Controlled Burns, Cherry Hill JCC Threat, Casino News, AC Takeover News – Tuesday’s Roundup

By |

Controlled Burns
With wet weather forecast for the second half of the week, South Jersey forestry teams have stepped up prescribed burn efforts to clear the dead twigs and brush that feed wildfires, NJ 101.5 reports. There’s a chance you might smell the burns today, even though they are not in Atlantic County. Meanwhile, Wednesday is set to bring record temperatures AND thunderstorms.

Cherry Hill JCC Threat
The Katz JCC in Cherry Hill received a telephoned bomb threat yesterday, amid a wave of threats made to Jewish Community Centers around the country. The threats were unfounded, reported Philly.com. The Margate Katz JCC through Monday had not received any threat.

More about: Roundup

RUMP v TRUMP, Manco & Manco and the Pinelands Pipeline – Monday’s Roundup

By |

RUMP v TRUMP
A Philadelphia recycler says it bought two iconic “TRUMP” signs removed from the Taj Mahal in February for $250, and is suing for at least $100,000 after the seller claimed the sale was invalid. The recycling company is called Recycling of Urban Materials for Profit (or RUMP, as a surprisingly small number of outlets seem to have noticed). Read The Press of Atlantic City piece here. Manco & Manco
Lynda Cohen at BreakingAC has the details on the sentencing (late on Friday) of the owners of Manco & Manco’s Pizza for tax evasion and making false statements to IRS agents (respectively. Charles Bangle, 57, of Somers Point, was sentenced to 15 months for evading taxes and failing to report more than a quarter-million dollars in taxable income.

More about: Roundup

AC’s Cockamanie Convention Biz, Beach Sand and Lawsuits – Friday’s Roundup

By |

AC’s Cockamanie Convention Biz
We took a magnifying glass to the state’s assertion that last year was Atlantic City’s best year for conferences, tradeshows and meetings. It was, but there’s a big but. It turns out that when a state agency pays casinos to build fancy new conference centers, businesses start holding their events there, instead of at the Atlantic City Convention Center, which is run by the same state agency (CRDA). Of course, bringing a million people into the city last year was no mean feat and Meet AC deserves credit – but the luxury taxes paid by those visitors are right now being used to fund a $2 million bathroom refit at Boardwalk Hall. In a city where almost 40 percent live in poverty.

More about: Roundup

The Messl, False Immigration Raid Report, Overdose Death Conviction – Thursday’s Roundup

By |

The Messl
If you’ve never had a messl, you’re missing out. We sat down yesterday at Essl’s Dugout (home of the messl breakfast sandwich) to chat with McKinnon Erario about his Instagram project to #SaveMomandPop by drawing attention through his amazing photography to some of South Jersey’s fantastic family-owned eating spots. Check out the story here on Route 40 and if you’ve got a good suggestion of where the project should go next, get in touch with McKinnon via Instagram. False Immigration Raid Report
Lynda Cohen at BreakingAC has made ‘confirm, then report’ her motto. There was a local example yesterday of why that motto matters more than ever, when Pleasantville’s mayor spent most of the day battling a bad rumor fueled by a Facebook post that fed off the recently heightened worries of immigrants.

More about: Roundup

Expensive Bathrooms, Buena Teacher Arrested, Dinosaur Park – Wednesday’s Roundup

By |

Expensive Bathrooms
New Jersey’s Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, charged with the upkeep of some of Atlantic City’s most important public buildings and spaces, yesterday approved spending up to $2 million on two sets of bathrooms in Boardwalk Hall. That might sound like a lot, but – the Authority was told – the bathrooms have been out of order for decades and major plumbing work is needed. Plus, SOSH Architects did a 500-page report with details of all the beautiful fittings, so at least some of the high costs are transparent. But there’s another reason why it costs multiple police-and-fire-salaries to refit a bathroom in a city that is struggling to meet its debt payments and where the same state that approves of $2 million bathroom upgrades is trying to cut public safety jobs. Because Boardwalk Hall is run by the state, it has to pay prevailing wages to trades for any work done, which increases the cost.

More about: Roundup

Pinelands Pipeline, Bail Reform, Drug Disposal, Wildfires – Tuesday’s Roundup

By |

Pinelands Pipeline
The Pinelands Commission could vote on Friday to approve the controversial gas pipeline through the pine barrens. Proponents of the pipeline, which will be built by a consortium including Atlantic County’s South Jersey Industries, say it will bring cheaper gas to the area, while opponents say its construction goes against the rules that protect the pinelands. The commission’s meeting is set for Friday at 9.30 am in Cherry Hill. Details here via Shore News Today. Bail Reform
We are seven weeks into New Jersey’s bail reform, which did away with cash bail, and experts are divided on whether the program is working.

More about: Roundup

Stockton Coffee, Online Gaming, Whither Christie – Monday’s Roundup

By |

Stockton Coffee
Stockton University has put out a call for proposals from “national and regional” coffee chains to open a coffee shop right on Atlantic City’s boardwalk in its future residential campus. The store must be ready to serve the 533 students who will take up residence in August 2018. Also, the store will have to contribute a portion of its revenue toward the Stockton site’s tax bill, so if it becomes a thriving business (and it’s hard not to see it being a winner) it is good news all-round for the city. Story from Route 40 here. Online Gaming
If you’re interested in Atlantic City’s casino industry, NJ 101.5 has an interesting writeup on a recent research report that concludes that online gaming is actually helping draw more people into the real casinos in Atlantic City.

More about: Roundup

Tennessee Ave, Airports, Women Standing For Local Elections – Friday’s Roundup

By |

Tennessee Ave
The show-stopper at a development event yesterday in Atlantic City was a plan to bring a walkable, bikeable, eatery-slash-coffee-spot-slash-hipster-hangout to the long-neglected center of town, right off the boardwalk. The guys behind the Tennessee Ave Transformation envision something like New Orleans’s Bourbon Street or Philadelphia’s South Street – a place chock-full of people, with open seating outside of cafes and bars, park-like areas and spots for music and other performances. “We want to infuse the street with a ton of energy and art from the asphalt up. We’re going to make it the home base for high quality markets with great crafts and food,” said Evan Sanchez, originally from Pleasantville, one of the #ThisIsAC gang and a startup advisor. Sanchez is working with Mark Callazzo (The Iron Room, 1 N. Boston) and Zenith Shah (a financial buff who grew up in AC and also recently moved back to the area) on the development, which is set to get under way this spring, Callazzo and Sanchez told delegates at the Urban Land Institute meeting in Atlantic City yesterday.

More about: Roundup

Borgata Deal, AC Dispatchers Arrested, Galloway’s Jimmie Leeds Rd – Thursday’s Roundup

By |

Borgata Deal
Finally, there’s a deal. No, it’s not going to help you get a nice meal or an overnight stay. But it will help Atlantic City’s balance sheet. Borgata, the city’s most successful casino by revenue, accepted $72 million in tax-appeal payouts for 2009-2013, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports here. The MGM-owned property also agreed not to appeal taxes paid from 2013-2015 (another potential liability that had been hanging over the city) and it will start paying its Payment-In-Lieu-of-Taxes (click here if you want to remind yourself of that controversy).

More about: Roundup

Trump-Less Taj, EHT Schools, NJ Corruption and Safe Communities – Wednesday’s Roundup

By |

Trump-Less Taj
The Eighth Wonder of the World, also known as the Trump Taj Mahal, is now just the Taj Mahal, Route 40 reported yesterday. We were on the boardwalk as workers were bringing down the President’s name from that side of the building. Today they are working on the signs next to the property’s parking garage. It’s not clear when the name will come down from the hotel tower, but we were told that the orders are to remove every last vestige of Trump from the property. Billionaire owner Carl Icahn has said he intends to sell the casino.

More about: Roundup