Sea Isle City Mayor Leonard Desiderio will host a meeting with state lawmakers from New Jersey’s First Legislative District and other elected officials to discuss the problem of unruly teenagers gathering in large groups at shore towns during recent summers.
The meeting will take place in Sea Isle at 11:30 a.m. Friday, Feb. 11, inside Council Chambers on the third floor of City Hall.
Desiderio, state Sen. Michael Testa and state Assemblymen Antwan McClellan and Erik Simonsen will “brainstorm” with mayors from other municipalities as well as additional elected officials from Cape May County, representatives from the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office and leaders from law enforcement agencies in the region.
The meeting will be a closed-door gathering, with only the aforementioned officials in attendance. No formal action will be taken.
At the end of the meeting, the media will be invited inside Council Chambers to ask questions during a press conference.
In recent years, Sea Isle and other shore towns have dealt with foul language, underage drinking, vandalism, theft and other problems caused by groups of teens or young adults during the summer vacation season.
“During the past couple of years, we have listened to the concerns of residents and business owners regarding the issue of juveniles not behaving as they should,” Desiderio said in a statement. “Also, I have seen first-hand the problems that can occur when young people gather in large groups. Therefore, I want to meet with elected officials and community leaders from the county and other municipalities, as well as our state legislators and law enforcement representatives, to create a plan of action that will address this problem, which is affecting towns up and down New Jersey’s coastline.”
Desiderio said it is not his intention to “paint a picture that indicates all juveniles are bad” or to blame all teens for rowdy behavior.
“(We) just want the tools we need to address issues that are of great concern to the people of our shore communities each summer,” he said. “We need to work together and determine how we can make things better.”
