Route 40 (https://rtforty.com/)
An Atlantic City beach block between St James Place and Tennessee Avenue should see a third development begin this summer from long-time city businessmen Abraham and Robert Schiff. The brothers are planning to open an on-land extension to their Schiff’s Central Pier, taking inspiration from other redevelopment on the Boardwalk, according to their lawyer. The new plan is to convert a Boardwalk-fronting site that previously housed aging trailers into something like the Boardwalk Biergarten, which has been buzzing since it opened in March. The Schiffs, criticized in the past for owning various Boardwalk eyesores, recently visited the landscaped Biergarten and were impressed by the crowds it draws, their lawyer said.
South Jersey towns have more teachers, police and other government employees as a percent of the total working population than municipalities in the north of the state. In towns like Woodbine, more than one third of the working residents has a local, state or federal government job.
Our corner of South Jersey, also known as the 2nd congressional district, has garnered some national attention since it flipped Republican and voted for President Donald Trump in 2016, after previously voting for President Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012.
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.”
We missed this last week, but Shelby Vittek for New Jersey Monthly has a very useful essay on the hazards of summering in in New Jersey, etc., with red hair. “Here’s my survival kit for a day in the sun: sunscreen that is SPF 70 or higher; lip balm with SPF 30; a wide-brimmed hat (for shade to protect my face); a large beach umbrella (for shade to protect my body); a long-sleeved, chiffon shirt (for more protection); and extra towels (to hide under once the inevitable sunburn sets in).” https://njmonthly.com/articles/jersey-shore/redhead-guide-surviving-the-sun/
It is budget season and the valuable Spotlight has a story on the “tension” between Democratic leaders and the “high-stakes game” in Trenton with unclear winners. It would be cool if we could cover this story so the danger wasn’t a “government shutdown” whatever that is but rather your government’s ongoing habit of using the $34.7 billion it gets to fart around with every year to reward its allies and treat you, its constituents, as the enemy. We’re getting there.
A human-resources worker at the old Revel got her new job back and found not much had changed since she last set foot inside the casino. “I sat down at my same desk, opened the drawer, and there was a ChapStick that I left there four years ago,” she told Wayne Parry of the Associated Press. Think of the vast sums of money that sloshed around from one party to another so this building, and the people who worked there, could get a couple years older, as if we don’t have actual problems facing our society. Horseshoe-Crab Madness
I love this story about horseshoe crabs. I can’t get enough of them, frankly.
As developers from Asbury Park and closer to home are piling into long-neglected beach blocks in Atlantic City’s downturn, one Tennessee Avenue lot-owner has decided now is the time to sell. The Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints has put up for sale a Pacific Avenue-fronting lot directly across from St Nicholas of Tolentine Church.
The Margate Farmer’s Market is back! Season-opener was yesterday. NanLo has accurate coverage and pictures of beautiful carrots in the Downbeach Pilot. The Jersey Peach Pie contest is July 19. There’s also going to be an event by the Rutgers Co-op Extension on “Rediscovering the Tomato” later in the summer.
There’s a Democrat Governor in New Jersey and Dems control the state Senate and Assembly – but the Democrats are divided and that’s a problem when it comes to things like, you know, budgets. The Inquirer’s Andrew Seidman has a long read with insight into what’s happening behind the closed doors. Another budget-fight shutdown could loom in the run up to the July 4 holiday.
Here are some fun stories on school funding! One’s on the tension between local school districts and county vocational schools, and one’s about how much the state says it should give each district versus how much schools actually get. You should read them.
The valuable NJ Spotlight has once again gifted us an interactive map, this one showing voter turnout for the primary county by county. “An analysis of unofficial election turnouts with nearly all the votes counted shows that about 21 percent of all those registered as Democrat or Republican cast ballots for each party’s nominations for U.S. Senate, the state’s dozen seats in the House of Representatives, unexpired state Assembly terms, and a host of county and local offices,” Colleen O’Dea writes. Twenty-eight kids from New Jersey were picked in the MLB draft this week, including Danny Nunan from Ocean City and Robert Boselli who out of Holy Spirit. Reflecting on the weather this spring, it’s amazing that South Jersey produces any baseball players at all, let alone legit professional prospects. That Mike the actual Trout came from Millville is still totally astonishing.
Primaries
Seth Grossman beat Hirsh Singh in the R primary for Congress last night. You can read sensitive coverage somewhere I’m sure. On the other side, Jeff Van Drew won his primary rather more easily than you might have thought given all the hubbub. But the actual interesting political story is that somebody nobody ever heard of got 38% of the votes so rightfully ordained to go to Bob Menendez in the D senate primary. Lisa McCormick “did not report raising any money” Politico says, yet she managed to win Cape May, Hunterdon, Salem, Sussex and Warren counties and “basically tied” Menendez in Gloucester and Somerset counties, which raises an interesting question, specifically: Why didn’t you run for U.S. Senate this year as a Democrat in New Jersey? You could be Lisa McCormick right now.
The Asbury Park Press put together a list of the richest towns in every New Jersey county. Guess which one’s yours. (Question: Should it count if none of the rich people actually live in that municipality?)
The Asbury Park Press has a valuable story about how the municipal court system treats residents as potential revenue streams, which ends up costing you, the residents of New Jersey, lots of money. It’s an old problem where, “Towns rely on court revenue from fines and fees from tickets, municipal ordinance violations and disorderly persons arrests to pad their local budgets. But then judges, who are appointed every three years by the governing body of the town they work in, are beholden to the very officials who decide the fate of their appointments.” “It takes someone who is really strong, someone is self-assured and not afraid of losing their job, to do the right thing many times over again,” one prosecutor says. On a related note, it’s great fun to bash “the Media” and it can be hugely lucrative as well, but guess what happens when local newspapers close up?
If you’ve been reading our pieces about New Jersey’s segregated schools, or shrinking South Jersey enrollment, you might not be surprised to learn that there are people who have Serious Questions about Camden’s enrollment system that lets parents “choose” their kid’s school. You should read this Maddie Hanna piece for the Inquirer.
AC may have been demoted from the World’s Playground to the Entertainment Capital of the Jersey Shore, but people still recognize the Atlantic City brand! Important people from abroad, in fact!