A Site for Shore Eyes

The state of New Jersey keeps trying to pass a bill that would require registration for salt water fishing. The reason for this is so residents of the state won’t have to pay a national fee for a license.

Sometimes I just yearn for the good ole days, when all a kid needed was a fishing pole and some bait. A mother and her son used to stay at our rooming house once a year, and, using just hand lines, caught their fair share of fish.

I did a lot of fishing during my fish cleaning days, meaning before I became a teen. We fished while waiting for the party boats to come in, and caught massive amounts of fish. Many were too small to keep, and we also caught more than our fair share of eels and oyster crackers, which we threw back.

A pint of surf clams back then cost thirty cents, and if we didn’t quite have enough money to buy them, we bought individual clams at the back door of a restaurant for a nickel apiece.

A lot of people fished back then, both from piers, the ends of streets, and from party boats, which were usually crammed to capacity. The only people making money from fishermen were party boats and bait and tackle shops. No one else had their hands out, saying, “Give us some, too!”

The regulators fear overfishing, which is why they think it’s important to register and to pay a fee. The problem is that it’s not the average angler depleting fish populations, it’s the big commercial boats. People demand seafood, and they mostly want to get it from either the supermarket or in restaurants.

It’s way too confusing these days to bother with fishing, at least for me. Each year you need a new chart explaining the sizes of each type of fish, how many you’re allowed to keep, the dates of the open season, and how to measure the fish or shellfish (it’s not always the same for all fish). The chart also explains where you’re allowed to fish for some species, such as the striped bass.

For 2010, the winter flounder season ends on May 21, and the summer flounder season starts on May 23. The recreational fishing person is allowed two winter flounder at twelve inches, and six winter flounder at eighteen inches. You see, I wouldn’t know a winter flounder from a summer flounder even if one was wearing sunglasses and flip-flops and the other was sporting a ski mask. I assume that pretty much the same bait is used for each, but maybe the winter flounder prefer their clam dipped in a cup of hot cocoa. No, don’t write me and tell me that shiners are the best bait for flounder. I’ve caught a bunch of them that way back in the day, although my uncle preferred shedder crab. I don’t know what that has to do with anything, though.

I can’t even identify half the fish they’re catching these days, so it’s a good thing I gave up cleaning them over fifty years ago. The party boats used to bring in a lot of porgy and bass (no, it’s not an opera), as well as spots (Cape May goodies), and ling cod. Now, croakers seem to be all the rage. We were fishing a few years ago in Delaware Bay and kept catching those things. They’re something like miniature drumfish, I guess, because they make a similar noise.

I just might fish some this year, if I can untangle the regulations. Maybe I need to take a laptop with me so I can figure out which ones I can keep. That 30-cent pint of clams is now up around five dollars, and that would be about right, except it’s considerably less than a pint these days. It wouldn’t be so bad if there was a chance of catching something I could legally keep. Anyway, I don’t have to worry about fishing for awhile now, because the woodchuck has made his prediction and we’ll have six more weeks of winter.

Tomorrow is Groundhog Day, 2010, and we all know the significance of that date. That’s when the wild boars come out of hibernation in the ground to check out the weather. Wait. . . my research assistant just informed me that they’re not really pigs and can be eaten by people of all meat-eating religions. I’m glad we got that cleared up!

Actually, only one groundhog of importance comes out of its hole, and that happens to be in Punxutawney, Pennsylvania, and it doesn’t really come out on its own, but is yanked out by someone dressed up in a suit, including, of all things, a top hat. I suppose that differs somehow from a bottom hat. Well, there are other notable groundhogs, including General Lee in Lilburn, Georgia.

The important thing to note is that if the groundhog in question sees its shadow when it comes out, it gets scared and goes back in its hole, thus predicting six more weeks of winter. If it doesn’t see its shadow it remains out of its hole and is likely to be eaten by a nearby predator. That somehow signifies an early spring. The predictions gathered from the various groundhogs of note have proven, through the years, to be about as accurate as the local five- or ten-day forecast from your favorite weather prognosticator.

The groundhog is also known as a woodchuck. This is because the old ditty, “How much wood would a woodchuck chuck, etc.” just wouldn’t sound right if you used “groundhog.” Try it: “How much wood would a groundhog chuck if a groundhog would chuck wood?” As you can see, it makes no sense at all, thus someone came up with an alternate name to fit in the ditty, or whatever the heck it is. It would be interesting to see how much wood a woodchuck would chuck if someone knew what chucking was, but there’s still no guarantee that the woodchuck would do it even if it knew what it was, or had that capability. Who knows? Who cares?

In more important business, Morey’s Piers is putting up a “mystery ride” on Mariner’s Landing this year. It’s hard to say why it’s such a big secret.

As kids we made frequent trips to the boards on our bikes during the winter. Nothing they erected during those times ever escaped our observations. I remember us watching the test run of The Wild Mouse, on Marine Pier, now named Mariner’s Landing. A worker wearing a hard hat took the first ride, and he waved, but not necessarily to us. I would check out the mystery ride on my bike, except I’m not sure what the woodchuck’s prediction will be. I may have to wait six more weeks, and maybe by then they’ll be finished replacing this year’s block of boardwalk.

They’re also proposing a new roller coaster to run on two piers, with a suspension bridge between the piers. A preliminary model was unveiled a year ago, when they held the Golden Nugget farewell thing. It will be a couple of years before they even start building this coaster. They say the estimated cost is $10 million. I guess they’ll have a hard time getting their tax assessments reduced, as they did in the past, now that we know the real value of just one coaster. Well, maybe it qualifies as two coasters. . .

Personally, I preferred the old days, when tickets were a nickel apiece and a book of 24 tickets for each pier cost a dollar. Now they pretty much expect you to buy into the theme park “ride all day” scenario. If you want to go on only one ride, it’s almost cost prohibitive.

The Morey family has bought all the piers and eliminated the competition, so they can do pretty much whatever they want. This is supposed to be better, sort of like a big funnel connected to all the piers and channeling all the money into one big bin, at least figuratively speaking. Now they’re also adding fancy bars and restaurants to some of the piers.

In the past, one person or family never controlled everything, but some had more influence than others. William C. Hunt owned Hunt’s Pier, the Starlight Ballroom, The Wildwood Leader (a weekly newspaper), and all the movie theaters on the island. His sons, Bud and Guy eventually took over the operations, and eventually everything was sold to others.

Gil Ramagosa owned the Casino Arcade, Sportland Pier, Sportland Pool, the boardwalk tram cars, and Five Mile Beach Electric Railway, meaning the city bus system, which was not electric once the trolleys were removed. The buses were reliable in that they ran every day, mostly along Pacific Avenue, but walking was often faster. The tram cars ran along the boardwalk, conveniently between Sportland Pier and the Arcade. The only pier shut out from the service was Fun Pier, at the south end of the boardwalk.

Ramagosa’s company also manufactured amusement rides, but the track record on safety wasn’t that great. Several fatalities occurred on a few of his rides, including the Up ‘n’ Atom (later renamed the Flying Fish), the Meteor monorail roller coaster, and the Mars dark ride. The latter was tragic in that three children died in a fire when they were unable to get out of the building after the ride stopped. The only good thing that came out of this was that a new law required all doors in dark rides to open from both directions.

One owner for all piers can be a good thing, however, and it seems that the Moreys care about both safety and appearance for the piers. All that’s left to do now is to wait for the groundhog to unravel the secrets of the mystery ride.

What is it with these traffic lights on the island (especially in Wildwood and Wildwood Crest) that have no apparent usefulness during the winter months?

The environmentalists scream about the amount of gasoline Americans use, and we on the island spend so much of our precious time sitting at traffic lights, with our engines burning gas and spewing out exhaust!

It wouldn’t be so bad if there were a chance an actual vehicle might come through the light in the opposite direction, but the odds of that happening are just slightly better than hitting the lottery.

The timing sequence of the lights are little more than someone’s bad joke. None of this could have occurred by happenstance. After stopping at one red light, the one at the next intersection will turn red before you can negotiate your vehicle over the rugged terrain! Back in the 60’s the lights on New Jersey Avenue were sequentially timed for a certain speed, but only in one direction. Many of those signals were removed, and now the timing is spotty at best.

That however, brings us to another winter island phenomenon: the magically appearing ghost car. Pretty much whenever you pull up to a stop sign during the winter, a car will be coming, usually a half block away, but no other vehicles will be in sight in either direction! The roads here are very straight and flat, so it’s easy to see for at least a mile in each direction. Go to the next stop sign, and another ghost car will appear. I sometimes wonder if some people have the job of sitting in their cars near intersections and waiting for a vehicle to appear at the cross road. . . Yes, I might be a bit paranoid, except that the ghost cars never appear at intersections that have traffic signals.

I think the last Christmas snowflake may have finally melted. A few days ago some were still shining brightly, sort of like the mayor and commissioner who were governing when the decorations were put up.

It will be interesting to see what the new regime does about the streets. Will the sponsors of the Baja 500 start a five-mile version on the island? Will someone in the road department finally figure out that when an opening in a street is patched, it should be made level with the rest of the street? The latter seems highly unlikely.

Besides the deplorable condition of the streets and roads on the island, and the unnecessary traffic signals, I also commend the designers of the traffic lanes. I’m particularly fond of how lanes suddenly run out, sort of Surekill Expressway style. Park Boulevard at 26th Avenue is a great example. Suddenly a driver finds that two lanes suddenly became one! The same thing occurs at New Jersey and 26th , but without the left turning lane. On New Jersey, nothing warns the driver about the change – he or she just has to figure it out.

For some reason, several of the main drag streets in North Wildwood never aligned with those in Wildwood, for the most part. The aforementioned Park Boulevard in Wildwood misaligns with Delaware Avenue in North Wildwood. Central, 26th, and Pacific Avenues form a shining example of disaster planning. If you can figure out who has the right-of-way after stopping, please let me know. And what’s that four-way stop on Pacific all about? Is that for the parade of traffic coming from the water park on Schellenger Avenue? Or maybe from the steady stream of diners fleeing Schellenger’s Landing?
Neither attraction is even open during the winter months.

Another misalignment occurs at Ocean Avenue in Wildwood where it doesn’t meet Surf Avenue in North Wildwood. Last year the powers that be exacerbated the situation with the new design for Surf. Ocean Avenue in North Wildwood bears no resemblance (or alignment) with Ocean Avenue in Wildwood. Go figure.

I suppose we’re all waiting with bated breath for the LED lights that will crisscross Pacific Avenue after the next phase of bright ideas. If the ones strung up haphazardly during the holidays were intended as a sampling, thanks, but no thanks. . .

Google Earth Street View now covers a lot of territory, including the Wildwoods and other places in South Jersey. Check it out – you just might see yourself, or at least your humble abode.

Being civic minded, I took my vehicle to a local repair shop. My first clue should have been that “Anglesea Auto Repair” is not in Anglesea, by about fourteen blocks. On the other hand, I also happened to know the owner, the brother of my late sister’s best friend. All I wanted was a new alternator, but he phoned me later and told me the vehicle needed all new belts.

After subtracting the AAA discount and adding the acquaintance penalties, the bill came to somewhat more than I expected, but it also seemed to be a bit higher than my math results showed. I surmised that my figures were probably in error, being that I’m a retired structural engineer, and know little about math, but nonetheless, I called the owner back, just to make sure he hadn’t made a mistake.

Actually, the problem was that he forgot to mention the “Tourism and Development” tax, which piggybacks the normal sales tax. He said this would be $24.65. This is to ensure that the municipality has adequate funds for the convention center, which hardly benefits year-round residents. I read the details of the technical bulletin, which indicated that auto repair shops are not considered a type of business subject to this particular tax. It also stated that the tax is two percent.

There is, however, a stipulation that a municipality can impose the tax on certain businesses not subject to the tax. In other words, if a type of business is exempt, it can be taxed anyway, meaning that it’s not exempt, even though it is. Right. . .

In order to clarify the intent of the law, and to ascertain why I should not take my vehicle out of town to be repaired, thus avoiding the additional tax, I called the North Wildwood city clerk, who said I should call the clerk’s office in Wildwood, which suggested calling the Wildwood Convention Center. The gentleman there stated that auto repair businesses pay a flat rate of $300.00 per year, which should not be passed on to the consumer.

When I picked up my vehicle, the owner of the shop said the tourism fee was listed as “shop supplies.” I told him I wanted it to show what he said it was, so he wrote, “Greater Wildwood Torism[sic] Devel Act.” He also charged me $6.80 for “hazardous materials,” and I asked him what that meant, being that he gave me the old belts to take with me. He said it was for disposal of rags and stuff, or something to that effect. Not that I suspected at this point that he wasn’t being entirely truthful, but I harbored some suspicions that it doesn’t cost him $6.80 to throw away a rag. Nonetheless, he said that the tourism tax was three percent, not two. Here we get into more fuzzy math. If $24.65 is three percent of the bill, then the total bill should have been $821.67, but again, what do I know? The total bill before discounts was supposedly $614.01, and was $555.75 after applying the discount, but before adding the sales tax. With 7 percent sales tax, the total is $594.65. No matter what percentage I use, I am unable to come up with a figure of $24.65, whether I use two, three, or four percent.

I have since learned that a state tax official is interested in knowing more about the fee that the shop owner is charging, and is wondering whether or not he’s actually making money from a tax he doesn’t have to pay. At any rate, she assured me that she will get a refund for me, if he is indeed charging for the tourism tax.

At this point, it’s still undecided as to who is the more stupid person, he or I? I’m going to go with him for now, while I await the final outcome. In the meantime, if you happen to live in the area and need your vehicle repaired, get in touch with me, and I’ll be happy to put in a good word for you with the shop owner. On the other hand, perhaps if he doesn’t know you, you might get a better deal. . . Or, you could just opt for a reputable repair shop.

Here we go again. Not content with starting an entire millennium a year early, the newspapers, sportscasters, and some other public figures have started touting the beginning of a “new decade.” One of the announcers of the first bowl game of the year said it was the first football game of the new decade. A newspaper in Florida just announced that identical twins were born in different decades.

What is it with people who keep compounding errors until almost everyone believes that the wrong thing is right? The year thing started when Bill Clinton insisted on being the “New Millennium President,” even though his reign in the twenty-first century lasted only a bit more than nineteen days.

Years work just like any other set of objects that can be divided into decades. Rosary beads are an excellent example. A set consists of five decades, separated by a single bead between each decade. Ignoring the separator beads, the first decade begins with the first bead and ends with the tenth. The second decade begins with the eleventh bead. That’s right, count them if you’re not sure. Ergo, the second decade of the second millennium (which started on January 1, 2001, after 2000 years were completed) begins on January 1, 2011. This isn’t something that’s debatable, because facts aren’t fodder for argument.

People often confuse facts with theories. It’s okay to be skeptical of theories, unless those theories are proven. Then they become facts. I’ve known individuals who look at me funny when I tell them that gold is considerably heavier than lead, and that platinum is heavier than gold. This isn’t a theory I worked out, and it’s not an opinion, but a fact. One person looked up the atomic weight of each and declared me wrong, although the atomic weight has nothing to do with the density, or actual mass of the material.

Man-made global warming, or climate change, is a theory; and even though it can’t be proven, supporters don ski masks and shout that it’s true to the shivering masses gathered on the frozen town squares. Right now, with the wind chill at fifteen degrees, I’d be more inclined to believe the ice age sycophants from the 1970s. Sadly, we’re going to pay a heavy financial price based solely on opinions concerning climate change.

Evolution is another theory, but supporters have succeeded in having it taught as an exclusive truth in schools in many states. No one has successfully explained why cave men evolved as humans, while the many species of monkeys remained as the apes they have always been.

Nor has anyone shown how a cross in the Mojave Desert, or The Ten Commandments in a courthouse, or a Nativity scene on a city-owned property means that congress has passed a law respecting the establishment of a religion, or prohibiting the free practice thereof. Show me the law and I’ll shut up. Someday maybe we’ll get all this right, but right now, many of us are nothing more than voices in the wilderness.

According to an article in the local paper, some guy is concerned that certain migratory birds are arriving in the area sooner than expected. He attributes this to man-made global warming, or climate change, depending on circumstances. This dude has way too much time on his hands.

Birds don’t make reservations for their accommodations, so they pretty much show up whenever they please. Most of the shore birds I’ve observed in this area are pretty laid back. Laughing gulls, for example, seem to prefer snatching French fries or pizza crusts from unsuspecting people strolling the boardwalk, rather than actually catching a fish. Maybe that’s why they leave along with the tourists. Maybe this guy is used to birds with OCD, such as the swallows that return to Capistrano with punctuality, at least for the movie.

The GLOWARMS, or Global Warming Alarmists, will point to anything in attempting to justify their nonexistent claims. Just the other day, I saw one pointing to a fire extinguisher, and shouting that it was responsible for releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. I engaged in my own pointing by pointing out that the whole idea of the device is to release carbon dioxide in order to put out a fire, which would release even more CO2 if it were allowed to continue burning. Not to mention the fact (not theory) that carbon dioxide is NOT a harmful greenhouse gas, so I won’t.

A few weeks ago, some supposed scientists said they spent the summer measuring Arctic sea ice, and that in 10 or 20 (or maybe a few million) years, the Arctic Ocean will be an ocean, or words to that effect. It has happened before, during the time of the Vikings, and they’re still around, living in Minnesota.

Now the UN and the EPA are attempting to get us to believe in man-mad climate change, while ignoring the fact that thousands of emails prove that the numbers have been fudged. They claim that this will be the warmest decade ever, even though temperatures have steadily dropped for the past two decades.

Anyway, these experts claim that the melting sea ice will raise water levels, and New York City will become a modern-day Atlantis. Not so. Sea ice is already floating, and its melting will not raise water levels at all. Land-based ice could raise sea levels, if the ice thawed, at least theoretically, but there’s a lot of water in the connected oceans. The real threat is not from melting ice, but from building cities below sea level, protected by inadequate dikes and levees. Yes, as in New Orleans.

These people tell us we’re going to have too much water, and in the same breath, tell us water is disappearing. Neither is true – we have the same amount of water we’ve always had – it just shows up in different places at different times.

They’ve expanded their search for water to the moon, and claim they’ve found it. A news report stated that Perrier and Evian are now engaged in a rocket-building race. Can the Arabs be far behind? Actually, the water is presently in the form of ice, but it will soon melt due to man-made lunar warming. Or is it climate change? I’m not sure.

Speaking of not being sure, why is it that it took about six years to figure out how to put people on the moon, using now antiquated equipment, but the second time around will take more than twelve years?

Most of the laughing gulls don’t hang around for the shoulder seasons, citing a severe decrease in the boardwalk food supply, but a few diehards hang around for awhile. Most of the ospreys abandoned their nests, leaving the evergreen decorations behind. Perhaps they’ll visit for Christmas. Egrets are still in abundance.

Wildwood couldn’t seem to figure out its budget, apparently thinking the local purpose tax increase was more than it should have been. The state intervened and said that was the correct amount to cover all the silly spending. The mayor said that the state should pay the increase. He apparently doesn’t understand that the city, not the state, owes the money. He said he’s waiting for high rises to eventually save the day. Some of us believe that high rises will not only not save the day, but will destroy the character of the island, or at least what’s left of it. How long before a new bank of motels replaces the near-empty condos facing foreclosures?

A citizen suggested that the city could raise revenue by putting a toll booth on the George Redding bridge, or charging beach fees, or charging to go on the boardwalk. This sort of goes against all the advertising about Wildwood being free, but let’s take a closer look.

The toll bridge is such a great idea, it’s unclear why no ever thought of it before! Just what the island needs – a sure fire way to clog 147 into North Wildwood! The only people taking the existing toll bridges on Ocean Drive off the island are first-timers unaware that there’s no toll coming the other way. Traffic backs up on 47 whenever some little boat with a big antenna asks for the bridge to be raised. Imagine coupling that with a toll booth. No, don’t. . .

It’s also a sure shot that people would delight in paying to go on the boardwalk and then pay jacked-up food prices, as well as the high prices on the amusement piers. There would be few people left to watch the tram cars.

What about the beach fees? Well, I suppose the Crest and North Wildwood beaches have enough space to handle everyone except the two or three idiots stupid enough to buy a Wildwood beach tag. We need to bring in more forward-thinking residents such as this lady.

Wildwood plans to replace another block or two of boardwalk, and we can probably expect months of dickering over what material to use. Ipe is the preferred wood, because of its durability, but some environmental groups insist that it must be certified. Something about preservation, or regeneration, I suppose. I understand their concerns about the rain forests, but whether certified or uncertified, the trees have already been cut down. If the wood isn’t used somewhere, how does not using it help? I suppose we’re facing another partial winter of detouring off the boards on our bikes, but the boardwalk repairs are long overdue.

This year’s big festivals are over, at least in North Wildwood. The Italian Festival is next week, but in Wildwood. Pretty soon we’ll be able to start celebrating the off season. Nobody comes to the shore for Thanksgiving except residents and relatives.

For a number of years, the Ferris wheel on Mariner’s Landing Pier created quite a spectacle with its ever-changing patterns and colors of bright lights. Now, due to the so-called global warming craze, the lights have been replaced with LED’s. The Morey’s organization thought this would be a brilliant move, but it has turned out to be anything but. For example, the old lights used to catch the attention of travelers coming into both Wildwood and North Wildwood. Now, a bit of haze makes them virtually invisible. The new light substitutes are static, never changing their patterns or colors. Those in charge have actually progressed to the 1950s.

Other brilliant plans are in the works. One bright idea is to improve Pacific Avenue by crisscrossing the street with LED’s. One can only guess how easy it must be to sell the concept of LED’s to dim-witted officials. We could save much more energy by limiting the speed limits on highways to five mph, an idea that would get us everywhere slow, but nowhere fast. The question is, to what extent do we inconvenience ourselves, or make life less enjoyable, because of the global warming scam? The Morey’s corporation will see considerable savings in electricity bills, and that’s fine, but they should stop hiding behind the “greenness” aspect. Like nearly everything, it’s a “money” thing first, no matter what anyone tells us.

The city could also save a bunch by replacing all street lights with candles, and. . . oh, never mind.

Once again, the Christmas in July boat parade was a success, at least for someone, I suppose. The handful of boats cruised by our place during daylight hours, just as last year, but a half hour later. This got residents and observers thinking that, in just a couple of years or so, the event may take place after sundown. At least the entrants have started using decorations that are more visually appealing during daylight hours, but nothing really replaces the effect of bright lights at night. Organizers say each year that they want to compete with OC. That will only happen if Ocean City renames their parade, “DAY in Venice.”

Well, a judge finally decided that the recall of the Wildwood mayor and a commissioner can go forward, I guess in the opposite direction as the city itself. The recall election is slated for December 8, hopefully, this year.

In the meantime, the targets of the recall once again said it would be smart (or something like that), for all four communities that comprise The Wildwoods to pool services. Right, it would be smart for Wildwood, but most of us here in the adjoining communities have no interest in sharing Wildwood’s much higher tax rates to sustain its various follies.

A family of ospreys, AKA fish hawks, spruced up its nest in the marshes just off Route 147 by adding some greenery. They must be taking good care of the new shrubbery, because it has remained green for several weeks now.

The Atlantic City and Wildwood boardwalks were voted Nos. 1 and 2 by ForbesTraveler.com. Fortunately for Wildwood, Forbes Traveler excluded regular streets in reaching its conclusions. If you go there (not to the Wildwood boardwalk, but the other site), don’t forget to come back.

I’ve noticed an increase in August visitors to the island, which can only be attributed to man-made global advertising, thus explaining the numerous license tags from Quebec.

Speaking of which, or maybe not, what were these people thinking, a number of years ago, when they started renting those surreys that people pedal? Like cars and bikes weren’t complicated enough? I used to think that nothing could slow down island traffic more than automobiles, but eight people trying to pedal and steer a surrey, with or without a fringe on top, surpasses NJ MVA allowable levels of insanity with respect to traffic. The funny thing that’s not so funny is that the passengers in these death traps think there’s nothing funnier. Sort of like the idiots that go on bumper cars who can’t seem to figure out what “turn the wheel” means, so they just sit there laughing, eating up ride time, while no one else can go anywhere. It’s a riot. . .

Labor Day lurks just around the corner, and we all know what that means. It means dreading going back to school, except for the weirdoes who love school. Oh, that’s right, I got out of school many years ago, but I still dread going back, not that I ever intend to. If that makes no sense to you, then you’re one of the weirdoes. L8R.

The laughing gulls find the concept of man-made global warming laughable, given that the local daily temperature has rarely risen above the mid sixties since the gulls’ arrival in early April. On the other hand, laughing gulls find almost everything pretty much laughable. What never seems to amuse them, though, are the early summer flood tides. The parents fly around frantically, watching their nests float away, while their offspring paddle around rather calmly.

We’re approaching the end of June now, and the marshes are just beginning to reach full greenness. Weekend crowds here on the island can hardly be considered crowds, although most of the remaining motels seem to be booked to capacity on weekends. The somewhat sparse crowds can probably be attributed to the unusually cool and rainy spring we’ve experienced. Normal people don’t really like spending too much time in the motel rooms they rent at the shore.

Good news happens at times, and it’s good to see that Wildwood decided to repaint the giant beach balls at the end of Rio Grande Avenue. They’re not quite as shiny as the originals, but they look better than when they were covered with large splotches of white, as if they were suffering from vitiligo.

In other good news, it looks as if most of the scheduled paving has been completed in the Wildwoods, including Seaview Avenue in the Crest, and Surf Avenue in North Wildwood. The new parking along the center islands on Surf has the potential of causing many accidents because of blocked views.

In some ways, I hate to see some streets repaved. Many of the main thoroughfares on the island sport the same pavement we rode our bikes on over fifty years ago. Many are still in good shape, such as parts of Atlantic Avenue in the Crest. Very nostalgic, I suppose.

Wildwood city planners now talk about finishing off Pacific Avenue, and they envision streets adorned with LED lighting. Where do they get these ideas? Many streets, including some main thoroughfares, in Wildwood desperately need repaving, and all planners can think about is adding LED lighting? That’s the downside of state grant money.

Admittedly, Rio Grande Avenue looks much better than it did, but after that, then what? Ocean Avenue looks good, but does anyone care about all the other bumpy and unsightly streets, other than those who have to drive them?

A number of eyesores exist on the island, particularly at Rio Grande and Ocean Avenues, where the Rio Motel once stood. Apparently, unless or until the present mayor gets his high-rise hotels, visitors will be punished with this unsightly vacant lot, surrounded by a chain-link fence, right across from the proud giant beach balls and the Wildwood sign. You’d think they could at least landscape the lot, for all the money they paid to not build something. The Cedar/Schellenger area near Atlantic Avenue also needs a makeover, and who would complain if someone accidentally bulldozed down Schellenger’s Landing? Just kidding about the last. . . I think.

The island has changed over the years, and I guess it’s difficult for those of us who grew up here to not remember what it used to be like. While it’s true that demographics have shifted with changing times, it’s not true that vacant areas left by the removal of structures should be left to resemble urban blight. Many of the visitors will probably remember the town as a place where a lot of construction appears to be ongoing, with nothing actually being built. Most communities require strict property maintenance requirements after a structure has been removed.

The Wildwoods are still a great place for family vacations, but wouldn’t it be better if parts of the town sported a better appearance to visitors?

In its ongoing infinite management wisdom, the Delaware River & Bay Authority (DRBA), announced a planned rate hike for the Cape May/Lewes ferry service. A spokesman said they also plan on reducing the number of trips. The reason, he said, was due to decreased ridership, which resulted in decreased revenue. Duh! Oh yeah, and they also intend to add a fuel surcharge if the price of diesel fuel exceeds $2.50 per gallon.

Okay, here we go again, in an attempt to explain why the ferry service has never made a profit since its inception. The time to increase prices for anything is when demand is UP, not down. There are reasons why fewer people are using the ferry, and none of them is because prices are too low. I have also never heard anyone mention that there are too many trips scheduled, that it runs too late in the day, or that it makes the trip across the bay in less time than desired.

Back when the service started, they used ferries that had been replaced by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, and they worked fine, although they were a bit too deep-drafted for Delaware Bay. Some years later, they had new boats built, but none of them were designed for any significant speed. The thinking, apparently, was that these were not bridge substitutes, but mini ocean liners, or something like that.

Now let’s look at reality as seen by truckers, businesspersons, and families returning from trips. Coming from the south on I-95 to a location in Cape May County requires driving all the way to the Delaware Memorial Bridge (which makes a profit and subsidizes the ferry), then back down. This adds many miles to a trip, and can add some time, depending on the ferry schedule. If nothing else, it’s more tiresome.

Let’s now look at the ferry, instead. Assuming you’re traveling between August 31 and July 3, the last boat leaves for Cape May at 7:45, except for weekends in June, when an 8:45 trip is added. If you haven’t timed your trip exactly right, or get tied up in traffic, you get there at, say, 8:00. Your options are to either wait until the first trip in the morning, at 9:30, or drive all the way back to, probably I-13, and head for the bridge. Weekends during July and August have a last trip scheduled for 9:30.

We sometimes go to Georgia, and making it to Lewes before 7:45 is nothing less than a frantic drive, holding our breaths that we don’t get caught up in traffic. A reservation sounds like a good idea, but it’s only good if you make it there 30 minutes before the departure time. None of this makes any sense for late-night travelers and truckers.

The first step in making the Cape May/Lewes Ferry a viable means of transportation would be to schedule trips at every two hours, as a minimum, night and day, or at least scheduling the last trip for midnight. Yes, some trips would probably run at a loss, at least initially, but the important thing is to establish ridership by gaining the trust of potential riders. Just imagine closing the Delaware Memorial Bridge at 7:45 each evening, and you can see why the DRBA is way off in its thinking concerning the ferry. Availability eliminates the decision-making process of whether or not to get off the interstate and attempt to make it in time for the last crossing.

Of course, the speed of the vessels is another issue. The advertised crossing time is 70 minutes, but a minimum of 90 minutes is closer to reality. With the amount of money spent on the existing boats, especially the two “mother” ships, faster vessels, perhaps hydroplanes, could have been built. Faster crossings mean more desirability to travelers, and more trips filled to capacity. That’s not to say that an hour and a half to rest up during a long trip isn’t sometimes welcomed, only that the primary purpose of the ferry should be to get vehicles from one location to another, so speed should be of the essence.

That’s not to say that the ferry should be as fast as a car traveling across a bridge, only that a trip of more than an hour one way tends to discourage travelers from using the service. If the idea was to make more money on food, or in the gift shop, neither concept ever happened, and never will. It’s not only the fares that are priced immodestly. As to the food, the health department shut down all real cooking, so only packaged products are offered. Not really what you expect when on a “sea cruise.”

I predict that ridership will drop even more after the fare hikes, and the DRBA members will stand around scratching their heads, wondering why every other ferry service in the world operates profitably. The answer, of course, is that most ferries are not optional, and provide the only means of reaching a destination. When that is not the case, steps must be taken to make the service an attractive and viable alternative to driving.