Positive Signs OC’s Traffic Issues Improving
Editor:
In a resort town like ours, there are times when a community improvement takes place but very few realize that they are the direct beneficiaries of this positive action.
Here is a businessperson’s perspective about this season’s traffic viewed from a window overlooking Coastal Highway in north Ocean City.
Ocean City is experiencing some of its largest crowds ever this year with some weekends being better than others. Usually the bug-a-boo is traffic congestion since Coastal Highway is one, nine-mile strip north to south. This summer even when there is heavy traffic on the weekends, there have been relatively few major traffic snarls. The police, the State Highway Administration and Ocean City town officials are working together to be sure there are as few problems as possible. I never thought I would be able to say this, but traffic light coordination is a beautiful thing.
Good things are happening in other aspects of local resort transportation.
One very positive sign is that bus ridership is up about 5% on some days by most reports. There are more and better buses, and they are scheduled properly to help make the bus ride an almost “pleasurable experience.” Not to belabor the issue, but this is a very positive sign and it helps make all visitors (and locals) very happy.
Safe and easy driving may seem like a minor issue to some, but this is an important element in Ocean City’s success this summer. Diners can get to their restaurants of choice and shoppers can get to their shops and store of their choices, including one of our advertising agency clients, White Marlin Mall in West Ocean City.
Driving from north Ocean City to downtown to go across the Route 50 Bridge used to be a big hassle. In fact when leaving our north Ocean City office, I used to take the Route 90 Bridge out of town, drive by Ocean Pines, and loop around Berlin to drive back to West Ocean City on Route 50 to stop by White Marlin Mall. While there will be some slow downs during inclement weather and when tourists arrive and depart at the same time, getting around Ocean City has become as good as it is ever going to get. Given the town’s natural roadway limitations, today’s ease of travel is a working example of maximum traffic efficiency.
Although we don’t want to overstate the issue, it is a tenant of retail management that if shoppers can’t get to West Ocean City in a fairly quick and easy fashion, they are less likely to shop at White Marlin Mall and neighboring shopping establishments. This summer in large part, we can report that there is usually a straight shot from north Ocean City, heading south on Coastal Highway to West Ocean City. This is great news as an aide to family shopping and helps insure safer travels around the greater Ocean City area.
Psychologically, the thought that one can get from one end of Ocean City to the other is very important to all visitors. Our guests visit the beach to take a break from their routine. In theory and practice, tourists need to feel free and unencumbered when they visit us. They want to do what they feel like doing, when they want to do it. Assisting tourists via good traffic management to get them to where they wish to go is an important and sometimes unappreciated factor. This is something that Ocean City is doing right and we know it definitely is helping White Marlin Mall and other West Ocean City businesses.
Now, if we could only get the beachgoers on Coastal Highway to cross at the street corners, but that’s another story.
We hope all our summer visitors and local businesses have an enjoyable and prosperous summer.
Paul Jankovic
Ocean City
Voting Data Protection Must Be A Focus
Editor:
(The following letter was addressed to Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, and Representative Andy Harris. A copy was forward to this publication for printing.)
I have been a paid election judge for more than 30 years; first while living in Baltimore County and now on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in Worcester County. I have had numerous training sessions for the job prior to each primary or general election. As poll book judge and a Chief Judge, I know the responsibility of making sure the voter in front of us is the one listed in the poll book. We are told to ask certain open-ended pertinent questions, not leading questions, to assure ourselves we have the right person. I have never encountered any instance of voter fraud or impersonation in all my years working the polls.
The records we are entrusted with, and which we review during an election day, are sacrosanct. I do not approve of sharing this sensitive data, including dates of birth, the last four digits of SSNs, and other personally identifying information with the Commission appointed by the President.
Our first and major thrust as a nation with respect to election security is for the Federal government to work with states to ensure data is protected against hackers and will not again be accessed for political purposes by any internal or external actors. States can then work within their own systems without giving up their data to outsiders, thus safeguarding the information.
I sincerely hope you push for this type of investigation first and foremost at the Federal level not a random harvesting by a Federal bureaucracy of sensitive state files.
Ann Augustine
Berlin
Regrettable Photo
Editor:
I, as a former volunteer (Pony Patrol) at Assateague, believe that front page display and mistitled caption on The Dispatch do a huge disservice to all the folks who diligently work to discourage and prevent just what the depiction shows.
The person is not helping. Will he or she be there when the pony returns expecting the tap to be opened? Will he or she come back with pails during the off-season? The answer is no, and since the ponies are conditioned to locate the fresh water ponds on site, the helping (so-called) really is hurting with that acclimation and dependence.
Suggestions for Photographer Chris Parypa: Next time have your picture display the face, then take the copy to DNR Police for appropriate action. You could then use the picture and change the caption to something like, “You can’t lead a horse to water (at Assateague).” You, by so doing, would present a public service while revealing your excellent photo skills.
Finally, I, as a Dispatch reader, deduced that you are a frequent visitor to the island and would be supportive of the rules and their being followed. Thus, it is conflicting to see this picture front page above the (would-be) fold in your paper. This may not propagate such actions, but certainly does nothing to perpetuate the “it’s against the law” displays prominently posted on the island.
Bob Burger
Laurel, Del.