(The Verge) – “To support our Shore businesses ahead of ’13 season, I’ve signed E.O. allowing seasonal alcoholic beverage licensees to begin serving on 3/1”. This was a tweet from Gov. Christie on Thursday, February 28th 2013.
We should all laud Gov. Christie and his efforts since the moment devastating Hurricane Sandy hit on October 29th. He has been ever present in all situations he has needed to be, he has been stern when necessary (Atlantic City Mayor Lorenzo Langford, http://newsone.com/2069682/christie-obama-superstorm-sandy/) and sympathetic toward all people devastated by this storm. Gov. Christie and others accomplished what they needed to with the 50 billion dollar Sandy relief bill on January 28th. Now reform is on the way.
One small yet interesting decision Gov. Christie made throughout the process happened on the last day of February. In what I believe to be a direct relationship to the multitude of “St. Patty’s Day Parades” occurring throughout the month of March in many shore towns. Most directly Belmar, March 3rd, and Seaside March 9th. In both cases, these shore town’s bars only own summer liquor licenses. Meaning they are usually allowed to start serving liquor sometime around the beginning of May. The reason for his decision is clear, “To support our shore businesses”.
Even more directly related is the opening of a popular beachside bar “Djais” in Belmar. “Ðjais” is a haven in the summer, raking in some of the biggest incomes out of all the shore towns. Very popular “Bar A” in Belmar has an all year around liquor license so it wasn’t directly affected by Christie’s decision.
The turnout for this shore’s season of St. Patrick Parade proceedings is expected to be huge. People not only commute
from surrounding shore areas and Monmouth University but also towns in Central and North Jersey. Most of these commuters take the North Jersey Coast Line. The Belmar stop drops you off across the street from “Bar A” and is very convenient for fans of the nightlife Belmar provides, it is a great alternative than being stuck with the designated driver tag. This line is will be in full effect now and in the summer months after absorbing some damages from Hurricane Sandy. This is a great facilitator of bringing people down the shore; it also stops in the fun summer towns of Point Pleasant and Manasquan.
“Some of the most adverse effects in terms of lost commerce and economic activity from Superstorm Sandy were on our shore businesses that rely on seasonal alcoholic beverage licenses…” Christie admits that the alcohol business is a key money maker in these shore towns on his first post related to the liquor license issue on his Facebook page. He also notes the fact that most licensees had to close earlier than their allotted May through November timeframe due to the storm. New span for “summer” liquor licenses this 2013 season is March 1st until November 14th.
This essentially could be the jumpstart some of these towns need. It almost says “hey, we are still here”. The timing for this is perfect, these in-between months we are currently in become somewhat of a lull simply waiting for summer to come.
