Route 40 (https://rtforty.com/2016/08/)
Friend of the site Dennis Niceler, of the Egg Harbor City Historical Society, sent in this photo of a button, dating from the original casino referendum in the 70s. “At the end of the day, it’s just a reminder of yet another broken promise.”
In Atlantic City’s Inlet neighborhood, a lot has come and gone. Mel’s Furniture, at 508 Atlantic Ave, has stayed the course since the 1950s. Philip Weinberg, son of founder Mel Weinberg, recently stopped to talk with us about the prospects for the area. A lot is riding on reviving the northern end of the boardwalk, home to two of the casinos that closed their doors in 2014 (Showboat and Revel) and the Trump Taj Mahal (slated to close this fall), but Weinberg said he is optimistic new owners at the first two properties can turn them around. More important for the furniture business will be the Stockton University campus, which could open in the next two years in the south of Atlantic City, he said.
Glenn Straub, the developer who owns the Atlantic City property formerly known as the Revel casino, and the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA), are hoping to finish the approval process to reopen the site by the end of September, according to documents filed with CRDA on Wednesday. Straub has been complaining to local media about the drawn-out approval process, while CRDA, which governs planning in Atlantic City’s Tourism District, rejected the earlier application because of concerns about access to the site, since Straub wanted to locate a ropes course in the building’s former main entrance. A successful relaunch for the property is key for cash-strapped Atlantic City and, more widely, for Atlantic County. The Revel property is a top taxpayer and the $2.6 billion site has been a looming empty eyesore on the boardwalk since closing in September 2014. The application that Straub made on appeal includes concessions and suggested changes to the vehicle access to the property.
Donald Trump got an 83% ($25 million) discount on his tax bill after “longtime friend” Chris Christie graduated from U.S. attorney for New Jersey to governor of the state, the New York Times reports, citing public records. Christie and his big mom pants are now top advisers to the Trump campaign, which as we all know is a false-flag operation to drumpf up publicity for the Trump TV media empire, meaning we may see Christie in the barber’s chair at Wrestlemania 2018. A Christie spokesman said the small matter of $25 million, which the state had been fighting with Trump over for years, was too inconsequential and “routine” for Christie to have even noticed at the time. The Times says Christie has known Trump since 2002, Christie was invited to Trump’s third wedding (2005) and that, “They have double dated with their wives.”
… The Atlantic City airshow happened Wednesday.
Atlantic City’s trees, which already contend with hurricanes, salt water, pollution, icy winters and scorching concrete, are now also showing wear and tear as a result of the city’s financial crisis and its haphazard patchwork of planning rules. Since the Public Works department’s budget was slashed amid city-wide cuts, there are fewer people on hand to prune, water and care for the city’s greenery. Now, damaged trees are causing hazards and few replacement trees are being planted. City trees matter because, as every elementary school kid knows, they give us oxygen. But they can also help increase property values, make a city more attractive and do useful things like provide shade and suck up storm-water runoff. The importance of having a so-called urban forest is part of state and city law.
Councilman Kaleem Shabazz, of Atlantic City’s third ward, stoops to pick up a piece of litter and brush away a weed that’s obscuring a memorial plaque. No one else in the park – and there are about two dozen people hanging out under the large shady trees – seems to notice the councilman’s effort. Atlantic City’s government has secured the bulk of the funding it needs to transform the park from a stopping-place for drug users and homeless people into a recreation area for the hundreds of kids living on the neighboring blocks. But the city is seeking about $100,000 from Atlantic County’s open spaces fund for so-called ‘gap’ funding, to allow the city to officially start the project and release the funding from the non-profits and other organizations that are contributing most of the cash. The problem is that Atlantic County has not approved any open-spaces funding requests in the last two years.