in our Spotlight on Business Report this was the first holiday weekend for ocean city's new curfew and safety ordinances put in place after a Rowdy Memorial Day Weekend where teens held pop-up parties on the beach and police say they responded to nearly a thousand incidents well the new rules banned backpacks after 8 pm and limit how late teens can stay out Ted Goldberg checked in with local businesses today to see if the new guidelines are taking a hit on tourism it seems like ocean city's new regulations haven't scared away too many beachgoers the last few weekends have been exactly the way that everybody would expect Ocean City to be peaceful family environment Jody levchuk is an ocean city councilman and a small business owner on the boardwalk he says the city had no choice in how it had to react to the huge crowd of teenagers that caused chaos over Memorial Day weekend since then beaches in Ocean City now close at 8 and Boardwalk bathrooms close at 10. this past weekend the city enacted ordinances Banning backpacks from the boardwalk after 8 pm and bringing up the curfew for minors to 11. lavchuk says most people agree with the city's stance the response from the city has been fabulous even though there are some people who aren't happy with it um but we're going to tackle it we're going to stay on top of it an 8 PM Ocean City beach closure is not in a forever thing levchucks says these restrictions might not be in place next year and they could be lifted later this summer he says a contributing factor to Rowdy teenagers is New Jersey's laws that restrict police officers from giving more than a written warning for underage possession when you have juveniles who used to fear the law let's say um it it would automatically stop them from doing something that would questionally get them in trouble now now because of the juvenile Reform Act that was passed two years ago it has restricted police officers to be able to in my opinion do their job properly I think word spread about you know the Liberties that we were kind of giving thinking that we would be able to maintain things but when it got out just more and more kids ended up showing up and unfortunately we had the Rowdy crowds that we had on the boardwalk fellow business owner Bridget Jacobson grew up in Ocean City I do not remember ever seeing large Gatherings like that so my first initial reaction was that it was a little crazy and it was a little overwhelming she also says that past few weekends have been less rambunctious and says it's a tribute to the new regulations for some people it might have seemed a little drastic but I think we had to convey a message that we weren't going to tolerate this Behavior anymore and I think down the road those things we can look at whether the bathrooms end up staying open later whether it become maybe a little bit more lenient with the backpacks because they do know you know a lot of parents carry the backpacks especially when they have small children and stuff like that ocean City's Police Department says it responded to nearly a thousand incidents over Memorial Day weekend but they declined our interview request to give us numbers for the past few weekends Out of Towners who came to the beach today generally agreed that the new rules are a good thing I shouldn't be shocked right because all the kids you know when they have a place to go to gather anything can happen there but no that makes sense why they they had to instill some kind of rules I don't know if like going really strict right away was like better or worse or maybe they could have like slowly like enforced it they're doing it for the correct reason like making sure that the kid the kids are actually being safe and the adults are being safe then it's not for the right reason then it's okay last week week the state assembly's Judiciary Committee Advanced a bill that would allow police officers to give hundred dollar fines for underage alcohol or cannabis possession other state lawmakers have drafted similar legislation that would bump up penalties from a written warning in Ocean City I'm Ted Goldberg NJ Spotlight news support for the business report provided by the Chamber of Commerce Southern New Jersey working for economic Prosperity by uniting business and Community leaders for 150 years membership and event information online at chamber snj.com