Warning Lights Are Flashing

When the “Check Engine” light flashes on, we all know that momentary scare that flutters the heart of any driver. We fear the piston will pop through the hood, or the entire motor powering our precious vehicle will 1. Explode or 2. Implode. Fortunately, most of the time when such gut-wrenching lights appear, the fault is simply a gas cap than needs a hard twist and soon the light goes out.
Readers who have the keen ability to connect the dots, as in one of those children’s puzzles, may have seen some similar warning signals flash of late.
Perhaps the most recent warning came when Freeholder Director Gerald Thornton addressed the Cape May County Chamber of Commerce. While his report on the county was mostly upbeat, however he mentioned a figure, and we all know figures do not lie. He said there are 2,400 fewer students enrolled in county schools. That somber figure, he noted, is a clear indication that young families are leaving Cape May County to find jobs that can support them.
Think about that number: 2,400. Putting “a face” on that number, it would equate to Middle Township School District disappearing from the face of the earth. The Pre-K-to-12 district has a couple hundred more than that on its rolls.
That is a substantial loss to the county.
When parents sit with their youngsters and tell them “the facts of life,” one of those hard-to-swallow facts is that, without good solid work for mom and dad, there is no future here or anywhere.
Thornton, keenly aware of all the dangers of a receding population, was quick to note that there is hope beyond the staid, yet substantial tourism industry. That future lies in the vineyards and bays of this county, as well as to the air above us.
Vineyards will supply the increasing supply of grapes to local wineries. Perhaps the fields here will also grow hops, malt and barley for the fledgling breweries that are establishing themselves in the local landscape.
Under the local bay waters, oysters will grow that will produce princely sums for their growers and harvesters. There is a respectable market here and in nearby metropolitan areas for Cape May Salts and other oysters grown here, and the surrounding industry could become sizable.
Above us is, perhaps, the greatest hope to reap untold riches from research and development of unmanned aerial systems, commonly knowns as drones, at the county airport. There is great anticipation on the Board of Chosen Freeholders that the concerted effort thus far expended at the County Airport to become a center for drone testing and more will be the crux of the future county economy.
It sounds really good, and we all hope those collective efforts come to fruition, but you can’t buy bread today on tomorrow’s promise. You need money in the bank right now. The loss of 2,400 pupils in local schools is proof something needs to be done quickly.
Wildwood Mayor Ernie Troiano was quoted in another recent story as warning job hunters away from the city in winter, since there are few, if any jobs to be had once the last tourist heads back to Kensington. Makes one ponder why the Wildwoods Convention Center, built with the great hope of revitalizing the local economy, hasn’t fully blossomed. Yes, the center has many activities in what is known euphemistically as “The Quiet Season.” But if the convention center booked good-sized convention 52 weeks every year, there is very limited infrastructure to support it. Where would 900 people eat breakfast in the Wildwoods in late February, not too far from the Convention Center? Where would they stay in mid-March? Is there transportation sufficient to take them where they would want to go after the sessions ended? Such questions were never sufficiently answered, yet they could help bring vitality to the city, island and nearby offshore municipalities.
Dr. Nancy Hudanich, superintendent of the county Technical School District, asked freeholders at the Board of School Estimate budget hearing March 24 for funds to retrofit a classroom to enable the teaching to students of a new field of study: property maintenance and management. She noted that the state Department of Labor had indicated that was one of the budding areas that young people could enter to make a decent living.
The course would be interwoven with carpentry, HVAC, and other building occupations. It makes a lot of sense, given that Cape May County has an overabundance of second homes, some rented for the summer, others just a place to kick off the shoes and relax.
He knows there is a need for such trades, which pay very well. After the frigid winter we experienced, with its ruptured pipes, plumbers were more in demand than cheeseburgers at a picnic. Follow the money, we have been told.
There’s no time for lip service, worthless studies, focus groups and bureaucratic magic tricks. The people must embark on their futures. Banks must be willing to take a calculated risk if an entrepreneur has an idea that sounds feasible. How about water taxis? How about tour guides to those wineries, breweries and oyster farms? How about places to sell those products? How about marketing everything Jersey Cape oriented, as Disney does in Florida? How about getting a regional airline to fly to the County Airport? How about a light rail line through Cape May County on rails that already exist?
If warning signs are not heeded by every level of citizen, what will Cape May County’s future hold for our children and grandchildren? It must be more than just a seasonal theme park.