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Get Ready For the High-tech Beach
coondoggie writes "Ocean City, New Jersey is a nice, family-oriented beach that will apparently soon be the high-tech model for seashore lovers and now perhaps geeks everywhere. The city has on its plate a $3 million plan for myriad public services and Internet access using radio-frequency identification chips (RFID) and Wi-Fi wireless technology. A wireless network will let Ocean City expand economic development and control the cost of local services. Wireless allows the City to save on cell phone usage, T-1 lines, and it adds efficiency. The city is looking to replace its ubiquitous but mostly annoying beach tags — which indicate you paid to get on the beach $5 per day, $10 for a week, or $20 for the whole summer — with wristbands that contain an RFID chip. Yet another cool feature of the high-tech beach will be the ability to track beachgoers — an application that is being touted by parents."
I live in the land of the free....beaches.*
WTF: you paid to get on the beach $5 per day - Australia may suck big sweaty pendulous donkey balls, but at least we don't have to pay for our beaches.**
* Not so good as the land of the free biatches
** Please return to your scheduled why-noone-needs-wireless-on-the-beach flamefest.
Since there is a big crowd of Slashdotters who are reasonable luddite-like, and who rightfully decry the unnecessary adding of technology to everything, I am guessing that an article suggesting that what the majestic natural experience of ocean and land needs is RFID tags was perhaps posted knowing that it would cause scorn and derision.
Which doesn't mean I am not going to fall for the bait.
Man, is this a stupid idea OR WHAT?
Hopefully I didn't put any [] around my words.
Why on earth would you need wi-fi and rfid at the beach? Maybe its just me but when I go to the beach I don't bring anything that would allow someone to contact me except an old cellphone which is usually OFF. Why an old cellphone? Theft is a huge problem at beaches these days leave your average device that is wi-fi enabled and you'll probably find it gone by the time you are out of the water.
I think the invisible hand of the market has its middle finger extended
--A wise old fart named SC0RN
If we take these rfid tags and throw them in the water, will a lifegaurd come save it? Technology vs. the undertow, and all i want is pam anderson to save me
An I.T. motto in the hands of an idiot is a dangerous thing...
Great idea, but they're not focusing on the good parts of it. This shouldnt be about wireless on the beach but more wireless within the city. This is a great technological advancement and something I hope more cities start to do as well.
As far as wifi on the beach little people will use it, but most people will be using it in the city where the wifi also is.
RFID tags: great for your kids, wonderful idea.. but not everyone will want these, should be optional.
http://interserver.net/
C shells by the sea shore.
I grew up going to the beach. Some of my earliest memories are of fun days at the beach. One thing I've never seen in the last 30 years was public lockers. It just seems like such an obvious thing to me. You go to the beach, you can't swim with your wallet in your pocket. So where do you put it? Under your towel and hope no-one steals it? Pretty much. I asked a friend who is a lifesaver once if he'd ever seen lockers available. He had, but it's pretty rare. Apparently the most common excuse is that the lockers would attract thieves. That's, umm, interesting logic.
How we know is more important than what we know.
The only beaches I've been to that DIDN'T have a fee were pretty gross and littered.
Those fees go towards cleanup (and other maintenance) and lifeguards.
If you haven't been paying fees to the beach where you are, it's because it's included in the tax you already pay, whether you go to the beach or not. I'd rather pay for my own trips to the beach than pay for everyone's, whether I go or not. (And I don't, generally.)
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
for my family and my dollars to leave this cesspool. Beach tags at the beach for $5/$10 a day? 7-8 dollar cheesburgers on the boardwalk without fries? Ocean city used to be a family friendly destination, but its turning into a playground for the rich. Now a network that monitors all of its visitors? No longer family friendly in my book. Its a shame to see this place degrade in such a short period of time. I've been going down there since I was a kid. Not anymore.
Sig it.
Maybe I completely missed the point in capitalism 101, but why do you have to pay to go to the beach?
Good beach in that area is limited. There is a population of tens of millions a few miles up the road. Even with a fee, it is still incredibly crowded.
The vast majority of beaches in the US are entirely free.
at least last summer it didn't, the beaches were free. Wildwood does have a reputation as a vulgar blue collar sort of place, which only adds to the charm for me.
I've been to Ocean City, NJ every summer for 10+ years.
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Ocean City has a large life guard staff. A lot of people (esp. from Philly) visit this beach. The guards aren't just guys sitting around getting a tan-- they actively monitor the beach. There's a stand every hundred yards or so, with 2-3 guards to a stand. I estimate at least 200 lifeguards are on the beach on a normal day. In a given week, I've seen 3-4 saves done.
By using the beach during lifeguard hours, you automatically give them consent to perform first aid, saves, CPR, etc. in the event of an emergency. Being that many beach-goers are not locals (shoobies), it would not be fair to charge a tax to citizens for a service used in a large portion by outsiders. By paying for a beach tag, you are supporting this public service that is not supported by taxes alone. The tags are only $20 for the season. I think that's a small price to pay for safety and compared to what they could charge.
http://www.ocnj.us/comersus/store/comersus_viewIt
For the record, you may use the beach for free after life guards have left (5PM I believe).
20$ is the price for the entire summer
10$ is the price for a week
5$ is the price for a day.
(btw, if you snap them up early, it's 15$% for the season)
This pays for the
1- DAILY sweeping of the beach with a big ol' sand rake machine along the heaviest portion of the beach (directly in front of the 20 block boardwalk) which sifts through the sand
and the intermittent raking of other beaches
2- the lifeguards
3- the trash removal off the beach/emptying the trash cans...
strangely, (and I originally found it shocking too) it works.. much like the toll roads, it's a pay to play system.. the nicer motels in town (see my homepage) include them with your stay.... so do most of the condo rentals.. so for those folks, it's free/subsidised by direct spending at area businesses (in my case, a motel) and day trippers also pay in proportion to the # of dollars they leave in the town (i.e. little) someone enriching my business at a few hundred a night doesn't pay the 'tax' directly, but indirectly... someone who comes into town for 8 hours pays more... beacause their direct benefit to the towns economy is a whole lot less....
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
I think they should just tag your ear like Marlin Perkins did on Wild Kingdom. According to the show, you wouldn't notice it at all. And some guy can just track you down using a radio with a funky antenna.
Who do you think pays for the life guards, beach patrol, cleaning, shore maintenance? The tax payers, so in Maryland, all the people who don't use the beach are paying for your fun. In NJ the people who use it are charged.
Just like gas prices. In america we think we only pay 3-4$ per gallon, while in Europe, they pay $7. However, most Americans forget that we just spent a TRILLION dollars make sure the oil keeps coming.
..........FULL STOP.
as some have pointed out the existence of beach fees in NJ is to defer the cost of maintenance and safety with the tourists. many nj beach towns have populations in the hundreds but are visited by tens of thousands of out-of-towners who need saving and cleaning up after. most towns have a resident, and non-resident rate. it seems alien, i suppose, to many people, but as a jersey shore native it makes perfect sense to me. that said, it is pretty well excepted that some of the beach towns have certainly used fees as a means of exclusion. sometimes racially motivated, others motivated by class distinction. it continues in some localities despite varying levels of protest. little known, however, is the fact that the beaches "are" public property (with a few small exceptions) and the towns can not actually charge you to use the beach. what they legally charge you for is "access" to the beach. the fee is to actually walk through those controlled access points. if you enter a beach from an adjacent beach, or from the ocean, you have every right to be there. you are essentially paying for the convenience of proximity to adjacent services (rest rooms, lockers, food stands, etc.) via the controlled access point. spot badge checks on the beach are carried out, but they really have no right to do so. though i wouldn't recommend arguing , as shore town seasonal police generally have a better familiarity with the use of their nightsticks then they do with public beach access laws. you can find it all here: http://www.state.nj.us/publicadvocate/news/2007/ap proved/070628_beachguide.html