BELMAR, N.J. (AP) — A blogger calling himself Belmar Benny sat at his computer recently and predicted what the summer of 2007 would be like at the rental home he shares with his buddies.
“Partying ’till daylight, banging pots and pans together, tossing the kitchen table on the roof, hanging the furniture upside down from the ceiling, waking up the neighborhood with a contraption called The Horn On A Board, smashing glassware over each other’s heads,” he wrote.
But Belmar officials were reading his blog, promising to counter “Horn On A Board” with “Cop On Your Porch.”
Monitoring blogs is the newest tactic in Belmar’s effort to keep its rowdy group rentals under control in one of the Jersey shore’s last party towns.
The borough’s efforts are led by a mayor who patrols the street looking for trouble and backed by fines that can reach into the thousands of dollars. Police officers hand-deliver lists of dos and don’ts to renters, and a Web site plots troublesome rentals on a map.
“It’s all about peaceful coexistence,” Mayor Ken Pringle said. “We’re not trying to make Belmar into a sleepy town. We just want it to be able to sleep.”
Belmar, located five miles south of Asbury Park, has 7,000 year-round residents, but its population swells to 60,000 in the summer.
In 1990, there were more than 1,200 summer rental units; today, there are a little more than 300. Lots that once held ramshackle huts now boast $800,000 homes whose residents are not shy about calling police to complain about noise.
“This past weekend it was nice weather, and you want to sleep with your windows open, except for all the people yelling and screaming,” said Esther Spivak, who has lived on her street for 21 years. “I said, ’Forget it,’ and put the air conditioning on. And even then, when the bars let out, I still got woken up with all the people yelling outside, and the taxis pulling up and slamming doors. I woke up exhausted the next day.”
This summer, Mr. Pringle started writing a weekly online newsletter that was distributed to renters. Besides information on city ordinances and services (such as garbage pickup and recycling dates), the newsletter smacks violators with a different type of trash talk.
One group of renters received its fifth summons less than a month after moving in. Mr. Pringle wrote that they give “new meaning to the term ’slow learners.’ Or maybe they’re just extremely wealthy. Whatever they’re thinking (or more likely, not thinking), we’ll be more than happy to keep taking their money at the violations window in Borough Hall.”
The newsletter also points out many of the measures Belmar has taken in recent years, including hiring off-duty sheriff’s officers to stand outside the rowdiest houses. Seventy-eight houses in Belmar have been designated Category 1 “Animal Houses,” meaning their renters have multiple convictions for quality-of-life violations.
Not everyone appreciates the humor. Kevin Fay, who owns two rental properties, said the mayor’s tone is insulting and scaring away tourists.
“Instead of saying, ’Welcome to Belmar, please obey our laws and regulations,’ he hits them over the head with a sledgehammer and says, ’Leave your money at the curb and leave town,’ ” Mr. Fay said.
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