Petition link here - let's free the beach!
https://chng.it/qTxhg58QksNJ needs a Democratic Governor to protect us from Mad King Donald, whose demented heartless incompetence during Trump’s First Pandemic, as Covid-19 may sadly be known, led to death and despair, shuttered businesses and lost dreams, and caused the painful inflation we suffer from to this day.
So St. Augustine’s Church in Asbury Park was filled for the Monmouth County Democrats Black American Caucus Democratic Candidates’ Forum. Six leaders faced us – Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, former Montclair Mayor and State Teachers’ Union President Sean Spiller, former NJ Senate President Steve Sweeney, and Representatives Josh Gottheimer and Mikie Sherrill.
To honor a black leader from local history, my submitted written question was: “In 1887, the Reverend James Francis Robinson led a ‘wade-in’ at Asbury Park to help end segregated beaches. Today, high badges prices keep poor people off our public beaches. Do you support making NJ beaches free?”
Unfortunately, the only part read aloud by the moderator was “Do you support making NJ beaches free?” The responses might have differed if she’d read the full question, with the context of racial and economic discrimination that deprives many of the basic human right to sit in the sun by the sea. As it was, most of the candidates gave what they felt were responsible answers focusing on balancing the state budget and lowering taxes. Sure, free beaches would be great, but perhaps we can’t afford that right now, was the line of thinking.
Only Senator Sweeney immediately and strongly stood up for free beaches. He knows it would be good for NJ and New Jerseyans, and as the candidate with by far the most intimate knowledge of how our state government functions, he realizes that the cost to supply each beach town with a yearly grant for beach operations will add under .002% to the budget – less than a one five hundredth part, a virtually unnoticeable percentage. And this may be more than offset by an increase in tax revenue generated by booming tourism after we finally rid ourselves of the aggravating and oppressive beach fee system.
Hopefully the other candidates will come to realize the wisdom of Steve Sweeney’s position and become supporters of free beaches in New Jersey.
Thank you,
Neil Scheck
MakeNJbeachesFree.org Director
732-233-2430 neilscheck@yahoo.com
DO YOU HATE HAVING TO
BUY AND WEAR BADGES OR WRISTBANDS
TO USE OUR PUBLIC BEACHES?
WHAT A PAIN IN THE NECK!
AND FOR SOME,
THE COST MEANS WAITING
UNTIL THE LIFEGUARDS GO HOME.
NEW JERSEY'S BEACH BADGE SYSTEM
IS ROOTED IN
RACISM AND DISCRIMINATION.
ITS PURPOSE IS NOT TO RAISE FUNDS,
BUT TO RESTRICT ACCESS
TO OUR PUBLICLY OWNED BEACHES.
WE CAN AND WE WILL CHANGE THIS!Here's the link for the petition:
https://www.change.org/MakeNJBeachesFreePlease consider signing and sharing.
NOTE: If
Change.org sends you an email to confirm
that you're a real person and not a bot,
please click, so your signature counts. Thank you!
THE PETITION:
Make New Jersey beaches free!
We ask the governor and legislators to act now
to eliminate entrance fees
and make all publicly owned beaches free for everyone.
Only in NJ must you pay
to walk on the beach and enjoy the ocean water.
It is wrong to deprive the economically disadvantaged
the basic human rights of swimming and sunbathing.
It is cruel to force the poor to wait
until lifeguards have gone home,
when most drownings occur.
It is harmful to wildlife to litter the ecosystem
with lost and discarded plastic badges and wristbands.
The beach fee system
is repressive, discriminatory, and inefficient.
The state government should dedicate
a tiny sliver of its yearly budget to reimbursing
beach towns for lifeguards and maintenance.
The resulting boost to tourism revenues
from ending the aggravation and indignity
of badges and wristbands
might even make the switch to free beaches pay for itself.
See makenjbeachesfree.com to learn more.
The time is right to free the beach!
Scroll down and click on the blog entrees to learn more.Our publicly owned beaches
should be,
and will be,
free for everyone.
It is inevitable.
Make NJ Beaches Free!
This website is young and growing.
The site and the movement will grow bigger and better.
Any help you can offer is appreciated.We will Make New Jersey Beaches Free!
(Please Keep Scrolling!)