AC Brewery, Money & Politics, Agroecology, EHT’s Alleged ED Drug Smuggler – Wednesday’s Roundup

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AC Brewery
The Press of Atlantic City interviews Christopher DeWalt, who has secured over $1 million in state tax credits to relocate his brewery from Pennsylvania to AC – where it will be right next door to Little Water Distillery in the inlet. “Getting state funding is not an easy deal for anyone, but Atlantic City made the pain much easier to deal with because they were there every step of the way,” DeWalt said. His plan includes bringing 15 employees to the city by the end of the first year and employing 85 to 100 workers at the end of his 10-year tax credit program. Money & Politics
NJ Spotlight profiles the executive director of the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) which yesterday held its first full meeting in almost a year, after waiting on Gov. Chris Christie to nominate replacements to fill two empty seats. ELEC is charged with overseeing campaign finance filings from the roughly 6,000 political candidates in the state (!) and it also handles quarterly and annual lobbyist filings.

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Bike Share Scheme, Credit Rating, Birds of May – Tuesday’s Roundup

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Bike Share Scheme
Ventnor’s Vince Sacco is working to bring a bike-share scheme Downbeach that will function using an app to unlock one of 10 bikes at a preliminary five bike stations spread between Ventnor, Margate and Longport, The Press of Atlantic City reports. We are all in. This is Elinor writing (good morning!) and I lived in London and New York when bike-share programs were brought in there, with a lot of success in spite of doubters. I also used a bike share to commute to work while we lived in Mexico City for several years, where it was also successful. I would be a big user if it starts here – and I’d love to see it extend eventually to Atlantic City.

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Beach Smoking Ban, Aviation Training Course Delay, Takeover Takes Back – Monday’s Roundup

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Beach Smoking Ban
Longport has passed an ordinance to stop smoking on its beach, The Current reports. There will be fines for violations, but residents at the Longport Board of Commissioners’ meetings said that the ban is worthless unless it is enforced. Others at the meeting, however, pointed out that the ban will prevent health problems associated with second-hand smoke while having fewer cigarette butts around will help to keep the beach clean. Aviation Training Course Delay
A new program that would train and certify students in aircraft maintenance at the Atlantic City International Airport has been delayed. Some county officials had hoped to have the program ready in June, but it will now likely be up and running by the end of the year, wrote John De Rosier for The Press of Atlantic City.

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FAA Tech Center Budget In Play, Linwood Teacher Case, CRDA Layoffs – Friday’s Roundup

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FAA Tech Center Budget In Play
Thousands of federal employees and contractors at the Tech Center are waiting for budget details that could affect the future of Atlantic County’s great non-gaming employment hope. Amy Rosenberg of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes that Rep. Frank LoBiondo is also keenly aware of potential funding issues coming up at the center, which could also see changes if a Trump plan to privatize air-traffic control comes into effect. Read more on what’s at stake here. Linwood Teacher Case
Linwood municipal court will hear a case against Kimberly Peschi, 40, a teacher at Bell Haven School, who is accused of kicking a student’s chair out from under him, which caused him to hit his head on the ground. There were witnesses to the incident, which was also captured on the school’s camera system, Lynda Cohen of Breaking AC reports here, adding that the parents and Board of Education members have all seen the video. CRDA Layoffs
The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, locally infamous for its splashy spending on ill-fated projects (laser lighthouse, uber alles?), has cut 15 percent of its workforce, Nick Huba reports for The Press of Atlantic City.

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Shrinking Population, Petition To Save AC Water Authority – Thursday’s Roundup

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Shrinking Population
Atlantic County has seen more than 3,700 people leave in the last two years, according to new county-level population estimates published by the U.S. Census Bureau today. People started leaving Atlantic County in 2014, when four casinos closed, but the rate of departures increased in 2015 and 2016. We mapped how the county compares to other South Jersey counties here. Interestingly, Gloucester County is the only one in the region with a population that has grown since 2010, while in Salem and Cape May counties the death rate is outstripping the birth rate. Petition to Save AC Water Authority

The Press of Atlantic City’s Christian Hetrick reports on a citizen effort to force a referendum of any sale of the water authority.

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The Lead Goose, Little Egg Boating Worries and Parkway Construction – Wednesday’s Roundup

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The Lead Goose
Apparently Wawa has an employee known as the lead goose (aka CEO) and he’s an alumnus of St. Augustine Prep. Vineland native Chris Gheysens went back to his alma mater to spread the word of the goose and The Press has this story on his talk. There are some details in the piece that are kind of telling on the state of retail in the 21st Century: Wawa KNOWS you spend an average of 3 minutes and 46 seconds in its stores. They are on a MISSION to REDUCE that TIME. It will be interesting to see what happens when competition to Wawa moves in, since the Royal Farms chain that is also expanding in South Jersey offers seating.

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Viral Fight-Stopper, A Stockton Story, Intervention for Psychiatric Patients – Tuesday’s Roundup

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Viral Fight-Stopper
An Atlantic City resident, seeing two teenagers fighting in the street while their friends watched, laughed and filmed, decided to interrupt. The video of the fight that turned into two teens shaking hands has now gone viral, Lynda Cohen of Breaking AC reports. The man – identified by friends as Ibn Ali – points out that the fighters’ friends are laughing at them and says they should think of their parents. Then he says, “You all don’t shake hands, I’m not leaving.” And the magic happens. You can watch the video here.

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A Hot-Pink Middle Finger, Fentanyl, AC Takeover Latest – Monday’s Roundup

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A Hot-Pink Middle Finger
We wrote on Friday about an Atlantic City building that at various points was going to be a Sbarro or a Chili’s or a Crackerbarrel or a Hooter’s and a sports bar and is now a boarded-up hot-pink middle finger to Atlantic City’s de facto planning agency, the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority. And it is the subject of a lawsuit. If that doesn’t make you want to weep or laugh (in a sad kind of way), consider that the building in question was once the Patsy Wallace building, from which local residents obtained non-perishables as recently as Superstorm Sandy. In case you missed it, we also looked at local after-school programs that are on the block as a result of planned federal education spending cuts. Fentanyl
More than 30 pounds of one of the world’s most deadly opioids, Fentantyl, was recovered from several raids by law enforcement – in South Jersey, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

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Public Safety Rally, Monopoly Board Properties, Peaches – Friday’s Roundup

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Public Safety Rally
There will be a rally today at noon in the Atlantic City Hall lobby, to highlight the impact the state’s cuts are having on the city’s police and fire department and how, with peak tourism season around the corner, the new status quo is rather bleak. Christian Hetrick of The Press of Atlantic City reported yesterday that the state has dialed back – a tad – from its police pay-cut project (which went into effect Wednesday) to make a special exception for AC Police Officer Josh Vadell who was shot in the head last year. The police department, unsurprisingly, was unimpressed: On Twitter, PBA Local 24 criticized the state’s statement, Hetrick wrote. “Oh ok so each officer that gets shot going forward will we just have to sue to get this same ‘determination.’ Thanks,” the tweet said. Monopoly Board Properties
NJ.Com has revisited an old favorite activity in these parts, with a piece looking at Here’s What Property on the Monopoly Streets of Atlantic City Sells for Today.

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Meet the New Prosecutor, Accountability (County-Style), What Spring? – Thursday’s Roundup

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Meet the New Prosecutor
Atlantic County’s new prosecutor, Damon Tyner, was sworn in on Wednesday and Lynda Cohen of Breaking AC was there to hear what he had to say. Violence, drugs and human trafficking are his top priorities, Cohen reports. Tyner is an Atlantic City native and talked about his mission in the context of the community. “I think the opiate problem has more of an impact on the community than the common citizen realizes,” Tyner said. “I’ve seen the drug problem just destroy families, destroy people.” Cohen also has video from the ceremony on her site, at the link above.

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