WILDWOOD – Mayor Ernie Troiano Jr. made the most of a visit by a neighboring mayor to ask him how he controls displays of T-shirts with vulgar messages on his section of the boardwalk.

North Wildwood Mayor Patrick Rosenello visited a meeting of the Wildwood Board of Commissioners representing the Wildwoods Boardwalk Special Improvement District and the Wildwood Business Improvement District; he is president of both.

“Hey, mayor,” Troiano said. “How about doing something about those stores that display vulgar T-shirts?”

Troiano said that, while he is “no prude,” he is offended by what is being displayed out on the boardwalk, and he is certain others are as well. He said he had tried to discourage the display of shirts and other items with offensive messages, but after a period of compliance, the store owners have come back with even more explicit messages.

“I had it under control, and it pretty much went south,” he said.

Troiano said he has had people forward pictures to him of vulgar messages on T-shirts and hats, which he would not repeat in a public meeting. He said the city would review its options and “whatever tools we have in the bag we will use” to combat vulgarity.

The Herald visited the boardwalk to check things out, and in four blocks and about 20 minutes had numerous examples of what Troiano was referring to. There was scatological humor, sexual innuendo and explicit use of words not used in polite society.

“We don’t need that [expletive],” Troiano said. “We don’t need to subject our tourists to that, and I don’t want anyone in town wearing that. It’s in poor taste.”

Rosenello, replying to Troiano, said there are only a few T-shirt shops on the North Wildwood section of the boardwalk, adding, “There are really just four businesses that cause 80% of the problems on the boardwalk.”

Troiano agreed that it is just a few businesses and said the problems are mainly caused by a conglomerate out of Miami and Montreal. He said they don’t care about anything but how much money they make.

Rosenello offered a possible solution.

“Address it from the zoning side,” he said.

Every business has to comply with zoning regulations regarding signage and how much it is able to display. The T-shirts, which often take up much of the front of a storefront, could be considered as advertising or signage, Rosenello said. Citing the property owner under zoning laws, rather than the business that rents the property, might make a bigger impact, he said.

“And the fines are levied for every day,” Rosenello said.

He said using zoning laws to address the issue puts the onus on the property owner, who might then put pressure on business owners to reconsider what they are doing.

Contact the reporter, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or 609-886-8600, ext. 128.