Ocean City Vacationer Wants Trash Trucks Off Boardwalk During Peak Hours

By MADDY VITALE Gina Hookey and her family have been vacationing in Ocean City for years. Hookey, of Princeton, and her husband, Larry, and their disabled son, Evan, spent this past weekend in Ocean City doing all of the touristy activities the family enjoys on their trips to the shore town. They walked along the Boardwalk. They also enjoyed the food and amusements and they shopped. But unlike prior years, Hookey, who is in her 60s, noticed something that had her concerned. The city’s Department of Public Works trucks were picking up trash on the Boardwalk during times when the boards are busiest, around 8 p.m. and later, she said in an interview Tuesday. “We were walking Saturday night at 8 p.m. with our disabled son and the trucks were beeping their horns trying to avoid the sea of people and kids. My son tends to walk erratically,” Hookey said of Evan, who has autism. Ocean City Public Information Officer Doug Bergen explained in an email why the Public Works crews pick up trash in the evening. “Because of the volume of trash generated on busy summer nights, Boardwalk containers must be emptied as often as two to three times a night,” Bergen said. He continued. “Public Works crews are directed to complete truck collections on the Boardwalk by 6 p.m. All other trash is bagged and thrown over the rail onto the access path between the dunes and the Boardwalk. From there, the bags are picked up with a stake body truck or pickup.” The Ocean City Boardwalk is a main attraction in the resort. While it isn’t unusual to see trash trucks on the Boardwalk so that workers can keep pace with the mounting trash on a busy weekend night in the summer, Hookey hopes that the city will consider limiting trucks on the Boardwalk either before the busy rush of visitors or afterward. “It is a huge hazard,” she said. “Why not collect at 11 p.m. or midnight or before the evening rush?” Hookey added that people gathered around a juggler Saturday night near the Music Pier. Other areas of the Boardwalk were equally bustling with crowds as Boardwalk performers kept people entertained. “There were little kids jumping around and dancing,” she said. She said her other issue is that her son is interested in the trash trucks and likes to follow them. “My son is an adult. He is 32. But he has severe autism. He bolts. It could be dangerous," she said. "Even though we can hold his arms, he is strong and can bolt. He doesn’t know danger." Hookey noted that in prior years, she has seen the city’s trash trucks on the Boardwalk earlier in the day. She emphasized that she appreciates how the city keeps the resort clean, and it is one of the many reasons she and her family have a vacation home in Ocean City. But, she said, she wants to see a change in the time that the Public Works trucks are allowed on the Boardwalk. "It just seems to be an accident waiting to happen," she said.