As Avalon enacts boardwalk restrictions for teens, will other shore towns follow suit?
OCEAN CITY, N.J. - Controversy down the shore as officials in a Cape May County town are closing the beach and boardwalk during certain hours, because of, they say, out-of-control teens. Young people mixing it up in Avalon have officials ringing their hands.
"There are a lot more police in 2021 and a lot of kids have been on the boardwalk a lot. There’s definitely an increase in that, by a lot," Kayla, an employee of Rita’s Ice at 9th and the Boardwalk stated.
More kids day and night and Kayla knows, since she’s in the mix of it in her job at Rita’s and she says it’s only natural.
"It’s just like a way for everybody to get together and meet new people," Kayla commented.
There are complaints from Ocean City shopkeepers who said employees were jumped after hours. With Avalon filing executive orders Friday, restricting beach access and Beach Haven holding an online town hall, one wonders, how big are post-pandemic summer problems?
Ocean City spokesperson Doug Bergen emailed FOX 29’s Hank Flynn to say kids do gather down beach, with full police knowledge. The curfew has been extended from 10 to 11 p.m. and everybody’s happy. Wildwood, though, is a different matter.
"Constant use of alcohol on the boardwalk. The smoking of narcotics. You know, marijuana on the boardwalk, in public. And, it’s not necessarily the police, it’s actually the amount. The volume of people attending. More and more people coming out to the shore,"
Atlantic City has renovated it’s public address system to better announce curfew and, hopefully, reduce violent crime. Norm Lawand of Curly’s Fries, says it’s different in Ocean City.
"They’re family. They go to school here. They come here all the time. They were on the boardwalk. It’s part of the curriculum. And, we meet them and I know a lot of them. A lot of them have worked for me in the past," Lawand stated.
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