Route 40 (https://rtforty.com/author/sprouseb/page/22/)
A new poll found only 33% of people ages 18 to 34 do not consider casinos “depressing” and David Danzis at the Press of AC called every Atlantic City gambling property – including the two new ones – for insight as to why.
He also talked to some actual Millennials who were having a good time.“I’m really puzzled as to why Atlantic City isn’t killing it,” one said.
The start of the season is rapidly approaching and the Margate beach is still a mess, Edward Van Embden for The Current reports.
***Looking for exclusive, direct-to-your-phone updates on Atlantic City area news? There’s an app for that! You can now download our Route 40 app via the Apple store or Google Play. We are so grateful to the Center For Cooperative Media at Montclair State University and the Push App and everyone else who has made this possible (read more about this project in New Jersey here).***
New Jersey American Water announced a 12% rate increase, effective next month. I’m sure their water’s delicious.
Max Pizarro did like a ten-minute interview with Jeff Van Drew at a fundraiser in Pittsgrove and is that Ron Jaworski behind him waving the beer around? I’m not sure what Van Drew said, though at one point he relayed the riveting anecdote of a friend who still insisted on calling him, Senator Van Drew, Jeff, despite the dizzying heights to which he, Jeff, had risen in local politics recently. “That’s what this country was based upon–real people who really came from, in some sense, the working-sector, whether it was in a profession, whether it was in any field…,” he said, etc. Nothing quite says Real America to me like a Michelob Ultra wrapped in the cocktail napkin they insist on giving you with your beer at fancy-ass fundraisers. JVD also said one of his proudest accomplishments was fighting for people in his district who had medically necessary procedures that weren’t covered under their insurance–not by expanding access to healthcare on principle, but by calling the president of the health insurance company to intervene.
We had a storm! Some trees were down, reportedly. Gnats were plentiful this morning, there’s a raccoon on the Atlantic City Boardwalk, an opossum in Chelsea, deer in Venice Park, and a horse was spotted walking down the Atlantic City Expressway Monday afternoon.
I hate to sound too biblical, but is Mother Earth trying to tell us something?
Lots of different ways to report the SCOTUS ruling that will allow sports betting in New Jersey, and elsewhere. Here’s one with the words “game changer” in the headline. Here’s one from Reuters. Here’s a thoughtful one from Matt Friedman. Here’s the obligatory will-it-save-Atlantic City one.
The Supreme Court has OK’d sports betting, which is good news for us because as of yesterday, New Jersey was “already gearing up to cash in,” per The Wall Street Journal (paywall).
Bird Life
It’s easy to forget we have lots of amazing bird species in Atlantic County, especially if you don’t get out to the Forsythe very often or are perennially distractable like I am. Have you seen my car keys? What is this typer thing doing here. Oh the Press of AC has a cool story about the World Series of Birding, coming to town this Saturday. Dateline: WOODBINE.
Our World Famous Atlantic City Boardwalk has grown longer by at least a few hundred feet in the last couple weeks (who’s counting?) but anyone contemplating a wander on foot to the end should be advised the Boardwalk currently dead-ends rather dramatically at around Grammercy Place, with no ramps, steps or exits back to Maine Avenue as of now. To get back to street level, you have to turn around and walk back to Pacific Avenue (more than 1,000 feet by my unofficial reckoning) to find a ramp to get down to street level. The issue was raised Tuesday morning at the Boardwalk Committee Meeting where residents pointed out they’d seen people climbing over the railing to get to Maine Avenue. If you’re on a bike or otherwise mobile, that might not be a big deal but if you’re not so mobile, a two-thousand-plus foot detour is a bigger deal. When I was there I saw a 72 year old man (his estimate) who had scaled the wall with his dog.
Nicole Leonard at the Press of AC has a depressing and informative and amazing story on the opioid epidemic through the lens of EMTs and “responder fatigue” that sometimes comes with saving the same people over and over again. “For some, it’s become a calling. For others, the frustrating, heart-wrenching cycle of emergency calls for overdoses has caused a type of fatigue that is hard to come back from.” Amy Rosenberg’s story on Mayor Gilliam’s State of the City address contains the interesting nugget that only one member of the City Council attended the big luncheon, “a sign of the contentious and complicated local political scene.” Sheesh.