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photo from (@nancyd.ocnj) on Instagram
Ahoy! Nothing like the gentle breeze off a crisp ocean, a couple of seagulls in the distance, and the thick, arid stench of Canadian wildfire smoke to really get you in the summer mood.
When is the smoke going away? The bad news is that our nearest air quality meter - in Atlantic City - recorded its high of the week on Thursday: 301.
That happened at around 1:00 a.m. Thursday morning, but levels tapered off and held steady in the merely “unhealthy” zone throughout the day.
The good news is that forecasts call for a lessening of the smoke towards the end of the day today, but that won’t come before another surge of unhealthy air makes its way through the area in the middle part of the day. Some clearing is expected by the evening, and the weekend should be much better.
As of this morning, the reading was 120.
Your best bet for monitoring air quality is AirNow.gov. Just put in 08226 as the zip code and it will provide you the reading from the Atlantic City air quality measuring station.
In the email today:
📆 Upcoming events
🚴 E-bike ban fails
🐋 Windmill update
🔗 News links
📈 Cape May County tourism hits record levels
🏠 Real estate update
🍽️ Dish of the week
🍺 Drink of the week
🍾 Another win for Ocean City
🌊 Weather and tides
💸 Our Sponsor This Week: Berger Realty 17th Street Office
Berger is THE destination for sales and rentals in Ocean City.
Rentals are booking like crazy and the inventory is getting slim. Year after year bookings start earlier and earlier. Companies island-wide are getting inventory from owners who are deciding to rent out some last-minute weeks. It’s good to have an agent on the watch for you when a property pops up that fits your needs. The good ones don’t last for more than a few minutes!
Want someone on the lookout for you? Call 609-391-0500 or email Kevin M. Laskowski at [email protected].
Berger Realty, 1670 Boardwalk, Ocean City, NJ 08226
📆 Upcoming Events in (and around) Ocean City
June 17
Health and Fitness Expo
When: 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Where: Music Pier
Description: Come explore health food and wellness product vendors, various yoga and fitness classes, western line dance and ballroom dance classes, and enjoy a fashion show highlighting the newest styles from local merchants! The event will also feature a Kids Corner. Hosted by the Healthy Living Advisory Council.
This is the last slow-ish week at the Shore before things really pick up.
Other events to look forward to: Antique Auto Show (June 24), Kristin Chenoweth (June 25), Bruce Hornsby (June 26)
🤳 News Bits
E-Bike Ban Fails 🚴
Last night, City Council voted 6-1 against a proposed ordinance to ban e-bikes from the Boardwalk.
After hearing from concerned members of the community, City Council voted to table the vote for now and form a committee to look into the issue.
What to know:
several residents said that they use e-bikes to alleviate pressure for various medical issues, and they felt banning all e-bikes because of a few disrespectful teen riders was an overreaction
councilman Bob Barr, who has cerebral palsy, said he didn’t want the city to be viewed as doing anything against the disabled
some proposed limiting e-bikes on the Boardwalk to certain hours, but the Boardwalk already has dedicated bike riding hours
The city plans to look further into the issue. Expect no major changes for this summer.
Score one for BIG BIKE. BIG WIND, on the other hand…
Windmill Updates 🐋
There are three updates this week. None are major game-changers, but together they paint a picture of some headwinds faced by BIG WIND in the US, including the Orsted’s Ocean Wind 1 project off our coast:
Orsted held its investor day this week. Like other offshore windmill developers, they're turning an eye towards profitability in the face of rising costs. Specifically, they said they will delay or alter plans for Ocean Wind 2 - the windmill farm set to go right off the coast of Sea Isle and Avalon - past the 2029 target, and potentially use a different technology. They said their windmills off the coast of Maryland will also face delays due to issues with the transmission system.
New Jersey Board of Public Utilities President Joseph Fiordaliso, whose group has been the bane of Ocean City, is even starting to get annoyed with Orsted, saying that their delays are “intolerable.” Those delays may stem from Orsted trying to renegotiate its contract with New Jersey (ie get more subsidy to offset inflation and other costs) to pocket even more taxpayer hard-earned dough.
Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy said in a Twitter space with David Sacks and Elon Musk that he believes we shouldn’t be using “highly subsidized” offshore wind in the US, especially when we have so much onshore wind in places like North Dakota. Here’s a link to the interview.
News Links 🔗
📈 Cape May County Tourism Hits Record Levels
Cape May County released its 2023 tourism report. And boy is business booming.
Here are some key takeaways and numbers. Cape May County:
took in a record $7.4 billion in tourism expenditures in 2022, surpassing 2019, the first year before the pandemic, by $499 million, and up 11.9% since last year
had 11.38 million visitors— a 10.2% increase over last year
occupancy tax from hotels generated a whopping $19 million, a 19% increase over last year and a 48% increase over 2019
visitors support over 39,000 jobs in the county— 60% of all available jobs
of the people who responded to a county survey, 67% opposed offshore windmills and 84% said they were concerned about the impact on sea life, but 72% said it wouldn’t impact their plans to visit the county [previously the county estimated the windmills could cost the county an estimated $1.1 billion in revenue]
tourism spending in Cape May County is predicted to increase another 10% this year
We’ll have a deeper dive in this report, what it might mean for the housing market, and a May market update in our Shore Cribs real estate newsletter.
Speaking of which…
🏠 Real Estate Update
Did you know Walking The Boards has a newsletter dedicated to Ocean City Real Estate?
Our Ocean City May Market Report drops later today. If you would like to opt-in, just click the subscribe button right here:
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May Highlights 🔅
Median sales prices in Ocean City rebounded from a 2023 low in April of $830,000 back to $984,000 for May, which is in line with the first quarter.
The most expensive home sold in the month - and this year - was 26 Barbados Ln. for $6.4 million.
But there are signs of some softening in the market.
There were 105 new residential listings, up from 84 in May of last year. More notably, the median days on market was 29 days compared to just 10 last year.
While these numbers are still low, more homes came on the market and they are taking longer to sell.
More People, For Longer 🏘️
The Inquirer had a good article about people taking longer weekends and generally spending more time at the Shore. With hybrid work sticking around, many are able to come down Thursday night and stay until Monday afternoon, adding two days to their weekends, which in my view continues to prop up Cape May County’s smoking hot second-home real estate market.
Agent Hot Takes on New Listings 🔥
Agents are beginning to notice our hot takes. Are you?
Read all of our takes on the latest new listings over at our new work-in-progress real estate site ShoreCribs.com.
🍽️ Dish of the Week: Luigi’s Chicken Parm
Our co-founder and OC lifer swears by Luigi’s. His words: This is a hidden secret with a ton of locals. Joe and Nancy Babcock took over this business 7 years ago and they have been killing the Italian game ever since. They offer everything you could imagine and it’s all made from scratch. Yes, a place in OCNJ making things from scratch.
I dare you to find me a better chicken parm on the island… honestly… the surrounding areas as well. I spoke to Joe and he told me that there are quite a few secrets that go into this dish. The “gravy” takes 6 hours to slow cook, the cutlets are made from scratch, and this is a hidden family recipe from Nancy’s mother. “Everything here is made with love,” says Joe.
I can honestly tell you that this dish won’t disappoint and neither will any of their others. Their pizza is ridiculous too but we will save that for another time. Check out the menu and make a reservation because they’re usually packed. With off street parking this place is a killer summer option.
Mamma Mia.
🍺 Drink of the Week: My Beer Fridge
Summer Shore beer fridge is, now, officially ready
— Kyle Scott Laskowski (@KyleScottL)
Jun 8, 2023
Each year, I tweet out a picture of my summer Shore beer fridge.
It’s usually met with derision by beer snobs who DEMAND more pink cherry sour wheats brewed by a guy with a beard longer than Gandalf’s.
Too many seltzers, they say.
But this is the perfect fridge. Delicious Tan Limes from Cape May and High Dive summer pilsners from Yards for your daily drinkers. Surfside vodka teas to further blur the line between regular drink and alcoholic beverage. A whole shelf of fizzy seltzers in a sensual range of flavors, from Wild Basin berries, to Vizzy orange and creams(!), to Happy Dad fruit punches. And then you undergird it all with a stable of Philly-style standards from Yards and Yuengling.
I dare you to find me a better fridge. But if you think you have one, reply to this email and send it to us!
🍾 Another Win
Speaking of Twitter, 97.5 The Fanatic held a poll for favorite Shore town. Ocean City came out on top again.
You can go vote here.
🌊 Weather and Tides
As always, we recommend getting up-to-date forecasts from THE GOAT of South Jersey weather, NorEaster Nick, directly on his Facebook page.
Tides (9th Street):
Friday (6/9)
High: 12:32 AM
Low: 7:14 AM
High: 1:17 PM
Low: 7:21 PM
Saturday (6/10)
High: 1:33 AM
Low: 8:11 AM
High: 2:22 PM
Low: 8:29 PM
Sunday (6/11)
High: 2:36 AM
Low: 9:08 AM
High: 3:26 PM
Low: 9:38 PM
Monday (6/12)
High: 3:39 AM
Low: 10:03 AM
High: 4:26 PM
Low: 10:44 PM
Tuesday (6/13)
High: 4:40 AM
Low: 10:55 AM
High: 5:21 PM
Low: 11:45 PM
Wednesday (6/14)
High: 5:37 AM
Low: 11:45 AM
High: 6:11 PM
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