Route 40 (https://rtforty.com/)
Construction could start as soon as the Spring for the next phase of the Orange Loop entertainment and apartment project in Atlantic City.
This phase of the beach-block project will include a 10-room hotel, retail and apartment space, an entertainment area featuring a stage and concession stands and a 51-space parking lot.
How much confidence do Atlantic City City Council members have in Mayor Frank Gilliam?
Last week, a group of councilmen proposed restricting the mayor’s authority over city mercantile licenses, hinting they thought Gilliam had acted improperly.
Last Monday Nathan Bryson, who is the Curator of Organs at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, was surveying a damaged section of the 85-year-old pipe organ in the main auditorium when he noticed an object at the bottom of one of the pipes, Major Diapason, Pedal Left division.
The budget and appropriations committee in the state senate forwarded a bill that would require groups that spend at least $3,000 to influence elections/policy in New Jersey to disclose their donors. There’s also a $10,000 threshold that triggers disclosures.
The primary sponsors are Troy Singleton and Linda Greenstein in the senate.
Happy Thursday Campers. Hope you’re having a great morning. Mayor Gilliam was at the City of Atlantic City City Council meeting last night, his first appearance in a while, but he kind of kept a low profile. Gilliam’s father, Frank McCoy Gilliam, Sr., died earlier this month, and the council offered condolences. Thanks to Michelle Brunetti Post of the Press of AC for her thorough story which supplied those details on the mayor’s father, as well as many others.
Carl Icahn appealed the taxes on the Taj Mahal and was given a refund by whatever or whoever is deputized to make the decision to give rich people their taxes back in New Jersey. I don’t have a platoon of accountants handy to explain it to me.
NJ Cannabis Insider and NJ Advance Media are reporting that Chris Brown is one of three Republicans in the state senate that may provide the decisive votes in favor of marijuana legalization. In exchange the trio wants funding for addiction treatment (especially outpatient opioid treatment), funding for the 911 system and reimbursement for municipalities to train “Drug Recognition Experts” to test drivers suspected of operating a vehicle under the influence of marijuana. Bateman has said drugged driving is the biggest issue ahead of legalization, but training the experts (in a state with 565 municipalities) is likely to be very expensive. A spokesman for the senator said told Route 40 Brown continued to have an open mind on the legislation.
Sam Chabotar is doing an around the island swim this summer to promote/help reinstate the Around the Island Swim as a “premier international event” in 2020. That thing was great.
Representative Bill Pascrell asks a question I know has been on my mind latley: “Why is Congress so dumb?”
Almost unbelievably, he puts forward a plausible answer.
Old Revel
The A.P. reports somebody bought a majority stake in the casino property formerly known as the Revel, and Bruce Deifik, who bought it from Glenn Straub, is keeping a “small, non-controlling interest.” Tyner Suit
Current and former employees of the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office filed their lawsuit against Damon Tyner etc., as advertised, alleging a culture of sexism, cronyism and impropriety. The suit also names First Assistant Prosecutor Cary Shill and Deputy First Assistant Prosecutor Mario Formica. In a statement, Tyner said, “The plaintiffs are living in an alternative universe. The very same conduct they accuse me…of committing was actually carried out by them and others during their brief, ineffective period of leadership…”
The old “I’m rubber.
The Philly Inquirer reports that the former Revel/TEN is “possibly headed back on the market” and faces outstanding construction liens for $1.1 million. Not to diminish the importance of lenderly people fighting over their money, but lots of those casinos have liens and this/these one(s) involve the manager of the nightclub, Joey Morrissey, who is suing the new owner, Bruce Deifik, and this lawsuit is what’s alleging Deifik wants to sell. I love the Spotlight but here are two side-by-side stories: One is $11 billion in tax credits to New Jersey businesses, given out with defective oversight. The other is an op-ed from the head of the NJ Chamber of Commerce that we need to stop ignoring the “needs of NJ’s business community.” A bright fireball appeared in the sky over NJ the other day.
County Prosecutor Damon Tyner is facing a lawsuit over gender discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace. This follows up on the mortgage-fraud allegations and allegations Tyner futzed around in the Kauffman case improperly.
There was a fire at the Sea Breeze condos yesterday. Amanda Auble at the Press has many details in a tidy narrative.
Does it seem like there’s been an uptick in these? Maybe it’s just me.
Here’s a very wonkish piece on the state-of-play in marijuana reform. I’m not sure I understand it, but Phil Murphy wants one thing and the Steve Sweeney/Craig Coughlin axis want another, different thing. Probably the farting around is just due to the time-honored ‘transactional’ nature of New Jersey politics.
The Seagull Classic is this weekend. Who remembers those old ads on Channel 2 with Tom Williams doing the voice work? Mike McGarry at the Press has a cool story about Milt Wagner who put up 52 for Camden in the basketball tourney in 1980.
The new stretch of Atlantic City Boardwalk that opened in the summer will be getting lights and ramps, according to a bid notice this week. Temporary ramp access at the end of the new length of Boardwalk near the Flagship in the Inlet had to be installed after the project opened, without lights or ramps. The boards were added above a new sea wall built by the Army Corps of Engineers as part of a project funded by the federal, state and local governments. The boardwalk was added as part of the sea wall project, but the engineers said the city was responsible for access and lighting. Walters Marine Construction is seeking suppliers and subcontractors for the new project, which will install lights and ramps between Melrose Avenue in the north Inlet and Oriental Avenue in the south Inlet.
State Senator Nicholas Scutari ponders a valuable question: What lessons from gambling legalization in Atlantic City can be applied to marijuana legalization statewide?
Well, anecdotally, we’re 40-years in and we have a 35%+ poverty rate, a ring of angry suburbanites in pickup trucks and there’s a bankrupt casino impresario currently doing standup and setting the Constitution on fire in the White House every night.
Maybe we should try a different model.
The City of Atlantic City Council voted 9-0 to issue a vote of confidence in Police Chief Henry White, following a series of articles from NJ Advance Media based on data that showed the Atlantic City Police Department used force at a higher rate than any other municipality in the state except one (Maplewood).