Hey Virginia Beach, Bedtime Is Now 9:30 p.m.!
They’re waving the white flag in Virginia Beach. After an almost 3-hour public hearing at which speaker after speaker begged their representatives not to impose an adult curfew at the Oceanfront for the next two weekends, city council members surrendered to the thugs and closed the place.
It was an embarrassing admission that these elected officials are incapable of doing their jobs.
The vote was 10-1 with only Jennifer Rouse voting no. Her reason was terrible: She prefers declaring the Oceanfront a “gun-free zone” because as we all know, a few “no guns” signs would cause all the gangbangers to leave their guns at home.
Frankly, I can’t think of a part of town where I’d want a gun MORE than at the Oceanfront on a Saturday night.
This is not a city run by Mensa members.
In response to two separate mass shooting incidents over the past two months, the resort area is effectively closed for business from 9:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. for the next two weekends. The parameters of the curfew are from Rudee Loop to 31st Street.
Yep, they’re punishing law-abiding tourists and locals who like to stay out past 9:30 to prevent thugs from shooting each other.
One speaker, a woman who lives in a 27th Street condo lamented the fact that she will be not allowed out of her home to meet friends for ice cream on a balmy Saturday night this weekend.
She’s right. Thanks to city council, she’s a prisoner in her own home. So are all the tourists in the beachfront hotels.
We haven’t had this much fun since covid, when Ralph Northam ran around the commonwealth closing everything.
Lawyer Tim Anderson says the battle is not over. He’s heading to court to block the curfews.
Godspeed, Tim.
Before yesterday’s vote Police Chief Paul Neudigate spouted statistics and showed scary surveillance footage of mobs of people on the streets as gunfire broke out.
He said the oceanfront should not be a “combat zone.” Hey, we all agree.
The chief’s solution:
“My request is for a 9 p.m. zone curfew. It is a necessity.”
Shutting down the oceanfront reflects a complete lack of imagination. Every restaurant and business in the resort corridor is going to take a hit these next two weeks. Hourly employees are going to lose money, too. And tourists? They’re not coming back.
If they even come. Look for a flood of cancellations.
Maybe it’s time for everyone - the mayor, city council and the police chief to resign - and give power to people who respect private businesses and aren’t afraid to call out gangs by name and get tough with gunslingers.
Most speakers told city council to stop with the nanny state solution. If we learned anything during covid it’s that people don’t like being told when to go to bed. Ralph Northam famously told Virginians that nothing good happens after midnight. Now Beach residents are being told nothing good happens after 9:30.
Many asked the question, “What comes next?”
There were no answers. The city manager noted that March and April are the violent months around the resort strip and that things settle down as the summer gets rolling.
That’s reassuring.
The chief noted that he needs more cops, plus the area needs better lighting and higher-quality cameras and drones.
Here’s an idea: Instead of using tax dollars to build wave parks, how about buying a few 100-watt bulbs for the Atlantic Avenue streetlights?
Trouble is, violence at the oceanfront is nothing new. The city has been tiptoeing around the racially sensitive issue since the 1980s.
Mayor Bobby Dyer quipped that there is an old saying about Virginia Beach, “Before 10 p.m. you’re living in Mayberry. After 10, you’re living in Tombstone.”
Cute.
Maybe we should put that on a billboard at the entrance of the resort area.
