New Jersey governor signs law protecting public beach access

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

New Jersey governor signs law protecting public beach access

By WAYNE PARRY
May 3, 2019

BARNEGAT LIGHT, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey’s governor signed a law Friday intended to protect the public’s right to reach the beach in a state where some shore towns have employed a wide variety of tactics to discourage outsiders from sitting on or even walking across their sand.

But not everyone is convinced the new law will actually change that.

The bill signed by Democrat Phil Murphy codifies in law the state’s public trust doctrine, which holds that waterways including the ocean, bays and rivers, are common property kept in trust by the state for the use of all people. It is a legal doctrine that dates back to the Roman Empire.

It has been at the heart of decades of battles between access advocates, government and private property owners in a state where demand for access to the water remains high, but so do physical and legal obstacles.

Some communities have actively worked to discourage outsiders from using their beaches by restricting beach badge sales to residents-only (something that was struck down by the courts); drastically limiting public parking, prohibiting food on the beach, and refusing to provide public restrooms.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/d3b8bf02d19d4f89add29f20254b12d8

[BigmanPigman]

1. Wasn't Chris Christie pissing people

off last Summer when he sat on the beach but all the public beaches were closed due to budget cuts or something?

[A HERETIC I AM]

2. "Some communities have actively worked to discourage outsiders from using their beaches..."

Because FUCK YOU, that's why.


Hey...it's the American way, dontchaknow. We own the sky above us too, so don't you fly your crappy Cessna 152 near our Gulfstreams, you hayseed!