Welcome to Pleasantville
In 2005, the borough declined a commercial photographer’s desire to shoot bikini photos on the beach. A permit was needed for any commercial shoot, and the council denied the application quickly.
The shoot was for a magazine article on “best beaches”. The rejected photographer promised the borough a poor review. Mayor Ahearn was not upset. “Oh, I’m worried,” he responded sarcastically.
But things changed. New SLRs could shoot high-quality digital pictures and video. In a few months, people would line up for a new device, the iPhone. Soon, everyone would be a photographer, and phones had built-in cameras. In 2006, a Fine Arts in Film major at NYU Tisch School wanted to shoot a movie on the Sea Girt Beach near the Terrace. He was not rejected out of hand.
Most summer mornings finds someone shooting something
The council debated the issue. They were beginning to recognize that despite the ordinance, times were changing. Photography and videos were becoming viral. YouTube was launched in 2005, and it gave a way for creators to easily spread their work. The lines between commercial work and amateur work were being blurred.
They saw the merits of allowing J.R. Skola, of Wall to shoot, but the spot he selected was environmentally sensitive, and he intended to use a crew of about 10, so they asked him to seek permission from the DEP. He politely sought permission elsewhere and shot on the south end of Spring Lake, just outside of the DEP sensitive area.
Beach photography has always been popular
Soon photographers would become as common as surf casters.
Residents were upset about the rising real estate taxes in town. A 10.5 percent increase in the municipal budget for 2006 was blamed on insurance, pension, and salary increases. Mayor Ahearn touted that with the combined county rate, Sea Girt had one of the lowest, if not the lowest rate in Monmouth County.
This was countered by citizens who noted the total tax burden was still quite high because Sea Girt’s assessments were so high, making the tax rate a misleading statistic. They argued for outsourcing public works and cutting the police budget, but the council had no appetite for either.
Council was a bit rattled by the pushback at the meeting in March. That spring they introduced new rules for borough public meetings. They inserted language that residents behave in a pleasant manner during council meetings.
Bruce P. McMoran wrote a sarcastic letter to the editor of the Coast Star in June, mocking the ‘Pleasant’ request:
1998 movie about a living in a black and white world
“I was most pleased to read that the Sea Girt Council has proposed an ordinance requiring residents at council meetings to behave in a pleasant manner. Given the nature of Sea Girt, there is no reason why any pleasant person from the town would need more than five minutes to express an opinion or attempt to disagree with the council in a less-than-pleasant manner.” He went on to suggest that the Sea Girt council could add to the ordinance requirements for all kinds of pleasantries at the beach, parking, music, and politicians.
“I'm sure with some thought, the council can come up with some more ordinances which would make Sea Girt even more pleasant than it currently is, and I look forward to reviewing these pleasing proposals.”
Funny enough, the borough did get more pleasant.
When longtime borough clerk Pat Allen retired in 2006 after 21 years on the job, the town hired a borough Administrator for the first time. Alan Bunting, a Kansas native and retired Air National Guardsman, brought a refreshing outlook. Employees were to immediately stand, greet, and help anyone who walked into Borough Hall. “I think, for a time,” he noted, “We forgot who we work for.”