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July 25-31:
Summertime Crime
There are many indicators that the summer season is booming: Large crowds, packed boardwalks, hard-to-get reservations, beaches with shrinking boundaries for personal space and soaring numbers of arrests. Summer policing is more than crowd control and trying to maintain traffic safety.
The most recent data available from municipal police departments in the county for June shows that police made 354 arrests in the 30-day month. That’s roughly 12 a day or one every two hours.
As one would expect, DWI arrests go up in the summer months, as do crimes against property. More people in town equals more cars left unlocked and homes open to summer breezes and burglars. Drug possession charges rise, as do reports of shoplifting. Everything is accelerated by the sheer volume of people and the fact that families on vacation often don’t take the most basic of precautions, like locking the car or house.
Over half of the arrests are of individuals from outside the county. In Sea Isle, 89% of the arrests in June were out-of-county individuals. In Ocean City, it’s 85% and in Wildwood Crest, it’s 65%. People go “down the shore” for many reasons, including larceny. Homegrown crime remains the focus of mainland policing.
The statistics don’t include the three municipalities that rely on State Police rather than local police departments. A State Police spokesperson says a new case tracking system won’t allow them to provide information on who is arrested. Come again?
Brewery Rules
A report on the Cape May County tourism rebound in 2021 showed survey results from visitors. Wineries and breweries were sought-after designations that surpassed even the rising interest in eco-tourism sites. The momentum in this area of public interest may be hard to maintain, as the state continues its patch-here-and-plug-there approach to alcoholic beverage regulations. Trenton has never been great at looking at the total picture before acting. It would ruin all the fun of unintended consequences.
New regulations went into effect July 1, placing constraints on a variety of activities that craft breweries are allowed to engage in. The state Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) says, “There are regulatory issues in this industry that must be addressed.” This battle dates to 2018 but was put on hold by the pandemic. Now, after long thought and investigation, the ABC declares that breweries cannot hold more than 25 special events a year. Cancel the bingo game. No food may be provided, including simple snacks. No food trucks can ply their trade in parking lots. The number of TVs is also regulated.
What’s really at issue? Breweries threaten the monetary value of full liquor licenses bought at great expense by bars and restaurants. It is a real problem for someone who may have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for a license on the private market (there is no viable public market). What is needed is a fresh look at how the state handles alcohol licenses. I’ll have a beer while I wait.
Health Benefits Fraud Charges
The state has brought charges against the current mayor of Wildwood, Pete Byron, former Mayor Ernie Troiano and a sitting commissioner, Steve Mikulski, for illegally receiving benefits from employee health insurance policies for which they did not qualify.
A Herald story reports that both Byron and Troiano were allegedly briefed by the city solicitor on the issues surrounding their use of the insurance coverage. The claims come from then-Commissioner Anthony Leonetti. Not all memories of who briefed who when are the same. Byron reportedly went on record as saying he never discussed the matter with the solicitor. No indictments have come from a grand jury in the case.
Happenings
Cape Regional Medical Center’s announced termination of maternity services caused one resident to take the issue of reversing the decision to the Board of County Commissioners. Meanwhile, Shore Medical Center, in Atlantic County, reported six July births to Cape May County mothers.
A state watchdog report showed the practice of allowing classes of municipal employees to bank unused leave for cash out at retirement has created large liabilities that often sit below the public’s radar screen. In Cape May County, state data says the taxpayers’ liability in 2021 reached $19.6 million.
One of the state’s medical marijuana dispensaries has announced it will begin home delivery to registered patients in Cape May County. The sales tax on medical cannabis products ended July 1. On the recreational weed side, a dispensary in Lodi has plans for a drive-thru facility. That may bring new meaning to the term happy meal.
Upper Township is hearing from citizens who want the municipality to maintain remote video access to governing body meetings.
In 2022, Upper Township led all county municipalities in the size of its local tax increase. A look at its budget helps explain why there aren’t a lot of options.
Upper Township may have to lift its ban on door-to-door sales given the potential of litigation by one company that relies on this sales approach.
The Open Public Records Act (OPRA) is presented as a cornerstone element in the drive for greater transparency in government. Yet, a state agency with a critical role to play is taking as long as two years to resolve disputes over OPRA rights.
Housing for international workers so critical to the county’s economy is hard to come by. Now, Wildwood displaced 40 such workers over code violations at an overcrowded commercial building that had been turned into temporary housing. Solving this housing problem will be difficult but it is necessary.
Gov. Phil Murphy signed a state law requiring municipal police officers to be licensed and setting standards for granting and removing licenses. The law takes effect Jan. 1, 2024.
Keeping sand on the beaches through back passing efforts is an expensive and frustrating activity. If mother nature intervenes at the worst time, millions of dollars of sand can be lost before it can produce much public benefit. In North Wildwood, the costs associated with back passing have disrupted the local budget and may have to end.
Spout Off of the Week
North Wildwood - In North Wildwood we struggle to find parking spots near the bay or beach during the summer months. My wife and kids go to West 17th or West Wildwood to launch our kayaks and paddle boards. Some houses own large pieces of land that could park several vehicles but instead planted grass on this land and now park there vehicles on the street. This should not be allowed if they could park on their own property. Some leave basketball hoops in front of their houses on the curb to save there parking spots. This is a public street, so park on your own property.
Read more spouts at spoutoff.capemaycountyherald.com.
