To the Editor:
We have an enormous worker shortage problem here in the Wildwoods. The island has become so desirable that people of means are buying up the old houses where the summer workers stay, then tearing them down and building high-end summer homes. Now, when summer workers look for a place, there is nothing they can afford.
As a result, there are too few workers to wait the tables, make the beds, work the boardwalk shops, and do the countless tasks which visitors expect when they come. I am not just talking about summer workers; year–round families are being displaced as their rented homes and apartments are being razed. The large employers are dealing with this issue by buying up some of these places for their workers, but the majority of the businesses don’t have the money to do this.
Time will tell where this goes, but if we don’t do something fast, we are in trouble.
