Debate Ducking Trend
Trying to find out your local candidate’s position on an issue? Good luck: there’s been an “alarming” decline in the number of New Jersey legislative and county government candidates willing to take part in debates sponsored by the nonpartisan League of Women Voters of NJ, reports Jan Hefler for The Inquirer. The piece takes a look at the various reasons why candidates (and often incumbents) might want to skip out of debates. The article also looks at South Jersey, where the League struggles to find enough volunteers to staff and organize debates, particularly in Gloucester and Camden counties.
Photo taken by Michael Sutton (@michael_p_sutton on Instagram) at the Tall Pines State Preserve.
Boardwalk Bike Riding Etiquette
The first rule of Boardwalk bike club: “The Boardwalk is for slow cruising only.” No mention of what to do when you find an 18-wheeler on the boards, or when a Boardwalk tram is running you over. Still, at least the message is intelligible (which is more than we can say for the permitted Boardwalk bike hours signs). Read more here.
Christie & Camden
how good Gov. Christie’s has been to CamdenThe Inquirer’s Kevin Riordan takes a look at , in the form of extensive tax credits for development (and reconstituting the police department….) It’s an important piece for Atlantic City watchers since the Camden roadmap is a precursor to the Queen of Resorts’, though maybe on a slightly different scale. This paragraph is where Riordan takes a bite into the Christie/South Jersey Dems’ development system: “The enormous public investment of the Christie years would have to yield many thousands of new jobs to make a dent in Camden’s crippling rates of structural unemployment and generational poverty, let alone boost its chronically depressed housing market and ever-struggling small business community.” It would read the same if you substituted Atlantic City for Camden.
In the rest of the day’s news, high winds mean thousands in South Jersey are without electricity this morning, the problem with new casinos is that they’re bad for old casinos (and funded with tax credits), Light House Properties is looking to build private housing for Stockton students in Atlantic City, Christie talks sports betting, Princeton is less preppy now and read about the (now cancelled) South Jersey women’s empowerment event featuring an all-male panel. All that and more below:
Avalon Considering Ban On Ice Cream Trucks–The common summer sound of bells ringing from an ice cream truck may soon be no more in this Cape May County borough. The borough’s council is considering an ordinance that would restrict the sale of ice cream and other goods on the beach by banning “peddlers” and “hawkers,” which means there could be no more ice cream trucks traveling the borough's streets. www.pressofatlanticcity.com
EHT Police Looking For Four Men In Ongoing Investigations–Egg Harbor Township police are trying to identify four men in separate theft investigations. The department put out two separate sets of photos in ongoing theft investigations, asking the public’s help in identifying the men. Anyone with inform breakingac.com
Feeding More Than 300 In Need Just The Start For Pleasantville Friends–James Pressley and Jason Smart-El set out to do something positive for the community. What the two Pleasantville friends got from feeding more than 300 homeless and hungry this weekend was just the beginning. breakingac.com