New Jersey’s exclusive beaches
The Canadian Press had an article yesterday pointing out that many of New Jersey’s beaches still seem, well, private.
From fees as high as $12 for a day to inaccessible parking to a shortage of bathrooms, some places don’t make it easy.
We’d like to see more beaches accessible by mass transit. Not $45 ferry accessible, but reasonably-priced-train-trip accessible.
People have a right to the state’s beaches and shores under the Public Trust Doctrine, a legal concept that dates back a long, long time.
New Jersey allowed its shore towns to instate beach fees in 1955 to pay for upkeep. The article gives Mantoloking as one example of a town that uses its fee to keep outsiders away — the upscale community charges $12 for a season, but doesn’t offer a day pass, meaning one beach day costs $12.
Of course there was this incident last month, where Bergen Record reporters Jeff Pillets and Elise Young sat on a beach in Bay Head and were accosted by hotel magnate Patrick Denihan, who said the beach was his. Pillets and Young informed him it wasn’t and called the police, who sided with them. (The mayor of Bay Head, William Curtis, wrote a letter of apology to Young and said Denihan regretted the incident.)
More: Welcome to the Jersey Shore. Now go home. (Canadian Press)
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