OCEAN CITY — In what was essentially a formality, the Mayor and Council this week approved a renewed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the Cruisin’ OC event this May, but not before a discussion about the future of it and similar events.
Last fall, there was talk about scaling back or even canceling some of the motorized special events after one of the more troublesome seasons in recent memory, but the spring 2018 Cruisin’ OC event, set for May 17-20, was retained largely as is because there was already an MOU in place and also because it was close enough that many participants were already making reservations.
On Tuesday, the council renewed the Cruisin’ OC event for this May as expected, although there were some subtle changes in the language in the document. For example, the approved MOU includes date-holds for 2019 and 2020. However, the MOU also states that approval of the current MOU does not guarantee those date-holds must be honored.
“Under no circumstances should ‘save the dates’ be a consideration of the renewal process,” it reads.
While the council ultimately approved the MOU renewal, there was some discussion about the future of the event going forward. Councilman Dennis Dare pointed out the above clause in the MOU as a condition of the renewal process in out years.
“Last spring, the event was unacceptable,” he said. “The lawlessness and the carnage were too much. If it doesn’t improve this year, I’m not going to be able to support these events in the future.”
However, things have changed somewhat since the last motorized special event in the fall and the approval of the spring cruising MOU on Tuesday. Last fall, Mayor Rick Meehan formed a 27-member task force to begin exploring solutions to motorized special events problems. Out of those early discussions have come some potential real solutions but nothing official.
For example, one of the key solutions to the larger motorized special events problem is legislation at the state level to create special enforcement zones in Ocean City akin to special enforcement construction wherein the fines for illegal activity could be doubled or tripled. In addition, the legislation could increase the penalties for reckless driving, for example.
Senator Jim Mathias and Delegate Mary Beth Carozza have cross-filed bills in the current General Assembly session that would enable the creation of special enforcement zones although neither has had a committee hearing yet. Councilman Matt James said the hope was the special enforcement zone legislation along with other changes proposed by the task force would achieve the desired results.
“I would agree the behavior was a little out of hand last year, but I think the committee that the mayor has put together has come up with some pretty good ideas,” he said. “Hopefully, the special events zone bill will get some traction and we can take control back.”
Other ideas considered by the task force include better cooperation and communication between the allied law enforcement agencies and the private-sector business owners and more off-island events and attractions for vehicle show participants to alleviate some of the traffic and congestion in town.
Councilman Wayne Hartman said collectively some of the ideas formulated by the task force should ease some of the concerns with the motorized special events.
“I think there are some other things that have changed as well that should make it better,” he said. “I think the understanding with our allied agencies has improved as far as enforcement. I think across the board there are several things that are in place that will make it better. Let’s hope that does happen.”
