Ruby Antebi
Deal, NJ
39 Supporters
Deal Beach Campaign 2015
Overview: Because most Deal beaches are accessible and free of charge, many people from surrounding areas are increasingly visiting them. This creates a liability for the town, as well as an expense. It also exhausts our town resources and reduces the quality of life for our town residents.
Issues At Hand:
•Exhausting Emergency Resources: It is well known that there’s a shortage of fire fighters and first-aid responders. An emergency phone call to the beach can offset our reserve responders and likely result in a delay for a town resident that may be in need of emergency care. In addition, because there is a shortage of patrolmen, many people are not only swimming at our unprotected beaches, which is illegal by our town law, and is punishable by fine, but are also drinking alcohol on them, which creates a serious threat to them, and to anyone that might be on (or along) the road thereafter.
•Exhausting Sanitary Resources: Because of the high amount of people visiting our beaches throughout the summer, our streets and beaches are increasingly being littered with trash. This includes plastic bottles, broken glass, food wrappers, and even condoms and tampons, etc., etc. Our town recently acquired a new sanitary truck, yes, but that truck is still not sufficient for the amount of trash we receive. (We need not explain this further. To see what we mean, all the reader has to do is drive down any road that offers public access to the beach.) In addition, the high amount of traffic results in vandalism: pop-culture stickers on our street signs, spray-paint on our pump-house, etc..
•Ocean Avenue Traffic: The more people visit our beaches, the more traffic there will be in the streets. This poses a danger to the children and pedestrians walking or riding bicycles nearby. Moreover, it reduces the quality of life for the residents living within these high-traffic areas. (Speaking from personal experience, we can tell you that it is not pleasant to open your house door to be stared at by a street full of unknown surfers and fishermen—many of whom are oftentimes blasting music from their cars, or changing into their water garments without discretion.)
•House Thefts: It is not only our beaches that are accessible to those living in the surrounding areas, but our homes. Those that frequent our beaches are spending more time than we think in our own backyards (literally). This freedom allows them to study the habits of our homeowners—which, once mastered, may leave them with an easy opportunity of theft.
Solutions At Hand:
•Fewer Access Points: We now have seven beach access points in our town (from north to south, Roosevelt Ave., Ocean Lane, Phillips Ave., Darlington Ave., Deal Esplanade, Hathaway Ave., and Neptune Avenue. By limiting that number to, say, two or three, we can effectively limit the amount of visitors we receive each year, and thereby reduce our town’s liabilities and expenses, while protecting our emergency and sanitary resources. This can be done through either structural impasses (as is exemplified on Marine Place) or stricter parking restrictions (as is exemplified on Clem Conover Road, which has a “no parking beyond this limit” sign nearly immediately after one turns onto the block).
•Parking Restrictions: During the hours of the night (or from dusk to dawn) we should prohibit parking without a permit. What business does one have on the beach during those hours? If residents should like to park their cars on the street, then they should be given permit hangtags; and if they should be hosting a large function, then they should be required to hire a patrolman to waive the summons of all cars that might be parked without permits.
•Possible Increased Town Revenue: At the entrance of the few access points that we do have—and those points will be determined as we unfold this campaign, though I do suggest one below—we will have a guard collecting access fees for drop-in beachgoers. This could generate revenue towards (or significantly defray the costs of) additional lifeguards, sanitary-men, and patrolmen.
•Phillips Avenue Access Point: We suggest that one access point should be located at the beach north of Phillips Avenue Beach Club. This will create an opportunity for our two town beach clubs to have a designated surfing area (as Loch Arbor and Asbury Park have exemplified) for which optional service we could charge an additional fee to our members. (We have heard that children resist joining our beach clubs because they cannot surf in our waters; and that the parents of those children tend towards other beach clubs, because they offer surf areas with lifeguards on duty.)
LETTER TO
Mayor Ades The Borough of Deal, New Jersey
Limit street parking.
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