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Most Shore towns would actually love to eliminate tourism completely, operate their beaches as a utility and build high-priced ratables on the oceanfront. The money that comes in from tourism to the local communities barely even covers the expense of having to hire so many more seasonal police officers and public works employees. In fact, in a town like Pt. Pleasant Beach where the boardwalk is privately owned, the town LOSES money on tourism.
That's the biggest load of nonsense I have yet to hear from a shore local. If those towns really wanted to eliminate tourism completely, they would. What's stopping them? Are they just stupid? Or lazy? Or is Tony Soprano driving down from North Jersey and holding guns to there heads and saying "you leave dis tourism alone, capiche? I make-a you an offer you can't refuse, keep doin' da tourism or i break ya f'in legs!"
Come on, get real. If the shore towns wanted to eliminate tourism they would go ahead and do what they need to do to eliminate it. The fact is that certain shore residents like to whine and moan and one of the things they make up is that their town wants to get rid of tourism, when really the town wants to continue tourism and only a few miscreant malcontents want to eliminate it.
Go on, eliminate it. What's stopping any of them??
That's the biggest load of nonsense I have yet to hear from a shore local. If those towns really wanted to eliminate tourism completely, they would. What's stopping them? Are they just stupid? Or lazy? Or is Tony Soprano driving down from North Jersey and holding guns to there heads and saying "you leave dis tourism alone, capiche? I make-a you an offer you can't refuse, keep doin' da tourism or i break ya f'in legs!"
Come on, get real. If the shore towns wanted to eliminate tourism they would go ahead and do what they need to do to eliminate it. The fact is that certain shore residents like to whine and moan and one of the things they make up is that their town wants to get rid of tourism, when really the town wants to continue tourism and only a few miscreant malcontents want to eliminate it.
Go on, eliminate it. What's stopping any of them??
Well, first off, many towns ARE trying to eliminate it. Belmar has been leading the charge for years. Most of the bars are gone and pretty much all of the hotels have been demolished in favor of single-family homes. Seaside Park basically forced its ONLY bar out of business by passing a regulation that closing time would be 12 midnight. Most towns around here will NOT allow the construction of any new tourist attractions. In Belmar, pretty much the whole town recently came out to oppose batting cages/miniature golf that they want to build. In Manasquan, the planning board is extremely particular about the types of homes that get built in the beach section of town and about 75% of the rental blocks are now filled with year-round residents in nice, new homes. These towns DO want to get rid of tourism and operate as other towns do without the headaches of providing tons of extra police officers and public works officials to deal with the issues caused by a tourist industry.
On the other hand, for those businesses that make money, they want to stay! A town can't just come in and condemn businesses because they feel like it. It's private property. They can, however, make life miserable for business owners and in many cases, they have.
I'll make one final point. If these towns were making SO much money on tourism, why do we have property tax rates about the same as every other town in the state? Why are our municipal budgets comparable to or less than similarly sized towns in North Jersey? Most year-round residents don't see any tangible benefit from tourism whatsoever. The few who own tourism-based businesses do, but that's only a few people, really. This whole notion of our area being dependant on tourists is absolutely laughable and part of an overall attitude espoused by "bennies" that we somehow "need them" to come here and "spend money."
For the record, as I said in my first post, I absolutely DO NOT support most of these measures that my fellow "locals" want. I like bars, I like crowds and I like.. well... fun! No, I don't like the hair gelled, loudmouth guido dudes with the chains, but whatever.
Hmm... Well I personally have never had a job north of "the bridge" but I could see where some people would be screwed. Perhaps we could leave all the exits open, but a chosen "shore local" could get drunk and pee on an unsuspecting North Jersey person's lawn once a month.
(Just an FYI: This is all in good fun. I have plenty of friends from NNJ who come down here every summer and they're awesome. The wannabe-Gotti guidos are just such easy targets, however! )
You get them 3 months a year we get them the other 9!
Well, first off, many towns ARE trying to eliminate it. Belmar has been leading the charge for years. Most of the bars are gone and pretty much all of the hotels have been demolished in favor of single-family homes. Seaside Park basically forced its ONLY bar out of business by passing a regulation that closing time would be 12 midnight. Most towns around here will NOT allow the construction of any new tourist attractions. In Belmar, pretty much the whole town recently came out to oppose batting cages/miniature golf that they want to build. In Manasquan, the planning board is extremely particular about the types of homes that get built in the beach section of town and about 75% of the rental blocks are now filled with year-round residents in nice, new homes. These towns DO want to get rid of tourism and operate as other towns do without the headaches of providing tons of extra police officers and public works officials to deal with the issues caused by a tourist industry.
On the other hand, for those businesses that make money, they want to stay! A town can't just come in and condemn businesses because they feel like it. It's private property. They can, however, make life miserable for business owners and in many cases, they have.
I'll make one final point. If these towns were making SO much money on tourism, why do we have property tax rates about the same as every other town in the state? Why are our municipal budgets comparable to or less than similarly sized towns in North Jersey? Most year-round residents don't see any tangible benefit from tourism whatsoever. The few who own tourism-based businesses do, but that's only a few people, really. This whole notion of our area being dependant on tourists is absolutely laughable and part of an overall attitude espoused by "bennies" that we somehow "need them" to come here and "spend money."
Sorry, but the reality is that you're just wrong.
No, the reality is that you and your mentality are just wrong.
Let the state stop funding shoreline protection. Let the local communities pay for it. If they don't want to, they can let the sand leech away and the dunes erode for all I care. The State of New Jersey can spend that money to increase tourism in the Delaware Water Gap, or the mountains of Sussex county.
Let tourism in NJ drop for all I care. Let New Jerseyans go to Florida or other places that will welcome them for their vacations, while the shore towns in New Jersey pay for the rising costs of shoreline protection by themselves or let their beaches erode and even present a danger to their homes when the dunes erode.
Let the Guidos go to Las Vegas and spend their money there while the boardwalks on the Jersey Shore fall into disrepair or are torn out by angry locals who want to keep the guidos away.
Of course, if this were to really happen, you'd hear these shore locals whining about NJ tourism going down the drain and their businesses closing up and their property values dropping. Let the entire shore go the way of Neptune City and Asbury Park for all I care. I can fly to Florida any time of the year and with the lower cost of the bigger, nicer hotels there offsetting airfare, I can stay at the beach for the same cost.
Or, I can drive a little further to Delaware or Virginia, or out to Long Island. I don't need the Jersey Shore as much as it needs me. Heck, for 9 months of the year the Jersey Shore isn't even fully usable.
But they whine and moan that for 3 months people come pouring in to spend their money. Here's a thought - charge an additional sales tax. Charge the seasonal businesses there a tax. That will help pay extra costs. Why don't they just do that?
I'll tell you why. Because if you pick on the businesses and it is no longer worth their while to operate, they close up shop and leave. Then their customers don't come down. Then other businesses that made money off the seasonal businesses start to lose income. Soon, the whole economy of the shore town is affected and it spreads. So they get what they want, they get fewer visitors but they get less spending to drive the economy and they have to pay for the loss in personal income and tax revenue out of their own pockets. And they know this, which is why none of those towns are doing anything to get rid of business.
Belmar can't close down D'jais - why not? Charge them a tax. If they're attracting "gelled-hair guidos" who are forcing a need for more cops and costing the town more money, then charge them for it, either as a tax or through fines. They can do that. Make it not worth their while to stay in business. But they're still there. That's because Belmar knows that if they kill tourism altogether they will suffer for it in the long run.
So go ahead, kill the goose that lays the golden egg. Kill the guido that feeds you. See what I care. I'll just go to Florida or Vegas, or I'll head out to the Delaware river to do some kayaking. Or, I'll just go to my shore house since I'm technically a resident there anyway. Of course, when the value of the shore house drops from my town eliminating tourism and falling into shambles, I'll sell it and get out. I can buy homes in Florida for that price and have enough money leftover for years of airfare.
Last edited by BergenCountyJohnny; 05-14-2009 at 12:51 PM..
Well, first off, many towns ARE trying to eliminate it. Belmar has been leadi...[blah blah blah]
.... This whole notion of our area being dependant on tourists is absolutely laughable and part of an overall attitude espoused by "bennies" that we somehow "need them" to come here and "spend money."
Sorry, but the reality is that you're just wrong.
Try telling that to McDevitt of Atlantic County...
"McDEVITT TO CORZINE: “STOP KILLING TOURISM”
By ACRC
Atlantic County Freeholder At-Large Joe McDevitt today called on Governor Jon Corzine to stop raiding the New Jersey Arts and History Trust funds which together generate more than $2 billion in annual economic activity..."
Translation: "Wahh, stop killing tourism, we need it to survive, we can't live without it, please bring the bennies down, don't eliminate tourism, waahh waaaahhhh waahhhh"
lol... It appears that this whole notion of the shore area being dependant on tourists is absolutely not laughable and part of an overall attitude espoused by shore locals that they need "us" (bennies, tourists, visitors) to go there and "spend money."
Atlantic City is on its way out if New Jerseyans stop going there. Now they have the Sands in Bethlehem, they have slot palaces in Yonkers, NY and in Philly, and in the Catskills. North Jerseyans have just about as far a drive to Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods - my friend who lives in Marlboro has been to Mohegan Sun as much as he's been to Atlantic City.
You shore locals need to really get over yourselves.
If you hate guidos, then just leave it at that; just admit you hate guidos even thouoh you're dependent upon their money and spending in the summer.
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