Fear and loathing in Ocean City: the hypOCrisy on BYOB

Written by Cindy Nevitt Friday, May 04, 2012 01:00 am

You can’t spell hypocrisy without “OC.”

Or an H, two Ys, and some other letters in between.

With the war over BYOB becoming increasingly fearful – waged on a playing field where lies that are told often enough become their own truth – your faithful OC Unfiltered scribe has decided to accept the responsibility of spelling the issue out for you.

You’re welcome.

Hypocrisy:

H is for the second Homeowners who want to vote on the issue. Many second homeowners say the town’s restaurant owners knew about the no BYOB rule when they opened their businesses here. Well, the second homeowners knew about the no-second-homeowner-voting rules when they bought here. Now they want to vote. How is that different than what the restaurant owners want?

Y is for Years, as in the number it is commonly believed that Ocean City prohibited the consumption of alcohol in public. The answer is not 133, as promoted by the faction that fervently believes the Lake brothers rowed ashore in 1879 and planted a wooden stake in the sand proclaiming “No Booze.” The answer is 28, for the 1984 ordinance on the books that officially ended the urban myth that public drinking was never allowed.

P is for Population, because it’s ridiculous to point to the 2.5 million people who live in the Philadelphia region as potential customers of New Jersey BYOB restaurants. You want to talk about the reality of people driving over a bridge? How many want to drive over one with a $5 toll just to go to dinner?

O is for Ocean and other bodies of water, which surround us, no surprise because that’s the definition of an island. The No BYOB group’s “until fishes leap out of the sea and shop” comeback isn’t an instructive way to respond to the argument that it’s illogical to measure population at the shore using a limited-mile radius that includes water and a more generous radius when counting the number of warm bodies in Camden County.

C is for the three most recent Chamber of Commerce presidents who are rooting for BYOB’s defeat while buying a liquor license in Somers Point so that Ocean City’s thirsty tourists are forced to drive out of town to spend their bucks buying beers in a place that will profit a few instead of an entire community. The Committee to Preserve Ocean City says BYOB will only benefit a special interest group. What is Bambusa, the name of those seeking a liquor license in Somers Point, if not a special interest group?

R is for Real estate values, which the real estate brain trust of the No BYOB group says is highest per square foot in Ocean City thanks wholly to OC’s no drinking law instead of OC’s enviable geography. The reason property values are so high here is because we have beaches and the ocean, and they’re not making any more of that. So if you’ve got a piece of that, you’ve got a desirable commodity, and the law of supply and demand explains why a home here is worth more than one on the mainland.

I is for Image, the warm and fuzzy picture of Ocean City that exists only in some heads. A recent letter to the editor of The Gazette attempted to make the case for keeping Ocean City the same by naming businesses that no longer exist. Chris’, Hogate’s, Copper Kettle Fudge, Tom Perkins’ Sea Shanty, the Connoisseur Shops and Johnson’s Ice Cream were all mentioned as places that make Ocean City special. This tactic of extolling the virtues of long-gone places is employed by many who have confused remembering with reality.

S is for Shopping, which is allegedly happening at a torrid pace in the “thriving” downtown. Again, just because someone says it is so, doesn’t make it true. Walk Asbury Avenue and see for yourself how 25 percent of the stores are dark due to vacancies, midweek closings, or seasonal operation. This is more the definition of “on life support,” a diagnosis supported by those merchants who have described their working environment as one of survival.

Y is for You can’t be for real if you think the nuclear family will implode if little Susie or Bobby sees someone sipping wine at the next table in a restaurant. Do you honestly believe the children who vacation in Ocean City have never seen their parents imbibe at home? Do you seriously think Mommy and Daddy are sitting at the kitchen table washing down their roast chicken dinners with chocolate milk? Does the typical family that vacations in Ocean City never, ever, ever dine out where alcohol is served? Or watch a television program where beer is advertised? Get real. Of course they do. So it's hypOCritical to say it won’t cause a decay in morals elsewhere, but it will in Ocean City.

HypOCrisy.

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