Beaches Open

Don't worry, folks — most N.J. beaches are open
By DEREK HARPER Staff Writer, (609) 272-7203
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Tuesday, July 4, 2006
Updated: Tuesday, July 4, 2006

ATLANTIC CITY — Listen up, ladies and gentlemen: The New Jersey shore is still open.

“We're going to have to start telling people that,” laughed Elaine Shapiro Zamansky, spokeswoman for the Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority.

The authority, which took calls from people wanting to know whether the casinos were still open, was one of several places along the shore that panicked vacationers called Monday.

They heard New Jersey's state government closed, potentially shuttering the casinos along with state beaches and parks Wednesday, and thought that meant all beaches, boardwalks and other attractions from Cape May to Sandy Hook were locked down.

In reality, the casinos will remain open until at least 8 a.m. Wednesday, and each of the towns bordering the Atlantic Ocean owns its particular stretch of the shore.

While some state-run areas like Cape May Point State Park, Corsons Inlet in Cape May County and Island Beach State Park in Ocean County may be forced to close this week, those are the exceptions.

In North Wildwood, Lotus Inn co-owner and manager Lori Stambaugh took calls throughout the day asking if the beaches were opened. She was upset.

“I am not happy when information is put out there to alarm the public and to influence the public and it is not in the correct way.”

In Wildwood, Lee Brasch, admissions manager for Morey's Piers, took a similar call from a woman coming to vacation who wanted to know: Are the beaches closed?

“No,” Brasch said.

How about the water park?

“Nope. And even if the beaches were closed, we will not close the water park,” she said.

Operators told people that the city's beaches and the privately owned pier were still open, but she was afraid that tourists would stay away.

“Tell everybody to come to Wildwood!” Brasch said. “It's great here!”

In Ship Bottom, Information Clerk Cindy Galvin assured a person who stopped by the Southern Ocean County Chamber of Commerce that the Barnegat Lighthouse State Park was still open.

In Cape May, Cathy Wahl at the Chamber of Commerce of Greater Cape May said she took a dozen similar calls throughout the morning, mostly from the New York region.

Callers wanted to know if the beaches were still open. She assured them yes and read a letter from Director Larry Muentz explaining things were up and running.

“We sure don't want to have people call and cancel their vacation out of fear,” Wahl said.

Fear over a potential closure stretched into Pennsylvania.

In Douglassville, Pa., 45 miles northwest of Philadelphia, people called Adele Klein to find out whether Klein Transportation's casino buses ran were still going to Atlantic City casinos.

“We just tell them to keep signing up and we will let you know if they are closed,” said Klein, co owner and director of business development.

She's concerned. The company runs between four and five 54-person buses to Atlantic City every day. While the firm has 17 buses, the resort is its only regularly scheduled destination and accounts for half of its revenue.

On Monday, 11 buses were out. If there is a casino shutdown, they stand to lose as much as $6,750 per day because beach or no beach, that's not what they're coming for.

“They enjoy what Atlantic City is all about and if they pay the fare, that's what they want to take part in,” she said, referring to casino gambling.

Even so, Atlantic City Beach Patrol Chief Rod Aluise was surprised when a reporter called him. The city's beaches were thick with the holiday crowd.

He relayed his view from the squad's South Carolina Avenue headquarters, a couple blocks from Resorts Casino Hotel. “I am looking at a very beautiful holiday crowd,” Aluise said. “Everything is normal.”