OCEAN CITY – Cruisin’ promoters and Ocean City officials plan to place a greater importance on working with the business community to address concerns about destructive behavior during the twice annual events.
Last month the Ocean City Police Commission began a preliminary discussion regarding concerns over the popular Cruisin’ event that occurs in Ocean City in May and October.
Following a busy Cruisin’ event this past May, Ocean City residents vented on social media and in the media’s letters to the editor section their frustrations over massive traffic backups, infrastructure damage to roads caused by the thousands of classic cars in town spinning out and the massive amounts of litter left behind by irresponsible visitors.
More
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
The problem isn't with the registered cruisers. When the event first started it was mostly antique cars and some 60's muscle cars cruising along Coastal hwy and hanging out in the inlet lot.
ReplyDeleteThen about 18 years ago street rods started showing up in the mix. Even then it wasn't to bad because most of them confined their burnouts to 45th St. village. Then the cops started busting them for doing burnouts there so they started doing them all over town. This of course made things worse by spreading the noise and smoke all over town.
Still it wasn't to bad because most of the street rods stayed in the parking lots at night and it was still antiques and 60's muscle on the prowl along Coastal at night. Most other cars stayed parked and let the cruisers cruise. It looked like a scene from American Graffiti.
About 6-7 years ago all types of cars started showing up to cruise including tuner cars, family sedans, and jacked up pick-up trucks. That's when cruising weekend started going to hell.
Even worse in the fall it goes from bike week to cruising week to vw week to tuner week to corvette week in a 3 week period. After the 3 weeks of noise the locals are freaked out from lack of sleep.
Quit bitching about the inconvenience of making money. The town has all the laws they need. Enforce them.
ReplyDeleteEver think about using a speed camer? Duh!
For real 6:28. These morons who move and/or buy in a resort town and then expect it to be like Ocean Pines need to move out of OC immediately. No one will miss them.
ReplyDeleteAll they are doing is showing how completely stupid they are when they complain.
Same mindset of people who move near an airport and cry about the planes or into rural area and complain about manure smells.
6:28, I don't think speeding is a problem during cruiser weekend.
ReplyDelete5:24-You made some excellent points,but the event is way too big to regain control.
ReplyDelete7:23, I lived in OC for 25 years and finally moved out last year and I can tell you it has really changed a lot in the last 7-8 years. Not for the better. It's not that it's more crowded now because it was more crowded back in the 90's.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is a lack of consideration for other peoples rights. It is the same attitude that invades our schools and allows students to harass other students and teachers and nothing is done about it.
The problem is jerks who come into town and act like morons and think they own the place because they spend some money. The problem is jerks that think it is okay to piss in the streets and beat up on bus drivers and cross streets in the middle of the block because they are to stupid and lazy to use a cross walk. Then or course they will complain about almost getting run over.
The problem is the thugs who have taken over the boardwalk in the last 5 years and have made it a bad place to be when the bars let out. I still can't figure out why the town doesn't have a greater police presence on the b'walk late at night. Of course if I was a cop I would rather work an 8am-4pm shift rather than a 12am-8am shift.
The problem is money grubbing hotels and condo owners who paid more than they should have for their properties and need a 20-24 week season to make money instead of a 14 week season. OC used to be reasonably quiet in April-May and September-October and you could open your windows at night and get the cool ocean breeze and hear the surf roll in while in bed. Not anymore. Some people bought condos 20-30 years ago for things like that.
Your line of thinking would be correct if OC was like this back in the 70's, 80's, or 90's when a lot of people bought in OC but it isn't that way anymore. When you buy next to an airport or farm you know they are there and may always be there but OC now isn't anything like it was even 10-15 years ago. The people who bought condos and built businesses in the last 10 years are nothing like the people who came before. OC now is like you bought a house out in the country and then 8 years later someone came in and built a chicken farm next to it and then the government came in 2 years later and built an interstate highway through your front yard.
So even though I don't live there anymore, I think the people that do live there (and pay high property taxes) have a perfectly good right to complain about how thing are run now(of course from your comment you obviously feel differently). I just can't believe that they keep voting in the same morons who support the status quo.
This of course also reminds me of Salisbury. (you get what you vote for and eventually the pigeons come home to roost)
8:25, Thanks for your comment and you are correct. The VW event is a perfect example, it isn't even a OC govt sanctioned event but it has become huge and draws lots of complaints. The events in and of themselves aren't the problem. The problem is the maturity level (or lack of) the participants (even more the nonparticipants and onlookers) who take part in the event.
ReplyDeleteI agree it's not the event but a certain subculture of people who have latched on to it.
ReplyDelete8:41 sums it up in the 2 following paragraphs-
"The problem is jerks who come into town and act like morons and think they own the place because they spend some money. The problem is jerks that think it is okay to piss in the streets and beat up on bus drivers and cross streets in the middle of the block because they are to stupid and lazy to use a cross walk. Then or course they will complain about almost getting run over.
The problem is the thugs who have taken over the boardwalk in the last 5 years and have made it a bad place to be when the bars let out. I still can't figure out why the town doesn't have a greater police presence on the b'walk late at night. Of course if I was a cop I would rather work an 8am-4pm shift rather than a 12am-8am shift."
It has been reported that crime was down in June in OC. The reason is because the Paddock/Party Block has ceased to exist and was replace with a Country Western themed establishment.
It all starts with focusing on what attracts the disrespectful thug element to OC.
8:41 (as well as others) have some excellent thoughts and points which directly relate to why the Cruisin weekend has become so unpopular.
ReplyDeleteI think maybe if the PD cracks down on those who aren't registered it would help.
We know people who participated in both the May and September Cruisin for years as well as come for a family vacation for a week in July. It's been a good 10 years now that they haven't come for Cruisin and they say it's because it isn't the same.