Route 40 (https://rtforty.com/)
Around 11 am on Thursday morning—about an hour before it closed—two purple suitcases sat toppled in the lobby of the Fox Manor Hotel, maybe the most notorious of the many notorious boarding houses on Pacific Avenue in Atlantic City. A dismal parade of tired and vulnerable guests milled around the bags. A few of the guests had been staying at the hotel for months—a few for years.
Atlantic County isn’t known for its small businesses or entrepreneurs. But in between the casinos, small business owners are working together to create new services and products.
Photographer Kelly Lentz earlier this year started taking pictures of Brigantine businesses and sharing them on Facebook and Instagram under the theme ‘Spotlight on Local’. Lentz started off wanting to photograph the businesses to show them the value of hiring a professional. But she found she was creating new relationships.
The developer behind the planned ‘Orange Loop’ project t0 bring a mixed-use development to a run-down Atlantic City beach block has paid just under $1 million for 11 vacant properties owned by two local businessmen and land owners.
NJSpotlight reports that a battle is brewing in New Jersey’s not-yet-existent offshore wind industry, between the companies that want to build the offshore wind farms and other companies, known as transmission developers, who build the power lines that deliver the energy to customers.
On Wednesday night at the monthly gathering of the South Jersey Poets Collective, Cole Larry Eubanks, who has been an ice-cream man on the Atlantic City beach for 24 years, at least, read an original work on immigration.
Historically unpopular former Governor Chris Christie announced he’s putting a book out this winter called Let Me Finish, a brilliant title when you think about it, that cunningly pre-supposes the good people of New Jersey have ever had any real success getting Christie to shut the f*ck up in the first place. Longstory short: Atlantic City’s own Jitney Guy took to Twitter to ask, innocuously enough, if Atlantic City might get a mention, prompting a response from Christie’s own brother, who is an exec at Ernst & Young, who didn’t like that JG had referred to his Grace the Governor as a “guy.” “‘The guy’? You mean the 55th Governor of NJ? The Republican who won twice in a blue state?
A second Stockton student has come forward to allege in court she was raped by a graduate and that the school did not do enough to prevent the sexual assaults. The suit names a fraternity that was “unrecognized” by the school but still held parties off campus.
Lynda Cohen reports on the number of medical marijuana dispensaries Phil Murphy says we should have in New Jersey. Murphy said 10,000 new patients joined the program since the start of this year.
A couple of old but good stories from The Pine Barrens Tribune: Nixon’s General Store in Tabernacle is changing hands. It’s been run by Jack and Nancy McGinnis for 35 years. It was bought by Jack’s grandparents, Abner and “Babe” Nixon in 1956.
Asbury-Park developer Patrick Fasano paid $919,995 for a bunch of properties owned by Gary Hill and John Schultz on St. James and New York Avenues. Fasano’s plans for this real estate have been reported (by the excellent Erin Serpico at the Press of AC) but Elinor has details on pricing, from the land records. To be honest, I heard Millennial “shipping-container-style hotel” and had a picture in my head, then I saw a picture of the food they’re serving at Bourré and it looks like meat strips, served with side meat, a mug of hot cheese and maybe some more onions and meat. Also collard greens.
So Johnny X who owns the Ducktown Tavern said $16,000 worth of fireworks were stolen from a tent in the parking lot outside his bar/restaurant in the wee hours of July 2, which is a shame of course but hey what do you expect in that neighborhood, Lynda Cohen reports. Then surveillance footage showed boxes (the fireworks, we’re told) being kind of lazily loaded into a pickup truck by some Atlantic City police officers, and now I don’t know what to think. But the PBA President says we shouldn’t attempt to pass judgement in public. “It appears some very strong accusations have been thrown at several of our members.” “When the investigation is complete, we are sure the truth will change the tone of the rhetoric and theme to these complaints.
“Shoppers arrived Saturday morning and found what resembles a set for a movie about a suburban apocalypse,” writes The Inquirer’s Kevin Riordan about the death rattle of the Burlington Center mall, one of New Jersey’s “worst” and “saddest” failed shopping centers.
Seth Grossman says the (now infamous) diversity tape helped his candidacy. He would know best. In the weeks since the story broke, he’s doubled-down repeatedly in other news outlets and touted the backlash in fundraising requests.
Fisherman’s Energy, a developer hoping to build an offshore wind farm 3 miles from the Atlantic City coast, is hoping to file a new plan with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities this month, according to NJ Spotlight. The BPU twice rejected the project, but the developer is hopeful the regulator is now moving to implement a new law that Gov. Murphy recently signed to boost offshore wind projects.
On the Twitterbox, Jim Kennedy points out the ORC has accumulated a shocking number of “terrible” reviews already, though one I read complained that the problem was the slot machines at the ORC were the same machines they had at the Revel, which they liked (sorry “loved”) so I don’t get it.
We are going to be taking a break from the daily Roundup for two weeks (back on Monday July 9). We’re hoping this will give us a bit of time to work on some articles that we’ve been planning for the website, as well as catching up with other bits and pieces like the featured images review (find that over on our Instagram page). We also have a bunch of personal and professional commitments to take care of.
The number of wineries that will ship booze directly to your home could go up, substantially, under proposed legislation in the legislature. How did we not know about this in high school?
You can’t affordably rent a two-bedroom apartment anywhere in the United States on minimum wage, according to a new report that tracks the gap between wages and rents nationally, and New Jersey is one of the more expensive states. Matt Skoufalos’ NJ Pen takes a look at what that means in South Jersey. “This is why New Jersey is number one for millennials still living at home.”