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OC Experience promising in first outings

Zach Hoopes
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(Feb. 15, 2013) Despite initial fears of destination marketing Luddite-ism, or embracing the old style while eschewing the technological advances in marketing, the Town of Ocean City’s re-entry into the old-fashioned trade show circuit has produced high hopes that the resort could recover some of the visitor demographics it seems to have lost since the 2008 slump.

Although it was nearly sliced from the city’s marketing plan earlier this year, the OC Experience trade show booth – a project of local promoter Brad Hoffman and his company, Spark Productions – has recently completed the first two of its inaugural four-show season, which Hoffman says has been highly successful in getting back to the roots of tourism promotion.

“The most effective dynamic is being able to talk directly to people about their vacation,” Hoffman said, “and to tailor that conversation directly to the family in front of me, to build a long-term customer out of the relationship we just made.”

“We were there with our competition, with our competitor resorts, and we blew them out of the water.”

The project has already appeared at the Philadelphia Inquirer Travel Show, Jan. 26 and 27, as well as the Columbus (Ohio) Sports, Vacation, and Boat Show, Feb. 7 and 8, and is scheduled to be at the Baltimore Boat Show, Feb. 28 through March 3, as well as the Washington, D.C. Travel and Adventure Show, March 9 and 10.

The OC Experience is essentially a ramped-up, technologically-augmented version of the classic trade show kiosk. Not only are the usual flyers, magazines, and promotional tchotchkes disseminated, but visitors are also exposed to interactive video presentations – via Ipads and flat-screen TVs – that showcase the resort’s current attractions alongside nostalgic comparison footage of the classic American family vacation from the mid-20th century.

Even more crucial, however, is the active presence at the booth of Hoffman and his Spark business partners, Brian Stoehr and David Bafford. Admittedly “never afraid to talk,” Hoffman made a point of drawing potential customers in on a personal level. Most, he said, were families or couples who had come to the expos to look into vacation options for themselves, friends, and relatives.

“We really wanted to help people make their vacation decision right then,” Hoffman said. “We talked to them about what they wanted in their vacation, instead of just giving them a rack card.”

“A lot of our competitors don’t do it this way. They just sit behind a desk and hope someone talks to them.”

The project had first been pitched nearly two years ago, when Hoffman proposed a tractor-trailer that would travel to tourism conventions and trade shows around the county to promote the resort. The original price tax was upwards of a quarter of a million dollars, and the project remained somewhat bogged down for many months, undergoing a number of drastic cost-cutting revisions. Support for a limited iteration of the project was backed by City Council last March.

But at the Dec. 17th Mayor and City Council meeting, the city’s stance seemed to have changed significantly from the overt enthusiasm displayed in March. Tourism Director Donna Abbot suggested that, instead, the city take on only two shows and use pre-existing Rodney the Lifeguard marketing materials instead of Hoffman’s project.

As was revealed at the meeting, there appeared to be much confusion over who was responsible for developing a formal Memorandum of Understanding between the city and Spark, who exactly had the right to modify the show schedule, and how the project’s budget was to be made to fit that criteria.

The idea that the MOU was a conditional factor for the project only came up through “the fact that I was called back in here to give an update and was blindsided by another option,” Hoffman said at that meeting.

Briefly afterward, and agreement was reached that saw the project move forward with a further cut in cost, but with the elimination of in-town appearances that Hoffman had agreed to do without charging the city for Spark’s staffing.

“It was a tough process, but I’ve learned that, while it’s never easy, by refining it like that, you get the best possible product for everybody. I think we pared it down to mostly assets with little liability,” Hoffman said.

Even still, the Town of Ocean City has been reluctant to get back into trade show marketing since bowing out of the venue at the dawn of the internet age in the 1990s. Rapidly falling ad prices, and wider dissemination on the web, meant that the cost-per-view of mass media was a fraction of that associated with face-to-face marketing. Even after several scale-downs, the price tag for the OC Experience’s inaugural run is $70,000, although this includes the price of creating the booth itself, which can be reused in subsequent years at almost no cost.

However, Hoffman submitted, face-to-face selling still produces a more reliable result.

“The impressions are multi-pronged, and the connection is much deeper,” he said. “That’s a different kind of impression….you can never remove the face-to-face interaction, which is the way we marketed before ‘cost per click’ became king.”

Having a physical marketing presence also provides the city with much more reconnaissance than would be gained by just media ads – particularly in last weekend’s Columbus show, where Hoffman was surprised to find that many Ohio residents considered Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to be their primary beach destination, despite being a 12-hour drive from the greater Columbus area. Ocean City, Hoffman noted, is a mere nine-and-a-half.

Ocean City does little marketing west of Harrisburg, although some increased advertising in the Pittsburgh area is slated for this year. But based on what he heard at the Columbus show, Hoffman said that some of the more distant of the resort’s potential customers could also be its most reliable, given that their lack of proximity means they have to plan further ahead and are likely to stay longer than those coming from a shorter distance.

“That’s the customer we want. We want to build the six or seven day customer back up,” Hoffman said. “I really think we can rebuild our business in a way that we get that longer stay back, bring the families back – one family at a time, if we have to.”

“This concept, if continued and pushed forward – I could see it nurturing a whole new makeup in our vacation population,” Hoffman said.

Kuhn hopes sharing story will ease others’ pain

Lisa Capitelli, Ocean City Today
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(Feb. 15, 2013) Author Carolyn Outlaw Kuhn hopes she can help victims of abuse with her book, Suffering in Silence.

“In the beginning of the book, you see that an abuse occurred,” Kuhn said. “It has a huge impact on you and who you are as an adult. Even though it may not be in your thoughts, it can still lead to making poor decisions. It does impact who you are.”

Kuhn had just turned 13 when she was sexually abused by her stepfather. Keep in mind, she said, that this was in the 1960s, before many people had even heard the word “pedophile.” Her sister was abused by their biological father when she was 16.

As an adult, Kuhn’s second husband was physically abusive and she said she feared for her life.

According to Kuhn’s publishing company, Outskirts Press, the 100-page book is a “true story of a dysfunctional family’s painful journey in dealing with alcoholism, a family rape, a secretive incarceration, abandonment and abuse. Truly an inspirational book dealing with forgiveness, healing and inner peace.”

A portion of the proceeds of book sales will be donated to SOAR, Survivors of Abuse in Recovery, in memory of Kuhn’s sister, Helen Ann Moore, who died in 1984.

“My sister would have supported this book 100 percent,” Kuhn said. “It was therapeutic for me and I wanted to be able give back to the community.”

SOAR is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing mental health services to those affected by sexual abuse, regardless of their ability to pay.

The organization offers counseling, referral and education services to adult, adolescent and child survivors of sexual abuse and assault, their non-offending partners, and non-offending family members. SOAR also provides outreach programs to community organizations and businesses.

More than 1,000 adults, adolescents, children, and their families residing in Delaware and the surrounding counties in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland utilize SOAR’s services annually, according to survivorsofabuse.org.

“One in three girls, by the time they’re 18, has suffered some form of sexual abuse,” Kuhn said. “Unfortunately for my sister, she was unable to get help. I was able to get help.”

Kuhn said she thought about writing the book for a number of years. It was her daughter who finally encouraged her to do it. The process took about a year and a half, but Kuhn said once she started writing, the words “just flowed.”

The Selbyville, Del. resident said her first book is not a strict autobiography, but similar to a memoir.

“It’s a very inspirational book,” she said. “My goal has always been to reach out and help others.”

Kuhn will sign copies of her book today, Friday, at High Stakes restaurant, on Route 54 in Fenwick Island, from 4-7 p.m. Books cost $10 and will be available for purchase.

“I’ve gotten a lot of positive comments,” Kuhn said. “People who have read it say they can’t put it down.”

Suffering in Silence can also be found online at Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com or www.outskirtspress.com/sufferinginsilence. E-book and Kindle downloads are also available.

For more information about the book or upcoming signing events, contact Kuhn at ckuhn913@yahoo.com.

Carolyn Outlaw Kuhn

Resort restaurants will mount fight against wage hike proposal

Zach Hoopes
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(Feb. 15, 2012) Opposition to a proposed increase of Maryland’s minimum wage – and an increase of the pay margin for tipped workers – continues to mount, with restaurateurs saying statistical evidence to the affirmative oversimplifies the reality on the ground.

“We’re going to be strongly opposed to that legislation,” said Melvin Thompson of the Maryland Restaurant Association. “These businesses are going to have added personnel costs that could force them to make some tough decisions.”

A proposal circulating through the Maryland General Assembly seeks to raise the state’s minimum wage from the current $7.25 per hour to $10 per hour by 2015. According to the bill’s backers, the increase will be phased in – but the result will be to raise the standard of living for the roughly 320,000 people in the state who live off an hourly minimum wage.

Such an infusion of disposable income would presume to be healthy for tourism and the recreation industry as a whole. But another element of the proposal could be extremely onerous, in particular, to the resort restaurant industry.

The bill would also seek to raise the percentage of pay for tipped workers from 50 to 70 percent. Under Maryland law, which is similar to that in most other U.S. states, workers who receive tips do not have to be paid a full share of the minimum wage. Currently, the must receive at least half, or $3.63 per hour.

But if the minimum wage is raised to $10, and the minimum portion for tipped workers to 70 percent, this almost doubles the rate to $7 per hour.

“It makes a $60,000 swing for us, and we’re a smaller place,” said Travis Wright, owner of West Ocean City’s Shark on the Harbor restaurant and current president of the Ocean City Hotel-Motel-Restaurant Association. “It’s just frightening.”

According to many business owners, the wage hike could have the opposite of its intended effect, at least for seasonal restaurants. Additional pay would be given to those who do not rely on it, such as seasonal wait staff, most of whom are students who do not live off their summer earnings per se, and make many times in tips what they are paid directly.

“The impact on the tipped employees is going to be nominal at best,” Wright said. “They make so much more than minimum wage based on the tips they declare … that they’re not going to see that money [from the wage increase]. It’s just going to be eaten up in taxes. It’s not going to do anything to raise their standard of living.”

A recent study in support of the hike from the Economic Policy Institute, however, indicates that 87 percent of workers affected by the wage increase are more than 20 years old, and that the average worker earns roughly 39 percent of his or her family’s income, numbers that the institute alleges “do not support the perception of minimum-wage workers as pri-

marily teenagers working for spending money.”

However, the figure does not separate tipped from non-tipped minimum wage workers, a relevant figure given that the margin increase to the former is considered the most onerous part of the proposal.

Conversely, an increased wage burden may force employers either to cut staff or pay for non-tipped employees, such as kitchen or management staff, more of whom are long-term, career employees who rely on that income more heavily.

Wright said that all of his non-tipped, back-of-the-house employees already make well over $10 per hour, meaning they would see no personal benefit from the hike.

“We’ve got really good year-round jobs to offer people,” Wright said. “If you raise the minimum wage to $10 per hour, it just makes the person who was already making $11 or $12 seem less important. The perceived value of people who are already making a fair wage goes down.”

According to Thompson, most restaurants operate on a profit margin of less than four percent. Given this shallow buffer, most establishments could not financially function by doing more business on lower dividends.

“That money has got to come from somewhere, and the only real way to do that would be raising prices to the consumer,” Wright said

Council inches forward to consensus on commissions

Zach Hoopes
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(Feb. 15, 2013) In a seemingly cathartic close to one of its last strategic planning sessions, the City Council took steps toward a consensus about the politically charged reinstatement of the body’s sub-committees and commissions, admitting that some mistakes had been made in the past and pledging that things would be done better this time around.

“This isn’t a re-creation of the old system. We’re developing something new,” said City Manager David Recor, of whose administration the strategic planning process is the key initiative.

“This is recognizing that the council has delegated work to a committee before it comes back to the committee as a whole,” said planning facilitator and professional municipal consultant Lyle Sumek.

“It has to be the chair [of the committee], the city manager, and the department head concerned working together to inform the council.”

Such an idyllic picture of cooperation, however, has not always been painted.

The dissolution of the council’s standing committees was the first action taken by the four-member majority that came to be in 2010 after Councilman Joe Mitrecic lost his re-election bid to Councilman Brent Ashley.

Mitrecic’s ouster allowed Ashley – along with Joe Hall, Margaret Pillas, and Jim Hall – to create a four-member voting bloc that openly bucked the previous administrative norms. The oft-called “new majority” developed a relationship of mutual antagonism with Dennis Dare, then the city manager, and Mayor Rick Meehan.

In November 2010, the victors’ first act was to dissolve the council’s commission system, whereby separate sub-committees of three council members heard reports from city staff or interested parties and presented the information back to the full council for any decision necessary. All reports were subsequently presented in open session, before the entire body.

Despite the removal of the dominant faction in the 2012 polls – in which Hall and Hall lost to Dare, now running as an elected official and not a paid executive, and a returning Mitrecic – the commission system has continued to be a symbol of political discontent.

The surviving members of the 2010 majority submit that the commission system reduces transparency by developing policy in ad-hoc legislative groups, some of whom became quasi-autonomous and politically factionalized, rather than before the empowered body.

But proponents of the system’s return argue that the additional input garnered makes for richer legislative action and that by forcing every issue before the whole council, the previous majority was simply trying to expand the scope of its political control by micro-managing.

During the planning session, however, a middle ground seemed to be apparent. Both sides voiced similar discontent with the way committee and commission matters had been presented in the past.

“[Commission matters] had already been voted on in committee and I had to put my hand up because I hadn’t even heard anything about it before,” Pillas said.

“Maybe what happened in the past is that the preliminary information from committee often didn’t come the whole way up the chain,” Dare said.

As a remedy, Mitrecic simply suggested that commission proposals be given more time, rather than being brought up, discussed, and recommended before those outside the commission had a way of knowing the issue existed.

“It felt [in the past] like I was reading a report on something that was already done … it was approved by committee, and then someone just made a motion,” Mitrecic said. “Sometimes, people need time to digest things.”

Going forward, he said, “we don’t discuss it right then and there,” when new ideas or concerns are brought up.

“Sometimes staff gets into that laxity… and sometimes members of council as well,” Mitrecic said.

At Sumek’s suggestion, a list of impending items will be distributed for every committee and commission. New matters would have to be formally listed, and “would have two avenues – either it goes back to the whole council for direction, or it goes through staff or the committee chair to be put on a future agenda,” Sumek said.

 

How to be a Valentine’s Day Hero from The Hardcore Foodie

Hardcore Foodie
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Ok guys, everyone knows that Valentine’s Day is for the ladies and that it can become an expensive proposition (no pun intended).  With that in mind, here are some basic ideas that take the focus away from “how much you spend” and back onto your significant other where it belongs in the first place.  First of all, call your wife and tell her you have dinner covered then Get A Card!  It does not matter whether it is romantic or funny; whichever fits your personality is fine, just remember to write something heartfelt and specific. Next pick-up a nice spring mixed flower arrangement.  It does not need to be roses and anyway everyone knows that florists jack-up the price on those just for any saps who think a dozen will get them some.  You can even get some nice arrangements at the grocery store now for around $10 per bunch.  Now, while you are in the grocery store pick up a pint of raspberries or strawberries, you will see the need for them very soon.  After that go to the wine and liquor store and buy a bottle of Italian Prosecco, an inexpensive sparkling wine, and a couple of miniatures of Chambord, a raspberry liquor.  Finally, order your wife’s favorite takeout (Italian, Chinese you make the call just not pizza!)  Now go home and put the flowers in a nice vase, set the table with the good silver and china and place the card at her setting.  Get your Champagne flutes (regular wine glasses will do in a pinch) and muddle a few of the raspberries in the bottom of each glass.  Add half a miniature of the Chambord into each glass and then fill with the Prosecco when you are ready to drink.  Also remember to put the takeout food on your good china, Do Not Eat Out Of The Box!  The rest of the evening is up to you, maybe rent that chick flick she has been dying to see and watch it with her (I know it’s tough but you can cowboy up and do it). You have just made a Valentine’s Day memory for her that cost you less than $100, kept you out of a restaurant on the what is known in the business as “Amateur Night”, and will show her how much you care.  Not too shabby if you ask me.

Shark on the Harbor

Hardcore Foodie
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Went to the Shark yesterday afternoon for a couple of beers and some apps.  Congrats to Travis and his kitchen staff, the Shrimp Dumplings and the Pork Potstickers were better than any available in Ocean City, Asian restaurant or not.  Also had the Crispy Fried Oysters, great as usual.  Keep up the good work!  For those who don’t know the Shark is the most innovative and daring restaurant in Ocean City and probably the Eastern Shore.

Burgers, Beers and a Room with a View

Hardcore Foodie
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5th Street Taphouse Bar & Grille
4507 Coastal Highway
Ocean City, Md 21842
443-664-2201
www.45taphouse.com

 

A “Burger and a Beer” is the quintessential American meal.  If you add a side of good, hot French Fries and maybe start the whole thing off with some Spicy Chicken Wings; well sir, you may just have the perfect American meal.  Now, it is not hard to find a place that offers all these things but, unfortunately, it is hard to find a place that does all of them right.  To our good fortune in Ocean City the 45th St. Taphouse is that place. Plus they have one of the more breath taking views of the Assawoman Bay in town.

 

The Taphouse is located in the 45th Street Shopping Center.  It has the warm inviting feel of all good bars and whether you sit at the bar or bar area, the main dining room or the outdoor deck bar you will be made welcome.  The inside is all exposed wood with wooden tables and chairs and plenty of wide screen TV’s to catch any sporting event you may want to watch.  The outdoor Tiki bar is large with a good number of stools.  The outdoor deck tables and chairs are metallic and anywhere is a great view of the Bay.

 

The servers are friendly and helpful, especially with the 36 beers on tap.  They will be glad to make suggestions to try to match your tastes with a new beer.  The service itself can be a little haphazard, especially during the busy summer months, so be prepared to wait for your meal if the dining rooms are full.  Also, like 99% of the restaurants in Ocean City, they have not mastered the art of knowing who gets what meal so be prepared for the auction when your food arrives.

 

The menu is a fairly common and straight forward one; it is the execution and the attention to detail by the kitchen that makes this Bar & Grille worth noting.  Now is a good time to explain that all the sauces at the Taphouse are made in-house and they all compliment their dishes very nicely. Some appetizers of note are the Fish and Chips, which are made from fresh, local Rockfish and crusted with the Taphouses homemade potato chips.  These are served with a spicy mango ketchup and an old bay tartar sauce.   The Crabby Balls are made with Jumbo Lump Crabmeat and have so little filler or binder that they have trouble staying together (may all our troubles be so tasty).  The Crabby Pretzels are Jumbo Lump Crab Imperial served over a Bavarian style pretzel, which is topped with cheese and placed under the broiler.  Every restaurant in Ocean City has a version of this appetizer but very few are as good.  The Chicken Wings are a section of their own and come in 5 different levels of heat and/or flavors.  As is the custom in Ocean City the wings are normally served on the “crispy” side but for those of us who prefer them still juicy they are more than happy to oblige.  The Taphouse serves nice meaty wings and the only thing to watch out for is that the heat levels are variable so when they say mild to medium or medium to hot be careful!

 

The Burgers are all served with either homemade Old Bay Chips or Fresh Fries, which can come plain or with parmesan cheese and fresh rosemary.  All three choices are yummy so go with whatever floats your boat.  My two favorite burgers are the Gnarmax which is their fresh burger patty served with fresh sliced jalapeno peppers, pepper jack cheese and house-made habanero mayonnaise.  The other burger of note is the Shark Biscuit which is two burger patties, bacon, cheddar cheese, and grilled onion topped with a fried egg and served with the habanero mayo.  An awesome creation; just make sure you request the egg to be sunny side up so that when you bite into the burger the yolk oozes out and mixes into the sandwich.

 

There are other sandwiches and entrees but I will honestly tell you I have not gotten past the Burger section of the menu.  I have dined with friends at the Taphouse and everyone has been very happy with the Guinness Stout Chili, The Best Ever BLT and the BBQ Chickenlicious sandwiches.  Also the Smoked Prime Rib dinner entrée sounds like something I will have to try someday.

 

Finally, some news of interest for the Taphouse, this season they will start serving breakfast with an emphasis on different types of Eggs Benedict.  Now, being a huge Eggs Benedict fan and having very few places in town where they are even attempted, I am looking forward to having a breakfast or two at the Taphouse.  So, make a stop at the Taphouse this summer and catch a beautiful sunset with a cold beer and a juicy burger with a date or some friends.  It is your right as a red-blooded American!

Changes to commercial striped bass fishing may benefit Lower Shore

Zach Hoopes
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(Feb. 8, 2013) Ostensibly, the title of Maryland’s State Fish was bestowed upon the striped bass due to its long-term popularity with Chesapeake Bay watermen. But its status may as well be because it has garnered more policy attention than any other scaly, ectothermic creature in the Old Line State.

One of the state’s biggest policy decisions this year will likely come not from the legislature, but from within the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, which is “right in the middle of making some drastic changes to this fishery,” according to Mike Luisi of the DNR’s fisheries service.

“We’ve been working with the industry for quite some time about the 2014 fishery,” Luisi said. “There are some tough decisions that will have to be made.”

The striped bass – also known as the rockfish – has a considerable history. In 1985, concerns over low breeding stocks caused federal and state governments to close all waters to striped bass fishing. But beginning in 1990, most states began to gradually re-open the species to harvesting by both recreational and commercial fishermen under the close watch of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, the umbrella group that involves the natural resources divisions of most East Coast states.

The ASMFC also recommended that federal waters be slowly re-opened, but the idea was nixed due to concerns over the ability of government agencies to respond fast enough to the potentially rapid depletion of the population.

In order to regulate rockfish stocks, the ASMFC allocates each state an annual poundage of striped bass for commercial catch – this past year, Maryland’s was 1.7 million pounds. The Maryland DNR then divides this allotment up by month. When rockfish are taken, watermen tag them, and the tag numbers are reported to the state by the markets that sell them.

“It’s an accountability measure so that the fish they’re landing and taking to market can be traced back to them,” Luisi said. “If, say, by mid-January we see that the quota for that month is going to be caught, we shut down fishing for the month and start again in February.”

Fishermen are issued an excess of tags – more than enough for what they’ll likely catch. They tags are turned back in at the end of the year if unused. This is known as a derby system, since the incentive is that he who catches earlier is likely to be allowed to catch more overall.

“The mentality is that you go out and get them before everyone else can,” Luisi said.

Maryland only issues 1,231 licenses for commercial striped bass fishing, but not all of these request tags every year.

Since the tags are issued ahead of time, however, the danger of overfishing still exists. The DNR has no way of verifying that fish were not caught and tagged after any given monthly shut-down by boats “sneaking out.”

As such, the ASMFC is now asking states to only issue the exact number of tags needed to catch the state quota.

“In order to reduce the likelihood of taking more fish than is healthy, they’re asking us to reduce the number of tags based on the total quota,” Luisi said.

“Maryland was one of the only coastal states, regarding striped bass, that issued an unlimited number of tags,” said Gibby Dean of the Chesapeake Bay Commercial Fisherman’s Association, one of the industry groups the DNR is consulting with on the issue. “But the ASMFC said this year that Maryland could only issue so many tags, based on the [ASMFC’s] biometric system.”

“We would take the total pounds of fish we’re given and divide that by the average weight per fish, and that’s how many tags we’d give out,” Luisi explained, “so that there’d only be enough tags to catch the right number of fish.”

Doing so, however, presents a serious difficulty. With a finite number of physical tags, the tags would have to be taken away from some fishermen mid-season if it looked like they were catching less while others had already gone through their tags.

“It would be difficult, under a derby system, to maintain and allot a certain number of tags to the individuals that wish to participate,” Luisi said. “That’s a logistical nightmare, to try something like that.”

“This new tagging … is going to require us to completely adjust and shift the management of this fishery.”

Instead of the derby-style tag system, Luisi said that the likely alternative will be to design a per-permit fish quota, in which each active permit holder will receive a share of the annual catch limit. Shares could be bought, sold, and exchanged between permit holders.

“Each person in the fishery would have some sort of share ownership,” Luisi said. “This would be a different way of doing business for these guys.”

A similar apportioning system is already in place for one segment of the striped bass fishery – trawler vessels, many of which operate out of the Lower Eastern Shore. Hook-and-line operations, as well as winter gillnet ships, are in the derby.

“There are a lot of advantages to not having to operate in the derby mentality,” Luisi said. “They don’t have to fear that somebody else is going to catch the fish before they do.”

This is particularly relevant to the lower part of the bay and the oceanic fishery, given the migratory pattern of striped bass. Rockfish migrate north-south with the seasons, typically swimming through open ocean but stopping in bays and river estuaries along the way, particularly in the spring when they lay their eggs in fresh water. Young fish usually stay in these estuary areas until they reach adulthood, when they begin migrating through sea waters to find their own breeding grounds.

With fish migrating out of freshwater in the upper part of the bay, they are often caught in the more northern fisheries before they have a chance to swim out.

“Those guys [on the lower shore] can find it difficult to compete,” Luisi said. “They essentially have to sit there and wait and hope that the fish come down their way before the monthly quota gets caught.”

“From Dorchester county south, more people are in favor of an individual quota system,” Dean said. “Not all, but the majority. The way the regulations are set up now, and the migration of the fish, a lot of times the quotas are culled up before the lower bay fisherman can catch them.”

“This way, they can have their quota in hand and catch them whenever they want.”

The flip side, however, is that fishermen who are used to taking as much as they can, based on their skill and dedication, will likely see the change as a restriction of their haul, in deference to those who can buy up more quota.

“The guys that are used to just going out and engaging in the derby see the quota system as a reduction,” Luisi said. “In order to get the quota, they’ll have to come up with capital.”

Although the industry is still divided as to the best solution, Dean projected that it was highly unlikely that some sort of quota system would not be implemented.

Exactly how that quota would be apportioned throughout the 1,231 permits is still up in the air, Luisi said. It would be tempting to give a larger share to those who have caught more in the past – but given that quota could be traded, the state would essentially be granting leverage.

“Ultimately, the state is going to have to make the decision on the initial allocation of a quota, and the assigning of pounds to that permit will change the value of the permit,” Luisi said.

BOOMING BUSINESS at Plaza Tapatia

Lisa Capitelli, Ocean City Today
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A few weeks without their favorite eatery left loyal customers anxious. Now open in Pines, new Plaza Tapatia has seen steady flow of fans

 

(Feb. 8, 2013) As Armando Saldana walked out of the kitchen and through the bar area filled with patrons Tuesday evening, he stood in the doorway and peered into the dining room of the new Plaza Tapatia restaurant, where each table was occupied by diners, and he smiled.

“I feel very happy,” said Saldana, owner of the restaurant that opened its doors on Jan. 24 in the Pennington Commons, across from the South Gate. Since the grand-opening celebration on Jan. 30 – featuring a deejay and a mariachi band — customers have packed the restaurant every day.

Saldana has seen many familiar faces, as a number of the customers who dined at the West Ocean City restaurant on Route 50 have now come to Ocean Pines. First-time guests are also visiting the new restaurant.

“Every day we’re busy,” Saldana said. “People love it. Everybody is happy and excited.”

One satisfied customer Tuesday evening was Frank Exley of Ocean Pines. Eating the nacho supreme with beef, he said, “This is the best I’ve had in Ocean City and I’ve been here 17 years.”

“With his food, he’ll do fine here,” he added.

Exley also boasted about the $1.99 Corona bottle hap-py hour special as he took a sip.

Ocean Pines was Saldana’s ideal location initially to open a Mexican restaurant. Unfortunately, he could not find a prime spot in the com-

munity. He opened the first Plaza Tapatia in West Ocean City in 1997.

Since then, nine more have sprung up. There are two restaurants in Salisbury, and one in Easton, Cambridge, Pocomoke, Chestertown and Elkton. In Delaware, there is a Plaza Tapatia in Seaford and one in Bear.

Saldana said he plans to open another restaurant in Saint Michaels in a month or so.

In October, Saldana closed the West Ocean City eatery to relocate to Ocean Pines because the community has more year-round residents. He has already seen an increase in lunch business compared to the previous location.

At approximately 5,000 square feet, the new space is about twice as large as the previous building.

There is seating for 120 in the dining room and more than a dozen at the bar, while the old restaurant fit about 72 guests.

All of the kitchen equipment is new. Saldana is not only the owner, but he can cook and tend bar — he trained his employees — and he is a carpenter, as well. He built all of the tables and booths in the new restaurant. He constructed the bars at some of the other Plaza Tapatia restaurants.

The authentic Mexican establishment features more than 140 dishes. Saldana said customers have tried everything, but the most popular is No. 106 Fajitas for Two. His favorites are the chicken fajita and pork chops (chuletas rojas).

“It’s good food at an affordable price,” he said.

Happy hour is Monday through Thursday, 4-7, p.m., featuring $1.75 domestic 12-ounce drafts (32 ounces for $3), $1.99 Corona and Tecate bottles and 12-ounce margaritas on the rocks for $2.25 and $2.50 frozen lime margaritas. Lunch and dinner specials also offered.

The Manklin Creek Road restaurant opens at 11 a.m., Monday through Friday, and at noon Saturday and Sunday.

A mariachi band will perform about once a month, Saldana said. The next performance is scheduled for Feb. 27, from 6-9 p.m.

 

Plaza Tapatia owner Armando Saldana stands in the crowded dining room of his new restaurant Tuesday night, in the Pennington Commons, across from the Ocean Pines South Gate.

Technology, insurance costs drive tight Worcester school budget

Zach Hoopes
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(Feb. 8, 2013) Preliminary budget data from the Worcester County school system indicates that the county will likely be holding the line on education funding, although the system continues to see a number of new costs, as well as savings, from the drive to implement new technology in schools.

Based on the latest estimates of current expenditures, the county schools’ Chief Financial Officer, Vince Tolbert, told the Board of Education this week that he expects the budget for the 2014 fiscal year, which begins this July, to be $1,150,315 higher than FY13.

For the current fiscal year, the schools are presently allotted $92,167,401. This includes, however, a mid-year appropriation of $300,000 granted by the county after the state declined to renew its funding for Worcester’s after-school programs.

“What we’re trying to do is align our actual expenditures from last year with what we’re asking for this year,” Tolbert said.

Although quasi-independent from the rest of the county government, Worcester’s school system receives about 80 percent of its revenue from appropriations by the Worcester County Commissioners, who have final authority over its budget.

Under Maryland law, however, county governments must contribute the same amount of money per-student to their schools each year to cover teaching costs and in-classroom expenditures. This policy is known as the “Maintenance of Effort” formula, and counties face steep cuts in state funding if they go below the established MOE level. With a marginal increase in enrollment, the county is expected to give a minimum of $23,186 more this year, according to Tolbert.

However, the MOE formula does not figure in operational costs outside of the classroom. Although most of these costs are stable, one – the price of employee health insurance – has always been a major worry for school finance. In the coming year, Tolbert expects these costs to rise $574,000, consisting of the majority of his projected cost increase for FY14.

Further, the single line item that takes up nearly half of the schools’ operating costs – teacher salaries, roughly $39 million – is not yet set in stone, given that contract negotiations with the Worcester County Teachers’ Association are still ongoing.

The remainder of the current projected increase for next year’s expenditures comes from technology costs, including the installation of broadband service, upgrading “cloud” server computing for teaching and testing, and implementing new finance and payroll software.

Although they come with up-front costs, technology also has back-end savings, which Tolbert projected to be $153,895 in reduced costs for textbooks and classroom consumables.

“Whereas we were buying more textbooks and materials, teachers can now go on the cloud and download that,” Tolbert said.

Although broadband service is most important, at least initially, to transmit state standardized testing data, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Jerry Wilson noted that “the more we expand the use of technology, the more we’ll see the use of that broadband.”

Board member Donnie Shockley asked why no more money was being put towards the installation of “SMART Board” technology – essentially a computer-linked, interactive whiteboard – in the district’s classrooms, a technology initiative that Worcester’s schools began some years ago.

While the boards are now universal in elementary schools, and are also in some renovated rooms in secondary schools, Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Dr. John Gaddis said he would prefer to hold out.

“By the time we’ll do that [have the boards in every room], there’ll be a new technology,” Gaddis said. “You’ll be moving to a system where you’ll have devices in students hands, instead of something they look at in the front of the room, and I’d rather take the money towards that.”

The schools are also planning to ask the county for $100,000 each for two capital improvement initiatives.

One would potentially involve structural changes made on behalf of school safety, such as the installation of buzzer doors or other security measures. Further recommendations in this regard, compiled from audits performed by school committees and local law enforcement agencies, are likely to be presented to the board later this month.

The other would a feasibility study for the expected renovation or reconstruction of Showell Elementary School, which has been identified as the next target for major capital improvement.

“It’s essentially a physical of the school,” said district facilities head Joe Price. “It’ll allow us to determine whether it would be worth it to renovate or build anew.”

Pocomoke High School recently completed major renovations, and the same will be done to Snow Hill High School later this year. County and state funding recently became available for the $41 million project after several years of delay.

Ocean City Council agrees on new public comments system for meetings

Zach Hoopes
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(Feb. 8, 2013) In discussing last week how to organize and possibly streamline the public comments portion of their meetings, City Council members came to a consensus that were it not for the few, the many might be heard.

The problem with the seeming disorganization of public commentary, it was agreed, was limited in scope but great in magnitude. Of citizens who spoke, 95 percent were constructive; it was the other five percent who were a problem.

“A lot of people don’t come to the meetings and don’t contribute because they don’t’ want to be lumped in with those ‘five percenters’,” said Council Secretary Mary Knight at last Friday’s strategic planning discussion.

As required by law, council has customarily allowed any member of the public to speak freely at the close of regular Monday night sessions, with a five-minute time limit. On Tuesdays, when the council holds its work session for informational discussion and purchasing matters, the rules are less clear. Citizens often request to speak during meetings on specific work items – sometimes this is allowed, sometimes not.

It is also unclear if the five-minute limit carries over for those who speak numerous times, a common occurrence among frequent attendees. Many speakers also present questions that may be answered by city staff, often leaving great confusion as to who can talk to whom, and when, and for how long.

Mayor Rick Meehan estimated that, while 95 percent of the public has a targeted piece of commentary, the other five percent have a tendency to argue for argument’s sake, and have been trained to do so by the relative lack of direction in meetings.

“We’ve conditioned them to want information on every item,” Meehan said.

While encouraging the council to not stifle any public participation, planning consultant Lyle Sumek said he has seen many municipal bodies struggle to keep their meetings on point. The council should be discussing policy as a means, not the factual details of specific ends, he said.

“There comes a point where you’ve gotten below government, into management or even into service delivery … which is not what you’re here to do,” Sumek said. “It needs to be you deliberating, not them interjecting.”

To this end, it was suggested that all meetings – both regular and work sessions – have public comment time at the beginning. Those wishing to speak would sign up beforehand, and be called up in order by the council president. While Monday regular sessions would allow citizens to speak on any topic, Tuesday work sessions would be restricted to input on specific agenda item decisions.

“I think they’ll actually have more input this way,” said Councilman Joe Mitrecic. “Rather than already having a motion and a second and knowing what direction we [the council] want to go in before they even get to speak.”

This will ensure that public comments are intended to help council with its decision making, rather than the public seeking information for their own edification.

“It’s not a dialogue, it’s not an interrogation, and it’s not the public’s time to interview city staff,” said City Manager David Recor.

“It’s incumbent upon us to study the issue and respond to those people [who have such questions] before the meeting as well,” said Councilman Dennis Dare.

Council members Brent Ashley and Margaret Pillas were more reluctant to re-structure public commentary, for fear of restricting it.

“I’ve been on the wrong end of a lot of them, but I like the open public comments,” Ashley said. However, he noted that he was definitely in favor of guaranteeing citizens right to speak at work sessions, which seemed to be the consensus within council.

Sumek and Recor also suggested that council implement “consent items” on its agendas, in which purchases, bid openings, and other actions which are not matters of policy can be approved en masse. Council could still always move to strike a specific item from the list if there was a pertinent issue regarding it.

CITY TO INVESTIGATE PAY STRUCTURE, PENSION REVERSAL

Zach Hoopes
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(Feb. 8, 2013) With union contract negotiations under way, it appears likely that Ocean City will again be doing a comparative study and revision of its salary structure, as well as potentially making another major overhaul to its pension system.

At last week’s strategic planning session, it was noted to the City Council that the town has two pay studies on its horizon. A comparative, interdepartmental study of employee compensation was an action item for the near future, while another study, which looks specifically at the town’s public safety employees compared to those of similar jurisdictions, is currently being done in preparation for union contract talks.

Ocean City is home to two public employees’ unions: the International Association of Fire Fighters, whose collective bargaining rights were granted by the city in 2007, and the Fraternal Order of Police, whose bargaining rights were approved by the voters via referendum in 2002.

In negotiating with the FOP over officers’ salaries, the city has typically assessed itself by compiling salary data from other Maryland agencies that it believes to be comparable to the Ocean City Police Department. Agreement over what the FOP, the OCPD, and the city as a whole believe to be comparable agencies has set the tone for collective bargaining hence.

“I’ve been in on every negotiation from day one, back to our first contract in 2004-2005 … and at that time we came up with 10 comparables to use,” said Sgt. Art Grady, FOP treasurer and negotiations chair. “We got to the point where it was these 10 and it wasn’t really an issue after that.”

Mayor Rick Meehan recalled that the list includes the city’s regional competitors, such as Salisbury, as well as some larger agencies that reflect the work volume the OCPD sees in the summer, such as Maryland State Police and the Baltimore County Police Department.

“Some of the agencies are really top-notch agencies in the state,” Grady said. “I think they [the city] see the benefit of having some of those in mind.”

However, the comparative salary basis has had some questionable effects on the rest of the city, which Councilman and former City Manager Dennis Dare recalled at the planning session.

Following the first contract the city forged with the FOP, a citywide salary study was done, encompassing all employees in all departments, by consultants from the Charles Hendricks Group. That study revealed that because of the overtime policies established in the FOP’s contract, the average sergeant in the OCPD would be making 22 percent of his or her annual net pay in overtime hours.

To compensate for this, the city then bumped the pay of lieutenants by 22 percent, and captains another 7 percent over that, so that sergeants would not be making more than their superiors simply by merit of union membership.

“Then we had lieutenants working special events, making more than the department heads in charge of the sewage treatment plant, which was probably a more important utility to the town than the event,” Dare said.

The result of the Hendricks study was a pay raise for most all city employees. Those at the management level saw big increases of between 15 and 20 percent, corresponding to the police salary structure.

“It all [the citywide salary structure] went back to how much police officers in Rockville made and it was just an upside-down pyramid,” Dare said.

For this reason, Dare cautioned his colleagues against moving forward too far without doing an across-the-board salary study to establish a hard baseline.

“I’m not going to make the same mistake twice and I feel we’re going down that road,” Dare said.

Such a study is an upcoming administrative goal, said City Manager David Recor, “but we didn’t see that getting completed prior to a decision having to be made on the union contracts.”

“We have done some preliminary studies to validate some of our positions in the negotiations,” city Human Resources Director Wayne Evans assured the council.

But even after the establishment of a standard circa 2005, Grady said that the comparative data was again challenged in 2010, when a new majority was voted into City Council and subsequently tried to buck the FOP by changing the comparative data structure.

“They had requested one of our captains – who isn’t even part of the bargaining unit – to do a pay comparison study,” Grady said. “The just gave him 15 agencies to look at. Not one of those agencies was what we agreed upon at the table.”

The then-majority inferred that the union was inflating its standards, but the FOP maintains that such a reconfiguration of the comparative data would cause its ranks to stagnate.

“If you just do a comparison with a bunch of other resort communities … you’re just going to water things down to the lowest common denominator,” Grady said.

What will almost certainly be the crux of the union negotiation this year, however, is the desire expressed by both the FOP and the IAFF to move back to a defined-benefit pension system. In early 2011, the then-majority of council moved to close the city’s public safety pension trust fund to new hires, and implemented a 401(a), individual contribution retirement plan.

Since then, the OCPD has hired 22 officers under the new plan. But the FOP has maintained that the lack of a proper pension makes officers less committed to staying with the department long-term, presenting a poor return on training investment for the agency. The then-minority of the City Council, as well as Meehan, agreed, and were staunchly opposed to the change.

Because retirement benefits are part of their contract, Grady said the FOP could’ve fought the change as a violation of the agreement, but chose not to.

“We could’ve fought it, but we also looked to the future, and it sounded like, if things in November got changed, we knew we were looking forward to negotiations happening right after the elections,” Grady said. “We knew it was a matter of time [before a political change], and what the minority at the time down there thought of it [the pension change] was pretty clear.”

The FOP, as well as the IAFF, backed a slate of candidates in last years’ election that returned the post-2010 minority back to majority power.

“They had given us their word that they were at least going to go back and revisit this with open eyes, and potentially get rid of the new [defined contribution] system,” Grady said.

He praised that faction of council for its open communication, even when requesting concessions, such as the pay freeze that has been in place since 2009.

“We have a really good dialogue with them,” Grady said. “That’s how the conversation kind of got started, they came to us and said, ‘The city is in a tough spot here, and we need some help.’”

Grady said the union would not be looking for extra compensation for the last four years of hardship.

“We’re not asking for blood in this,” Grady said. “We’re not asking for a huge windfall or a back pay raise. I think they [the city] see that and appreciate it.”

Phil Hudson Photos from the past swell

Brian Stoehr
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A few images from photographer Phil Hudson from this past swell:

Newest addition to Maryland’s surf scene – Ron Jon’s

Brian Stoehr
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As many may have heard, Ocean City has a new addition to its family of surf shops.  Ocean City is quickly becoming one of the best known surf destinations on the east coast and with Ron Jon Surf Shop eying Ocean City it turns that opinion into a fact!

RON JON SURF SHOP TO OPEN NEW

LOCATION IN OCEAN CITY, MARYLAND

 

            COCOA BEACH, Fla. —  (January 15, 2013) — Ron Jon Surf Shop will open its 11th location in Ocean City, Maryland in May 2013.  The 6,500 square-foot location will be situated in a new shopping and dining area two blocks from the beach in Ocean City at the 67th Street Town Center.

Ron Jon Surf Shop currently operates stores throughout Florida and in other locations along the eastern seaboard including two in Myrtle Beach and its original location in Ship Bottom, N.J.

According to Debbie Harvey, president and COO of Ron Jon Surf Shop, the company selected Ocean City for its new location because the area is a popular summer destination with great surf and visitors who are familiar with the Ron Jon Surf Shop brand.

“We are thrilled to expand our brand to the Ocean City area,” Harvey said.  “The area has long been a popular destination for East Coast residents seeking a beach getaway and we feel that a Ron Jon store will be well received by visitors.”

About Ron Jon Surf Shop

Ron Jon Surf Shop was founded in 1959 by surfing enthusiast Ron DiMenna.  Two years later, he opened a tiny oceanside shop in Long Beach Island, N.J.  The lifestyle-apparel and board-sports-equipment retailer has since opened stores in Cocoa Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, Ft. Myers, Key West, Panama City Beach, Clearwater Beach, Fla., as well as in Myrtle Beach, S.C.  The flagship store in Cocoa Beach is the world’s largest surf shop.  It operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

School safety audits complete, recommendations expected soon

Zach Hoopes
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(Feb. 1, 2013) Safety and security in the county’s schools continues to be a high priority, as Worcester’s school district reports that independent reviews of each school, by both internal committees and local law enforcement agencies, have been completed and will likely see a recommendation for improvements this month.

“It was a concerted effort by our schools and law enforcement,” said Worcester County Schools Director of Public Relations and Special Programs Barb Witherow. “A composite list of recommendations, at some point, is going to be submitted to the Board of Education.”

After a review and compilation of the studies by Superintendent of Schools Dr. Jerry Wilson, an analysis and suggested action will likely be given during the Feb. 19 board meeting, Witherow said.

“Our goal was to develop safety priorities that could be classified under three categories: personnel, capital improvements, and best practices,” Witherow said.

Immediately following the mass shooting at Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary School that left 26 staff and students dead, Worcester began re-enforcing its own safety protocols. Those include requiring that all doors except the front entrance be locked following students’ morning arrival and that all visitors to the school must check in and wear an identification badge.

“Those procedures have definitely been tightened,” Witherow said.

An increased police presence at schools, particularly during the morning hours when students arrive at school and in the afternoon when they leave, has also been observed since the Sandy Hook killings. Witherow said that this is likely to continue indefinitely.

“[Local law enforcement] have always patrolled our schools. They have had a heightened presence recently and they are definitely going to continue to do that,” she said.

In a recent essay discussing safety in the county’s schools, Wilson also noted that Worcester would be considering further measures, such as the use of School Resource Officers – whether these be police or private security – as well as physical capital improvements, such as the installation of buzz-in security doors on schools’ front entrances.

These will likely be addressed, Witherow said, in conjunction with the studies done by local law enforcement as well as the schools’ own safety committees.

Students have also continued to practice “lockdown drills” in schools. Although the exact details of these exercises will not be revealed in order to maintain their effectiveness in a violent confrontation, Witherow said that they “do refer to the highest level of security, such as an intruder.”

“We are continuing to forge forward,” Witherow said. “I think our parents and our community can have confidence that the measures in our future recommendations have the backing of law enforcement.”

Convention center ballroom officially opens

Zach Hoopes
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(Feb. 1, 2013) Ironically, the “big reveal” of last week’s ribbon cutting at the Ocean City convention center was not, in fact, the new $9 million ballroom itself, but an attraction that has been available for free in the resort for centuries: a big, wide view of the bay.

As the blackout curtains were raised on the facility’s west-facing bank of windows around 4:30 p.m., several audible gasps could be heard from those in attendance as a panoramic view of the sunset over the Assawoman Bay, perfectly framed by the ballroom’s glass façade, came into view.

“I felt like we should play the 1812 Overture, but Fager’s seems to have that locked up,” said Con-

vention Center Director Larry Noccolino. Playing Tchaikovsky’s epic orchestration at sunset has been a tradition at Fager’s Island restaurant ever since it became the first major attraction to stake itself on the bay-front in 1975.

Given the gravitas involved, composer Richard Strauss’s “Also sprach Zarathustra” (its fanfare was the theme of “2001: A Space Odyssey”) may have been more apropos.

“Forty years ago, everyone told John Fager he was crazy,” said Mayor Rick Meehan, “but here we are. We’ve already had people in the facility, and the response has been tremendous. They’re actually seeing what they’re here to see, which is Ocean City.”

For decades, common wisdom was that major attractions had to be located on the ocean side of the resort in order to garner consistent business, which was the assumption when the city’s convention center was overhauled, expanded and renamed the Roland E. Powell Convention Center in 1996. But as the scope of the facility has grown, the move has been made to take advantage of its location, an asset previously considered to be negligible.

“I believe Dennis [Dare, former City Manager] said that the only way you could see through to the water was if both doors for the freight elevator were open at the same time,” Meehan said.

But whereas the western part of the center’s ground floor was the previously said freight area, it has now been converted into a windowed walkway for displays and exhibitions, dubbed the Trimper Dockside Exhibit Hall. The loading dock has now been relocated to the building’s south side.

The ballroom, located directly above the exhibit area, was created by enclosing the outdoor deck behind the second-story convention hall, creating one enlarged space.

But this arrangement will see further construction again in the fall, as the second part of the convention center’s renovation begins. Of even larger scope than the ballroom project is the upcoming construction of a theater space, a one-two punch of capital improvements that the city only recently got full support for from the state.

In July, it was announced that the Maryland Stadium Authority had re-committed to its partnership with the city in the convention center, where it leases half of the facility’s operations. When the current lease expires in 2014, the state will sign another that obligates it to continue its 50 percent share of the facility’s running expenses through 2034. Additionally, the Maryland General Assembly passed legislation allowing the city to borrow against its own 0.5 percent food tax to fund capital improvements in advance.

Further, the state will also be contributing $5.7 million of the estimated $14 million cost of the theater project, which will consist of a two-level performing arts atrium with roughly 1,200 seats. The theater will be oriented north-south, with the stage itself on the southern border of what is now the convention center’s central hall ‘C.’ The theater’s balcony seating, vaulted ceiling and fly gallery – the space above the stage itself used for lifting props – will use what is now the rear portion of the second-story convention hall, to whose front portion the ballroom was recently added.

“So now we build another wall [at the back of the ballroom], knock out the floor and put in a 1,200-seat auditorium,” Meehan said.

The ballroom project took more than a year, having begun in August 2011. Noccolino said the theater project is expected to take 14-16 months, beginning next fall and ending in the early winter of 2014. Architectural work on both parts has been done by Becker Morgan, and construction by Whiting & Turner.

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