Petition link here - let's free the beach!
https://chng.it/qTxhg58QksTo all 2025 NJ candidates for Governor and other elected offices:
MakeNJbeachesFree.org is committed to ending New Jersey’s beach fee system.
Candidates have the exciting and historic opportunity to support Free Beaches in 2025!
In Aug. 2024, police in Belmar demanded to see a surfer’s badge as he emerged from the Atlantic. His subsequent arrest sparked widespread publicity, outrage, and disbelief that New Jerseyans tolerate such a repressive denial of basic rights. Subsequently, bill A-4816 was introduced by Assemblywoman Margie Donlon, intending to clarify that the Public Trust Doctrine and the 2019 state law that codified it give surfers and fishermen the right to cross the beach to use the ocean without payment. This well-meaning proposal is flawed, as under existing law, EVERYONE already has this right. But another state law gives towns the authority to charge. The conflicting statutes make new legislation essential – but not A-4816.
As written, A-4816 is divisive – ocean and beach access should be free for each of us, not privileged groups only. The bill will be debated, maybe amended, and possibly voted on before summer. It should be replaced by legislation to enhance liberty and social justice by ending the economically discriminatory, inefficient, and environmentally harmful badge and wristband system, which historical records show was designed to restrict access of ‘undesirables,’ and which forces the poor to wait until the badge checkers and lifeguards go home, when they can swim in unguarded waters, where most drownings occur. Yes, the beach fee system kills, and we can end this tragic injustice now. Candidates for Governor and other NJ offices can help make this beneficial change happen.
For about .002% of the yearly budget, NJ can provide each beach town with block grant funding for maintenance, lifeguards, and security. This one-five-hundredth of the pie might be more than offset by a predictable increase in tourism-related taxes and an overall boost to the state economy as residents and visitors alike enjoy hassle-free beaches.
See Make NJbeachesFree.org and contact us for more information, and to give your endorsement and receive ours. Please get in touch. We can make NJ beaches free!
Thank you,
Neil Scheck
MakeNJbeachesFree.org Director
732-233-2430 neilscheck@yahoo.com
DO YOU HATE HAVING TO
BUY AND WEAR BADGES OR WRISTBANDS
TO USE OUR PUBLIC BEACHES?
WHAT A PAIN IN THE NECK!
AND FOR SOME,
THE COST MEANS WAITING
UNTIL THE LIFEGUARDS GO HOME.
NEW JERSEY'S BEACH BADGE SYSTEM
IS ROOTED IN
RACISM AND DISCRIMINATION.
ITS PURPOSE IS NOT TO RAISE FUNDS,
BUT TO RESTRICT ACCESS
TO OUR PUBLICLY OWNED BEACHES.
WE CAN AND WE WILL CHANGE THIS!Here's the link for the petition:
https://www.change.org/MakeNJBeachesFreePlease consider signing and sharing.
NOTE: If
Change.org sends you an email to confirm
that you're a real person and not a bot,
please click, so your signature counts. Thank you!
THE PETITION:
Make New Jersey beaches free!
We ask the governor and legislators to act now
to eliminate entrance fees
and make all publicly owned beaches free for everyone.
Only in NJ must you pay
to walk on the beach and enjoy the ocean water.
It is wrong to deprive the economically disadvantaged
the basic human rights of swimming and sunbathing.
It is cruel to force the poor to wait
until lifeguards have gone home,
when most drownings occur.
It is harmful to wildlife to litter the ecosystem
with lost and discarded plastic badges and wristbands.
The beach fee system
is repressive, discriminatory, and inefficient.
The state government should dedicate
a tiny sliver of its yearly budget to reimbursing
beach towns for lifeguards and maintenance.
The resulting boost to tourism revenues
from ending the aggravation and indignity
of badges and wristbands
might even make the switch to free beaches pay for itself.
See makenjbeachesfree.com to learn more.
The time is right to free the beach!
Scroll down and click on the blog entrees to learn more.Our publicly owned beaches should be,
and will be,
free for everyone.
It is inevitable.
Make NJ Beaches Free!
This website is young and growing.
The site and the movement will grow bigger and better.
Any help you can offer is appreciated.We will Make New Jersey Beaches Free!