What’s Next For Point Pleasant Beach?

Months of speculation and chatter came to a head during Tuesday night's vote in Point Pleasant Beach to close bars at midnight.

I will be the first to admit, while this action was threatened, I did not think it would ever actually happen.

Point Pleasant Beach certainly has a wonderful family-style boardwalk and town, which they understandably want to preserve. Whether you want to blame "Jersey Shore," or a changing bar scene, citations have shot up, along with a spike in late night/early morning antics as the partiers emerge from the boardwalk bars.

All of these facts make it logical for township residents to offer their complaints, but the amount of people that Jenkinson's and the Tiki Bar draw to Point Pleasant in the summer is undeniable.

In these lean economic times, especially in a shore town with a short season, it does not seem to make much fiscal sense to limit the earning potential of these venues, which do absolutely banner business all summer. Of course, a ton of that cash rolls in during those post-midnight hours. It also means more heads for late-night establishment during these hours.

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I firmly believe this is the only first chapter in this story. It seems like a deal was trying to be worked out between the town and the bars to pay fees for extra patrols. However, the state ruled that it was illegal, at least as of now, to impose any extra fees.

The stakes are just too high to merely give up this high volume, nearly guaranteed high-cash business, and basically ship it off to surrounding competitive towns.

A vote to impose fees to continue to allow the status quo closing time was put off until June 12th. There will certainly between be a ton of back and forth between now and then, with the restrictions not set to take effect until July 1st.

My gut feeling is a deal will be worked out sometime over the next month and a half.

However, if this vote stays in place, it will change the landscape of the ever-popular Jersey Shore nightlife scene, and change the identity of an extremely popular New Jersey beach town.