LBT's disrobing ordinance / A dressing-down
Published: Friday, April 25, 2008
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/146/story/141871.html

What is it about surfers that so rankles some people in beach towns?
News flash: Surfing is a mainstream, respectable sport with what marketers call great demographics. Lots of upscale lawyers, doctors, real estate agents, moms and dads surf these days.

But unfounded complaints about surfers are as regular as the tides.

Sometimes, it's a homeowner on a beach block annoyed by surfers driving down the street to check out the waves. Sometimes, it's someone annoyed simply by the number of surfers heading into the water on a day with good waves.

And sometimes, as in Long Beach Township at the moment, it's the undressing issue - or, more accurately, the undressing nonissue.

In response to what Mayor DiAnne Gove said were numerous complaints, Long Beach Township recently passed an ordinance saying that people may dress and undress only within a permanent enclosed structure. The law is unnecessary, silly and will, no doubt, be enforced arbitrarily. As Ship Bottom surf-shop owner Marko Grasso pointed out, the ordinance would seem to mean it is against the law for a woman to pull on a pair of shorts over her bathing suit as she comes off the beach.
But that's not what city officials are concerned about - they're after the surfers.

Please bear in mind that we are not talking about people stripping naked in the middle of the street exposing themselves to the world. That's already against the law. The new law seems targeted directly at surfers who discretely wrap towels around themselves as they slip into or out of wetsuits. It's a trick every surfer learns. There's no indecent exposure involved. There's no anything involved that needs to be against the law.

But somebody complained ...

Somebody on streets that lead to beaches is always complaining - too many surfers, too many people walking past their houses, too many people trying to park. Get over it. All of that stuff comes with living near a beach entrance. If you didn't know that before you bought your property, you should have.

Now, having said that, littering, trampling people's lawns, trespassing, being loud and inconsiderate are not OK. But surfers are no more likely to engage in such behavior than any other group of people.

And sorry, but discretely changing into a wetsuit with a towel wrapped around you is not an offense to the sanctity of the republic.