OT: Belmar beach badge checkers don’t fool around
- Thread starter newell138
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Jetty is free and yes there is access without going on the beach, but no fishing off the bridge.
One of the new 2 bedroom condos on Broad is more than a 2 bedroom condo in some doorman buildings in Hoboken and JC, lol. It's absolutely wild.
Belmar Protester "Detained" for Beach Badge by Police and EMS (August 24, 2024)
a second surfer has now been arrested, in protest, and a petition is circulating online demanding the whole “beach badge” business be dropped. The brave dissident sits at the high tide line and just waits for the law to come down upon him. They do, carrying up the sand like a large Buddha figurine to a somewhat embarrassing miniature beach vehicle.The whole "beach badge" be dropped. Wonder how the lifeguards would feel if their salaries were dropped.
Here's the lesson. Never, ever believe that a private citizen video is the truth of a situation. That goes for cops on blacks, cops on whites, gun use, or anything else that show up as a video snippet. Wait for the full story. Too many of us are ready to go into "outraged" mode at the drop of a hat.
Well this video is missing a Tattooed up white bikini girl so I'm not as impressed, lol.
Hmmm.. isn't "high tide" state-owned land? I always heard if you stayed in teh water you could walk across the private beach areas and they were powerless to stop you... because they do not own the ocean.
Did this surfer protester just game teh police into false arrest?
That was my first thought too, he seemed to be sitting in wet sand so not anyone's property. Maybe he is a smarter than he looks and has a lawsuit planned. Question would be how did he get there?
Can you imagine the bitching if they did and everyone in NJ had to pay the expenses to operate the beaches thru state taxes.
I mean does anyone really want this state to be in charge? Does anyone think it'll run smoothly?
Why not? Trenton, the State capitol is such a lovely, well run city.
It's not just that, the individual towns have a tremendous stake in doing things right. Take the responsibility away and it won't be pretty.
I saw on Nextdoor Asbury Park someone started a petition on Change.org to get rid of beach badges. The people that use the beach have no problem paying for clean, well guarded beaches. Do they think those that don't want to use the beach want to pay via an increase in taxes?
The counties would be OK. The park system in Monmouth for example is well run.
That, or merge the towns together or at least the beach management together.
That argument holds water for entire towns. Lake Como as a separate municipality is a joke.
Loch Arbour is another example.
The richie rich towns of Spring Lake and Sea Girt could afford to merge.
Sea Bright at one point threw themselves at Rumson to merge, but the richie riches over there would have none of that.
Many of the towns South of Pt. Pleasant are good merger candidates.
Beachfront property is still valuable. Beach clubs $$$$$$ tax base.
Lived in Rumson for a while, and ran with both volunteer fire departments--thought the idea made sense. IMO, it seemed the locals in Rumson did not want "any of those kids" in their schools. It was never said out loud.
I had to read this when I was working one summer at Rutgers University Press. Fascinating history of how we ended up with so many towns…
New Jersey's Multiple Municipal Madness
https://a.co/d/2AuPOZC
Well they probably did pay Rumson-level taxes for those schools. Hmmm.. that reminds me of.. what? Open Borders? Wonder how they would manage setting tax rates for a merged community? I have no idea that Rumson rates are higher.. also wonder about capacity of schools re: population distributions. So Shore Regional in West Long Branch would lose students to Rumson-Fair Haven? I could see capacity issues.
Absolutely. I think the snootiness is part of it, as each town has its own personality and some are wealthier than others. While Belmar and Manasquan may have been middle class at some point versus Sea Girt and Spring Lake, they're now basically the top 10% of income versus the top 5%.
That, and the municipal employees don't want to give up their cushy jobs. You could have "Monmouth Shore Township" from say Bradley to Brielle (we won't include Asbury for the Richie Riches or OG with their quirks) but it would leave a lot of people with very nice salaries and pensions without them. It would have to be a gradual thing and even then it'd be crazy push back.
As I'm sure you know, Spring Lake, Sea Girt, along with Brielle, Spring Lake Heights, Belmar, Lake Como and Avon all attend Manasquan HS
They should take it a step further- 1 Police department, one city hall and council and associated staff.
Somehow, the police presence outside DJais doesn't match the Parker House which would make a lot of airport security look de minimis. I don't about you but I'd rather fight off the Parker crowd, lol.
Yeah, I'm sure Spring Lake and Sea Girt would jump at the chance, aren't you?
As to the rest..........No comment.
Consolidation of services has started.
A regional paid first aid squad out of Belmar covers Belmar, Lake Como, Sea Girt and Manasquan. For now, Spring Lake has their own first aid squad that also covers the Heights. That squad is run by a bunch of older people (God bless them), but in the future can see the Belmar EMS covering Spring Lake and the Heights. Within 10 years can see similar dominoes falling with the fire service.
The need for each of these towns to have individual small police departments, each with buildings, maintenance, hierarchy of Chief, Captain(s), Lieutenants, etc is questionable. Same thing for separate superintendents for the sending schools to Manasquan. A lot of wasted money on salaries and benefits.
After Belmar’s beach excess, it’s time to rethink beach access | Mulshine
The sponsor of the state's beach-access law says Belmar didn't follow when the cops arrested a surfer
They say the opera ain’t over till the fat lady sings.
Well, Marjorie Taylor Greene isn’t fat. But when New Jersey’s politicians have sunken to the point where Greene can teach them a lesson on an issue, our politicians should reconsider their policies.
That issue is beach badges. Other states get by without them. But last month Belmar police forcibly arrested a surfer who dared to dispute the officer’s assertion that he needed to buy a beach badge to gain access to the ocean.
That led the Georgia congresswoman to utter this analysis:
“Beach badge??? What commie idiot made that law?” she said in an online post. “Answer: Democrats,”.
Actually, Republican elected officials up and down the Shore are just as likely to require beach badges. So she got that wrong.
But she’s right about the price. Charging $12 just to sit on the sand is obscene. For that price, they should throw in a pitcher of margaritas.
Or as Greene put it in another post, “The IDIOTIC policy of charging $12 per day to go on the beach is ABSURD.”
Absurd, but traditional in Belmar. The borough has had a long history of overcharging the bennies for badges. In 1989 the borough was caught funding parades and Christmas parties with beach-badge revenue, which is supposed to be use solely for beach expenditures.
Then in 2016, a Superior Court Judge ruled that Belmar was overcharging for the badges.
That ruling also permitted plaintiffs to recover lawyers’ fees.
That’s where this case could set a precedent, said state Sen. Bob Smith. Smith, a Democrat from Piscataway, was the prime sponsor of a 2019 statute that widened beach access.
The statute states that “Public access to and use of tidal waterways and their shores may not be conditioned upon providing identification or agreeing to any waiver or disclaimer of rights.”
But Belmar apparently didn’t tell the cops about that. The incident began when the surfer, 28-year-old Liam Mahoney, told officer Ryan Braswell he didn’t have to have ID to go to and come from the surf.
The senator told me he thought the meaning of the law was clear: No ID check means no ID check.
“You pass a law and you think you had it covered,” Smith said. “But a judge has to say so.”
The statute also says that “no fees shall be charged solely for access to or use of tidal waterways and their shores.”
Smith said the meaning of that section of the law is equally obvious. Surfers and fishermen can have access to the water. They only need badges if they set up camp on the sand.
But in their written statement on the matter, borough officials argued that their ordinance permits them to collect fees from surfers even though they don’t use any services other than accessing the beach.
“I think the statute is clear,” Smith said. “If the surfer dude was charged under the borough ordinance, you can’t have fees.”
But when Mahoney tried to tell that to Braswell, the cop became belligerent. He didn’t want to hear the state policy that overrides that local law. Braswell got so worked up that he contradicted his own order. When the cop first encountered Mahoney, he told him, “Show a beach badge or get off this beach.”
But when Mahoney later went to leave, the cop declared he was under arrest and tackled him.
When I ran this by a prominent legal analyst, Andrew Napolitano of Newsmax, he said this brings up a highly contentious legal issue called “qualified immunity.” Under this doctrine it’s often difficult to win damages from a police officer. But this may be an exception, said Napolitano, who leans to a libertarian legal philosophy.
“This is clearly a case of the use of excessive force by the summertime-only police officer,” Napolitano said. “There is no qualified immunity for excessive force. Mahoney was arguably walking to and from the ocean, he was not using the beach as the term is generally understood in New Jersey.”
That comports with common sense. You can’t be using the beach when you’re in the water. That’s where surfers surf. And whether it’s January or July, they require no municipal services.
Smith, who is a lawyer by trade, said he hopes this incident will lead to a stricter interpretation of the Public Trust Doctrine, which guarantees access to the water. “Maybe we’ll kick the tires on ending all beach fees,” he said. “We’ll put it up for discussion.”
Good luck with that. Just don’t discuss it with a Belmar cop.
I guess this is what passes for justice in Jersey.
But it’s time for that fat lady to start clearing her throat.
MTG? Now there's a real brain surgeon. Who cares what some backwoods Q follower thinks.
Like I said before, people who want badges abolished should contact their state senator and tell them you're fine with having your taxes raised if it will eliminate badge fees. Then when the state takes the beaches over and it goes to sh#$, you'll complain about that.
Beach badges are democracy in action. Don't want to pay a fee, don't go. If you do, pay the fee. Freedom of choice.
Like I said before, people who want badges abolished should contact their state senator and tell them you're fine with having your taxes raised if it will eliminate badge fees. Then when the state takes the beaches over and it goes to sh#$, you'll complain about that.
Beach badges are democracy in action. Don't want to pay a fee, don't go. If you do, pay the fee. Freedom of choice.
Lauren Bobert tried to weigh in, but she had her hands full in a theatre. 😜 Just to keep it even, AOC wearing her Tax the Rich dress and crying at the beach with the surfers would be a good photo op too.
Just to keep it even how about people voting out the "initials" members of the House, AOC and MTG?
Down with that, for sure. Plenty of dummies on both sides, and each side loves to highlight the special people on the other side. They all suck.
As they say on tMB, spoiler that sh*t.After Belmar’s beach excess, it’s time to rethink beach access | Mulshine
The sponsor of the state's beach-access law says Belmar didn't follow when the cops arrested a surferwww.nj.com
They say the opera ain’t over till the fat lady sings.
Well, Marjorie Taylor Greene isn’t fat. But when New Jersey’s politicians have sunken to the point where Greene can teach them a lesson on an issue, our politicians should reconsider their policies.
That issue is beach badges. Other states get by without them. But last month Belmar police forcibly arrested a surfer who dared to dispute the officer’s assertion that he needed to buy a beach badge to gain access to the ocean.
That led the Georgia congresswoman to utter this analysis:
“Beach badge??? What commie idiot made that law?” she said in an online post. “Answer: Democrats,”.
Actually, Republican elected officials up and down the Shore are just as likely to require beach badges. So she got that wrong.
But she’s right about the price. Charging $12 just to sit on the sand is obscene. For that price, they should throw in a pitcher of margaritas.
Or as Greene put it in another post, “The IDIOTIC policy of charging $12 per day to go on the beach is ABSURD.”
Absurd, but traditional in Belmar. The borough has had a long history of overcharging the bennies for badges. In 1989 the borough was caught funding parades and Christmas parties with beach-badge revenue, which is supposed to be use solely for beach expenditures.
Then in 2016, a Superior Court Judge ruled that Belmar was overcharging for the badges.
That ruling also permitted plaintiffs to recover lawyers’ fees.
That’s where this case could set a precedent, said state Sen. Bob Smith. Smith, a Democrat from Piscataway, was the prime sponsor of a 2019 statute that widened beach access.
The statute states that “Public access to and use of tidal waterways and their shores may not be conditioned upon providing identification or agreeing to any waiver or disclaimer of rights.”
But Belmar apparently didn’t tell the cops about that. The incident began when the surfer, 28-year-old Liam Mahoney, told officer Ryan Braswell he didn’t have to have ID to go to and come from the surf.
The senator told me he thought the meaning of the law was clear: No ID check means no ID check.
“You pass a law and you think you had it covered,” Smith said. “But a judge has to say so.”
The statute also says that “no fees shall be charged solely for access to or use of tidal waterways and their shores.”
Smith said the meaning of that section of the law is equally obvious. Surfers and fishermen can have access to the water. They only need badges if they set up camp on the sand.
But in their written statement on the matter, borough officials argued that their ordinance permits them to collect fees from surfers even though they don’t use any services other than accessing the beach.
“I think the statute is clear,” Smith said. “If the surfer dude was charged under the borough ordinance, you can’t have fees.”
But when Mahoney tried to tell that to Braswell, the cop became belligerent. He didn’t want to hear the state policy that overrides that local law. Braswell got so worked up that he contradicted his own order. When the cop first encountered Mahoney, he told him, “Show a beach badge or get off this beach.”
But when Mahoney later went to leave, the cop declared he was under arrest and tackled him.
When I ran this by a prominent legal analyst, Andrew Napolitano of Newsmax, he said this brings up a highly contentious legal issue called “qualified immunity.” Under this doctrine it’s often difficult to win damages from a police officer. But this may be an exception, said Napolitano, who leans to a libertarian legal philosophy.
“This is clearly a case of the use of excessive force by the summertime-only police officer,” Napolitano said. “There is no qualified immunity for excessive force. Mahoney was arguably walking to and from the ocean, he was not using the beach as the term is generally understood in New Jersey.”
That comports with common sense. You can’t be using the beach when you’re in the water. That’s where surfers surf. And whether it’s January or July, they require no municipal services.
Smith, who is a lawyer by trade, said he hopes this incident will lead to a stricter interpretation of the Public Trust Doctrine, which guarantees access to the water. “Maybe we’ll kick the tires on ending all beach fees,” he said. “We’ll put it up for discussion.”
Good luck with that. Just don’t discuss it with a Belmar cop.
I guess this is what passes for justice in Jersey.
But it’s time for that fat lady to start clearing her throat.
Or at least just link it.
The odd and unwarranted obsession that the neighbors of Parker House have with it, that is not matched by other bars in that region, many of which sit on comparably pricey real estate, and the rest don't close at midnight either.
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