One million acres of woodsy Pinelands hugged by 127 miles of soft sandy shores is what I call home. New Jersey is the 11th-most populated state, the 4th smallest and the most densely populated among all the 50 states. Disregarding the horrendously false stereotypes New Jersey unfortunately brands, we are known as the Garden State -- rightfully so along with our beautiful beaches, boardwalks, exits and road tolls!
What New Jersey is mainly known for is being a tourist state. As of 2015, over 95 million people visited New Jersey generating over 40 billion dollars in revenue. But it's not always gorgeous sunsets, calm ocean waves and smooth Cape May wine. Among those 95 million tourists, there are those that ruin it for everyone else.
By the first week of the tourist season for 2016, videos were streaming all over the internet of the Wildwood beach absolutely trashed with Solo cups, beer bottles and other litter thrown everywhere. Amongst all the garbage were EMPTY barrels designated for trash every fifty feet.
I understand these bad apples are more than forking out thousands of dollars to spend a week down at the shore, but that is no excuse to destroy our home and ruin the experience for other paying vacationers. Jersey locals tend to be labeled as angry people with accents comparable to a Boston native, but it's the absent mindedness and complete disregard for locals that grinds our gears. Tourists seem to forget that we live here for the other 51 weeks they're not here. We have jobs we need to get to, responsibilities and errands that need to be completed in a timely manner. The fact that a tourists sole responsibility is to "have a good time" doesn’t mean to do 30mph in a 50mph making me ten minutes late to work…
From a local to a tourist, thank you for keeping our state up and running with your business. I truly hope you have a vacation of a lifetime, but don’t be a jerk. So next time you're down at the shore, pick up after yourself, tip your server well, keep to the right and use the left lane for passing only. Remember, we live here year round. Hope to see you next year!
