rich 1.0 Action Network https://actionnetwork.org <link href='https://actionnetwork.org/css/style-embed-v3.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' /><script src='https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v6/letter/restore-access-to-public-beaches?format=js&source=widget'></script><div id='can-letter-area-restore-access-to-public-beaches' style='width: 100%'><!-- this div is the target for our HTML insertion --></div> Southern Maryland https://actionnetwork.org/groups/southern-maryland https://actionnetwork.org//images/generic_facebook.jpg If you want to help ensure residents and tourists, regardless of race, are granted access to public beaches, please sign the letter to email Delegate Jeffrie Long and Senator Michael Jackson to sponsor legislation prohibiting municipalities from restricting access to public beaches that receive state funding. ************************* In Chesapeake Beach, town residents are organizing to re-establish public access to Brownies Beach that has been restricted since 2020. This public beach has been a town staple and an economic boost to the local economy. From being a place where community can come together to being a hotspot for tourist who frequent local businesses, access to Brownies Beach has been integral to our town. Unfortunately, the town council has restricted access to Brownies Beach, which is a federal, state, and municipal funded beach, by only allowing residents to access the beach. This restriction has not only stopped tourist and people on spring and summer break, it has also negatively affected local businesses who have seen a reduce in customers in the spring and summer months. During a town council meeting in April of last year, where the council voted to keep the policy restricting access to Brownies Beach in place until 2025, in a response to a council-members concerns about the economic harms that continuing the restriction could put on local businesses by not allowing tourists access to the beach, the Mayor said "We don't want them people down here". This rhetoric not only speaks negatively about the tourists who spend their money at our local businesses, it's also a loud dog whistle against the Black tourists, whose numbers had been increasing leading up to the restriction, from Anne Arundel and Prince George's County. If you want to help ensure residents and tourists, regardless of race, are granted access to public beaches, please sign the letter to email Delegate Jeffrie Long and Senator Michael Jackson to sponsor legislation prohibiting municipalities from restricting access to public beaches that receive state funding. https://actionnetwork.org/letters/406474a72473d5e7589fce33a2443150935a6f92