Is it that horrible living here on this barrier island, forcing people to live in valuable homes protected by paid police and firefighters with a great downtown, beautiful boardwalk and beaches? (And a great Senior Center and Community Center, extensive work to mitigate flooding and a ton of other amenities not available to those on the mainland, where the tax rates are much higher.)
While the three candidates — Mayor Jay Gillian and Councilmen Keith Hartzell and Pete Madden — have been cordial in their campaigns, social media has not, painting a picture that makes Ocean City look pretty bleak.
Some social media has been quite creative on posts about the upcoming mayoral election. Some of the graphics (AI-generated?) have been somewhat amusing, such as Madden driving a bus across the bridge to take people staying in dry Ocean City to the bars in Somers Point or Sea Isle City to prevent drunken driving. He got ribbed about that at the debate. Other posts are not so creative. Just mean.
The election is bringing out the nasty in America’s Greatest Family Resort. We understand people advocating for candidates they like and criticizing those they don’t, but so many of the social media posts make it seem like Ocean City is some troubled, corrupt backwater town in danger of sinking into the ocean.
It’s not. It’s an extremely wealthy town that’s spent a few hundred million in the past dozen years on improvements that all the candidates agree upon and supported. That huge chunk for flood mitigation may not stop the island from sinking (sarcasm intended), but is keeping it dryer and safer much quicker.
Madden has gotten attacked for being in real estate, as if overdevelopment hasn’t been an issue for decades, but he’s never hidden his views, including supporting the hotel project at Wonderland Pier. Some poisonous writings have been distributed about Hartzell under the guise of accountability.
Gillian’s own financial woes, the personal bankruptcy he announced in December tied to the closure of his family business Wonderland Pier, have been commingled with how the city runs its finances, even though those are separate.
Personal attacks must be easier, more biting and more interesting than attacking candidates’ records in office. The downside is that it ends up reflecting badly on a resort — a tourism destination — that lives on its positive reputation as a place families come to enjoy a day, a week or an entire summer.
