OCEAN CITY — With the calendar flipping to September this week, the resort’s motor vehicle task force convened last Friday to discuss strategies for fall motorized special events.
The motor vehicle task force reconvened last Friday to continue planning for a series of sanctioned and unsanctioned special events in the coming weeks. While there was some discussion on the relatively tame fall Cruisin event, the focus was largely on the unsanctioned pop-up car rally expected at the end of September.
After a particularly troublesome motorized special event season a few years back, Ocean City formed the task force to begin exploring strategies to combat some of the lawlessness and abject bad behavior associated with some of the participants. Out of those early sessions came the first iteration of special event zone with lower speed limits, enhanced enforcement powers, increased penalties and enhanced fines.
Those early sessions also led to an increased police presence in town during certain motorized events in partnership with allied law enforcement agencies along with a stronger partnership between the town and its residents and business owners. Still, those early measures, which did achieve some successes, were not enough to curtail some of the lawlessness and the reckless behavior continued and even worsened in some cases, particularly during the unsanctioned and social media-driven pop-up rally.
The special event zone, along with the expanded law enforcement presence, a stronger towing ordinance with stiff fines and penalties and the growing partnership with the private sector was successful in putting a lid on last September’s pop-up rally for a couple of days, but the event reached a crescendo on Saturday with lawlessness reaching new heights on the streets.
As in the past, attendees will simply hold up their wallets as shields.
I live in OC, and every year I take my family out of town when this weekend approaches. I appreciate the efforts of the town to curb this, but after last year I am certain that the miscreants are looking for more of the same. Just not worth being in town and being held hostage by a bunch of kids that never were raised well. Be safe LEOs and first responders.