It was a nice try to stay current with the times, but Ocean City learned last summer the unmanned credit card-only lane concept — like those seen at metropolitan parking garages — at the Inlet Parking Lot was a bust. It came with major headaches and simply was not used enough.
For example, 23,621 transactions took place last year at the credit card-only booth compared to an average of 131,140 at the three other booths. People just didn’t want to use it and the revenue numbers confirmed it.
Horror stories of long backups last summer at the lot were commonplace during peak times, and it was long thought the booth setup was the main culprit. While there are bound to be backups when hundreds of vehicles try to exit the lot at the same time, as is often the case in the summer, confusion at the booths exacerbated the problems.
“We went to a credit card-only lane thinking it would speed up exiting traffic but what we have experienced is that they don’t use that lane either. It is too cumbersome by entering the ticket and credit card and it is a process that slows down the exit. What is happening is the supervisors and attendants are going to that lane to assist,” Public Works Deputy Director John VanFossen said. “Our biggest complaint at the parking lot is during the time of exit. If there is any type of special event going on … they have to exit the parking lot and they want to exit in a timely manner but currently they are unable to do that.”
If you look at the Inlet parking lot as a business, it brings in a lot of money — more than $2.2 million in revenue in 2014 — because it’s the most convenient place to park for the Boardwalk. It’s also valued for its beachfront parking as well during the day. There were times last summer when it was anything but convenient for motorists.
It’s an easy decision for the town to admit the mistake and return to four attended booths capable of taking cash and credit.
The newly formed Boardwalk Task Force held its first public hearing this week, and it was no surprise street performer concerns dominated the meeting.
Last summer was a mess on the Boardwalk, thanks largely to an abundance of street performers, armed with court protection and high on First Amendment rights, going rogue on the Boardwalk. They set up wherever they wanted. They sold items that blatantly competed with businesses just a few feet away. Unscrupulous local residents hired foreign students to stand in costumes and paid them a percentage of what they collected. At one point, a couple business owners were so enraged by the costumed characters hanging out in front of their stores they bought their own costumes and had employees don them to protect the area. The worst abuse of all came late in the summer when a social media-savvy pole dancer began nightly shows that shined negative media attention on the resort during the peak season.
Although many opinions were expressed at this week’s task force meeting, the general consensus among the rational seemed to be a rotation of some sort was needed. It was suggested the city create certain established areas where street performers can set up away from store fronts and create a system that would not violate First Amendment rights.
The city will surely run any of these suggestions by their contracted law firm before proceeding in that direction, but creating a rotation seems fair. The key is it would have to consist of a large number of sites so as not to infringe too far and land back in court. If an established number can be agreed upon, it would go a long way toward providing some semblance of regulation on the Boardwalk that has been sorely needed.
Listening to the scanner during the Ocean City fire on Tuesday was enlightening. It’s been years since I have actually listened to the live audio of an active fire scene, and it’s impossible not to be impressed with how the scene was handled.
The communication between the first responders and command staff on the scene was incredible to witness. There was never any panic in their voices. They were calm and collected, despite windows being shattered and flames shooting out of the building. Much of that calm under pressure has to be attributed to their training, but it’s still remarkable.
Additionally, it’s important to recall how cold it was that morning. Tuesday was the day most of us woke up to frozen windshields and slippery sidewalks. It was frigid, but you would never know it from listening to these men and women on the scene. They were consummate professionals.
As I imagine is the case with all emergency situations, things go wrong throughout the course of the event. In this case, it appeared one of the troubles arose with a dearth of water supply as a result of St. Louis Ave. reconstruction. Although there did not seem to be any panic, it’s always disconcerting when you hear a tanker has no water supply. That was reported multiple times, but it was quickly addressed and rectified.
Despite that little blip, control of the scene and the constant communication seemed on point. It stayed that way even after it was reported a firefighter was briefly unaccounted for inside the burning building as well as when an occupant had to be rescued and ushered down a ladder by a responding firefighter. Fortunately, neither situation turned out to be serious, although there were minor injuries reported.
It’s these sorts of major incidents that remind us just how courageous these responders are and how thankful we should be for them, although we would probably all admit that we take them for granted most of the time.