Wildwood Weighs Ban on Baggy Pants

Wildwood officials are considering rules that would require visitors to pull up their pants, put on a shirt and wear shoes while on the town's boardwalk.

The proposed regulations are in an ordinance scheduled for a public hearing June 12.

The baggy pants measure requires the waist band of pants, shorts, swimsuits, and skirts to be no lower than 3 inches below the waist to prevent the exposure of skin or underwear.

Wildwood Mayor Ernie Troiano Jr. tells The Press of Atlantic City (http://bit.ly/17pVYHs ) he's tired of complaints about people who "walk around with their butts hanging out."

He says the ordinance is designed to maintain the boardwalk's family appeal. The shoe requirement, he says, is a safety issue.

The proposed regulations state:

• Foot protection, which may include shoes, sneakers or flip-flops that adequately protect one's feet from wood or nails protruding from the surface of the boardwalk, must be worn at all times.

• A shirt which covers the breast and/or pectoral area must be worn after 8 p.m. and until 5 a.m.

• The waist band of shorts, swim-trunks, pants and/or skirts shall not be worn more than 3 inches below the wearer's waist -- interpreted to mean at a level below the crest of the ilium, so as to expose either skin or garment underneath -- at any time.

Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.