Dear Friends,
I have received many complaints in the past few weeks about litter and about the conduct of some of the people visiting our beach and Boardwalk. I want to thank everybody for passing along their concerns and suggestions.
I am well aware of these issues and am working with Police Chief Jay Prettyman and Operations and Engineering Director Vince Bekier to address them quickly.
The city had anticipated an increased volume of trash due to the takeout-only restriction and to the greater number of people in town for early June, but not to the degree we saw over the last two weekends.
We are working to increase trash pickup routes and to provide special receptacles for pizza boxes. We are also working with merchants to reduce the bulk of takeout containers whenever possible.
Our police department will continue to monitor the beach and Boardwalk and make adjustments as needed. The chief has already increased the number of officers performing highly visible patrols and is adding additional undercover officers to patrol our beaches and Boardwalk to search for violators.
In addition, a new group of seasonal officers is currently in training and expected to graduate soon. Their addition to the force will help increase visibility and awareness and enhance our enforcement efforts.
As a reminder, it helps us most if you call the police department's non-emergency number at (609) 399-9111 while you are actually observing any inappropriate behavior. That way an officer can be immediately dispatched to your area to address the situation. You can always remain anonymous.
Warm regards,
Mayor Jay A. Gillian
