Water
Assemblyman Vince Mazzeo hopes there will be new discussion about combining Atlantic County Utilities Authority (ACUA) with the Atlantic City water authority, according to a letter he sent on Wednesday.
“The time is now to ensure that Atlantic City’s prestigious water company stays in public hands,” wrote Mazzeo in the letter addressed to the two top executives at the authorities and lawyer Jeff Chiesa, who is charged with overseeing the state takeover of Atlantic City.
The ACUA and the Atlantic City Municipal Utilities Authority (ACMUA) last year held talks about working together to help the city water authority generate more income, which would have helped bolster the city’s own financial position. Read more at Route 40.
More Water
Atlantic City Council on Tuesday agreed to uphold citizens’ rights to a vote on any action that would sell or lease the city’s water authority. The ACMUA’s fate as one of the city’s few remaining assets has hung in the balance since the state takeover. The takeover gives the state the power to do whatever it likes with the water authority, but community organizers gathered thousands of signatures to mount a legitimate challenge to any such action by the state. The city council’s vote “is a direct challenge to the state takeover of Atlantic City engineered by Governor Chris Christie,” wrote the organizers in a press release. “Politically powerful water companies in the state had expressed interest in taking over the city’s public system,” the statement added. Amy Rosenberg has more details for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
File under: Even More Water – NJSpotlight has a piece looking at state’s new water supply master plan. Critics are critical of it.
Peaches
New Jersey agriculture officials say this year’s crop of peaches is a bumper one (we got some from the Ventnor Farmers Market – Fridays, 9-12 outside St James – and we’d have to agree). Apparently, the weather was just right to create the perfect peach here this year – New Jersey 101.5 has the details. And in case your mouth is watering, here’s a list of pick-your-own farms in South Jersey.
Congressman Frank LoBiondo of New Jersey’s 2nd District said this, regarding yesterday’s national headlines:
In light of recent news & own email disclosure, Donald Trump Jr should appear & fully cooperate with House Intel Committee investigation.
— Frank LoBiondo (@RepLoBiondo) July 11, 2017
In the rest of the day’s local headlines, the Atlantic City Fire Department came under fire last night while responding to a gunshot victim, a new federal bill would give slightly less money to the Community Development Block Grant program which pays for a lot of projects in South Jersey, one of the Bridgegate masterminds probably won’t get prison time, the Casino Control Commission approved Caesars Entertainment’s bankruptcy plan (because what else was it going to do, really?), and New Jersey E-Z Pass holders get ripped off in New York. All that and more below:
Hard Rock Investors Say Atlantic City Trump Taj Mahal Facade Demolition to Start Next Week–The demolition of the facade at the closed Trump Taj Mahal is expected to start next week, said Joseph Jingoli, one of the investors in the Hard one of the investors in the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Atlantic City project. Jingoli made the statement during the Casino Reinvestment’s public hearing Tuesday morning on Hard Rock’s application for an Entertainment Retail District designation around the project. Press of Atlantic City
Police Seize More Than 450 Bags of Heroin and Other Drugs in EHT Bust–Five people were charged with possession of heroin in an early morning drug bust in Egg Harbor Township Tuesday, police said. An investigation by township detectives led to members of the Police Department, the Atlantic County SWAT team and Linwood and Brigantine police executing a search warrant at a condominium in the Landon Court complex in Farmington. Press of Atlantic City
First Confirmed Case of Rabies in Atlantic County–A dead Egg Harbor Township pet tested positive for rabies Friday, Atlantic County’s first confirmed case of the disease this year. A county Division of Public Health investigation found a cat was missing from its home on Asbury Road for several days before returning home with severe wounds Memorial Day weekend. Press of Atlantic City
Atlantic County Jail Officer Sentenced on Criminal Sexual Contact–A longtime Atlantic County corrections officer was sentenced to five years’ probation Friday after admitting to criminal sexual contact with a female inmate. Castulo Matos, a 21-year veteran from Egg Harbor City, touched the unnamed victim inappropriately on Dec. 5, according to the charge. BreakingAC
Atlantic City Mayor Will Push to Extend Grant Paying Firefighters–Atlantic City needs to reapply for a federal grant currently paying the salaries of 79 firefighters, Mayor Don Guardian said Tuesday. A July 5 notice from Division of Community Affairs Director Timothy Cunningham warns firefighters that their positions will be terminated when the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grant ends, but Guardian said he will try to work with the state to allow the city to apply for an extension to the grant. BreakingAC
Less Than a Day Till AC Gets Pretty in Pink–Atlantic City is less than 24 hours away from having thousands of people hit its beach to welcome pop-music act Pink. On Tuesday, July 11th, crews worked all day to prepare the oceanfront stage for the singer and prep the beach for the large crowds expected to turn out for the first night of the Atlantic City Beachfest Concert Series. www.snjtoday.com
Knock Out Opioid Abuse Town Hall Series Continues in September–Residents of Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem counties are invited to join the conversation on the national opioid epidemic as the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey continues its Knock Out Opioid Abuse Town Hall series. The meeting will be held from 5:45 to 8:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 27 at Rowan College at Gloucester County, 1400 Tanyard Road in Deptford Township. NJ.com