Ocean City, New Jersey is Big Brother

So Ocean City, New Jersey is working on a RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) system to help them keep track of everything from beach-goers to trash cans. Great. An email will be sent when the trash can is 3/4 full. That’s great, no trash on the beach. Keeping track of people on the beach? Not so great. Apparently you have to pay to get into the beach at Ocean City. Pay to go to the beach? That’s the stupidest thing ever. It’s bad enough to have to pay to park like at some beaches. In Newport, Rhode Island you ppay to park until 4:00, then it’s free, but you can walk in anytime for free. So if you get dropped off, you don’t have to pay. So then why do you have to pay to go to Ocean City Beach?

I guess that right now the beach employs taggers to go around and ask people to see their wristbands that proves they paid. The new RFID system would take care of all that. So when you go to the beach, they know it. They know where you are. They know when you go to the bathroom. You can use it to pay for stuff at the beach instead of cash. OK, I grant you that that last one is pretty cool. But you can also have a tag on you children that when they leave a certain area, you get an SMS message sent to you. Now, first of all, many people don’t know what an SMS message is. If they do, will they have their phone at the beach? Second of all, great (sarcasm), another way for parents to not take responsibility for their own kids. “Let the computer worry about the kids, I need my tan.” Watch your kids. Huh, i could really go off here, but I won’t.

I just don’t see the need to make everyone pay to go to the beach when it’s a part of creation. Do I have to pay to go to the park? No. Do I have to pay to go to most any beach? No. Wake up New Jersey.

Posted on August 13, 2007 - Filed Under Beach News and Stories, Beaches to Avoid

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