in overcharges, according to a state report?)

We can't let that happen again. Not when Asbury Park has the highest number of children living in poverty in Monmouth County, the lowest graduation rate, and painfully low standardized test scores.

Asbury Park children can't vote for themselves, so it's up to us to support both them and the current board members who are struggling to do the right thing in what must be the toughest - and most thankless - volunteer job in the city.

As always, you'll be voting to fill three, three-year positions on the nine-member board. Candidates are Robert DiSanto (the incumbent board president), Susan Bisaha, Richard Crawford Clayton III, Annette Harrell, Geneva Smallwood and Hatim Sonnier (whose mother, Eileen Sonnier, is a longtime board member). Incumbents Antoinette Ross and Susan Maynard are not seeking re-election.

In addition, voters will fill an unexpired two-year term with either Gregory Brewington (a former teacher who currently holds that position) or Alena Berry.

Do I know all these candidates? Not at all. Which is why I plan to talk to my friends and to look for candidate profiles in local newspapers. (And I sincerely hope that one or more Asbury Park groups will organize a public candidates' forum before the April 18 election.)

One piece of (marginally) encouraging news: In 2002, I wrote that the top Board of Education candidate received only 329 votes in 2001 - which means that only 4% of registered adults voted for the top candidate that year. One candidate actually won with only 205 votes.

Last year, winning vote totals ranged from 384 to 445. Surely, we can do better.

3. City boards and commissions. One of my odder experiences as an Asbury Park council member was learning about the process for soliciting candidates for the Planning Board, Zoning Board, Recreation Commission, Taxi Commission, Environmental Shade Tree Commission, and other decision-making bodies.

Incredibly, there is no process - either for notifying people that an opening exists or for collecting standard information from each candidate. (I still remember the "good old days" when several long-departed council members would calmly vote to fill board positions while one or two others would protest, "Wait! Who are those people? I've never heard of them before!")

Once again, Common Cause and the Citizens' Campaign (the same people who drafted the recent pay-to-play ordinances passed by the city) have come to the rescue with a model ordinance that includes a standard application form and process.

A group of us - including residents Pam Lamberton, Dave Christopher (my favorite husband) and myself - recently presented this ordinance to the city council, and we're hoping they'll consider it for introduction at their April 5 meeting.

Members of these boards can have a huge impact on the services, events and physical structure you see - or don't see - in Asbury Park.

Most board vacancies are filled around July 1, so there's not much time to spare. Please urge your favorite council members to move on this ordinance as soon as possible.