OCEAN CITY – Ocean City is looking to crack down on saggy pants exposing “behinds” and undergarments.
As Councilman Brent Ashley proposed the concept to outlaw the exposure of skin from the waist down, he shared the story that sparked his motivation.
Ashley sat next to a family with two small children on the Boardwalk one day as a “group of fellas walked by with their pants down and the cracks of their behinds showing.” At the sight, the little girl questioned her parents on their choice of style.
“The parents are trying to explain to them and I heard the father say ‘you really shouldn’t see that on the Boardwalk in Ocean City,’” Ashley said.
After conducting some research, Ashley found a number of municipalities do not allow pants any lower than three inches from the tops of the hips exposing skin or undergarments. He cited as an example Fort Worth, Texas, which doesn’t allow people who wear pants below the waist to ride the city’s buses.
On Wednesday, CNN Justice released an article reporting the mayor of Dublin, Ga. is expected to sign an ordinance amending the city’s indecent exposure law this upcoming week that prohibits the wearing of saggy pants as well as violators will face a fine of $200.
“To me, this is about decency and respect on the Boardwalk,” Ashley said. “I don’t think small children should be exposed to people’s behinds.”
Ashley added that he was not able to find a municipality in Maryland that has banned sagging pants. He said that Baltimore had talked about a policy but never went through with it.
“I was thinking we could make Ocean City basically the first crack-free city in Maryland,” he said.
Ashley suggested incorporating a code prohibiting garments that allow the vision of offensive body parts into the city’s indecent exposure ordinance.
The council seemed to agree with Ashley’s suggestion and has asked City Solicitor Guy Ayres to research the concept and to return to them with a recommendation.
The Dispatch questioned its Facebook followers on Wednesday and the majority’s consensus was the town should be more concerned over more pressing matters than the exposure of others behinds. However, there were some who expressed support for Ashley’s proposal.