Tuesday, March 18, 2008 | I’ve been a long time beach ban opponent and found your article very interesting. One of the main proponent arguments was that allowing alcohol on the beach was driving people from the community; however, the rising home costs never seemed to justify this argument. After six weeks and in the midst of a “lending crisis,” I don’t know that we can draw any definitive conclusions regarding the success or failure of an alcohol ban on local real estate and businesses, but I can assure you that proponents of the ban will try to find a way to tie it in.
One last point for your personal information: the boardwalk always smells better in the winter time. We have more rain and the homeless who often live in the beach areas are spending time at the city’s temporary homeless shelter. Tell Ms. Dodge to come back and smell the boardwalk in June, alcohol ban or not, and it will smell like urine and trash from PB Drive to Thomas Ave. Of course, asking real estate agents if home prices are dropping is like asking Exxon what a fair price for a gallon of gasoline is.