Glenn Straub has a new problem at Revel: water. Oh, he doesn’t lack for it. There’s standing water in Revel’s 47 stories of pipes. But 
what if cold temperatures come and Straub hasn’t gained control of ACR Energy Partners‘ heating plant? Not only could burst pipes damage Revel itself, where the windows are breaking and the patio is rusting, they could present a fire hazard. And draining the pipes isn’t an option because, in case of fire, it would take too long to fill them again. “You’re required to get water to that sprinkler head within 60 seconds, and there’s no way to go that many floors, 400-and-some feet in the air, within 60 seconds. It’s totally impossible,” the city’s construction czar, Wallace Shields, explained to The Press of Atlantic City.
ACR has cut off hot water to Revel, as the two sides battle to the death in court (a struggle that could be rendered moot by ACR’s insolvency). Straub is toying with a variety of alternative-heating solutions, including importing boilers. He could also try to divert steam from the nearby Showboat, arguing that he’s got dibs on its hot water in perpetuity. (We’ll see how buyer-to-be Bart Blatstein takes to having his steam siphoned away by Straub.)
However, Straub’s lack of a concrete plan is making Shields antsy, having waited several months to hear how the mogul intends to keep Revel safe. “We want to see 40-degree temperature inside the building. How he gets to that, and how complicated it is for him to 
get to that, is something he has to deal with. [emphasis added] By the beginning of October, if I don’t see something coming into my office to deal with this, I’m going to be sending him something,” Shields said, alluding to slapping Straub with a violation. Whether the threat of official sanction spurs Straub to action remains to be seen, as he is anything but predictable. His people say they can sit on Revel for two years without doing anything with it but, at the rate it’s depreciating, I wonder if they really mean it.
* Borgata more or less won in the lawsuit brought by current and present-day “Borgata Babes” who balked at the casino’s policing of their physical appearance, including requiring them to be weighed. It 
seems like a demeaning practice but the Appelate Division of the New Jersey court system didn’t find fault with it, in the main. It did rule that waitresses with “documented medical conditions or post-pregnancy conditions” could reinstate their suit alleging “sexual harassment hostile work environment discrimination.” Claiming a “significant victory,” Borgata Vice President Joe Corbo said “all of the litigants voluntarily accepted this policy before they began working for us.” But when it’s between having a job and hitting the bricks, does one really have a choice?
* Donald Trump and Jeb Bush have been trading shots over whether Bush blocked Trump’s attempts to enter the Florida casino market. Never a stickler for veracity, Trump also misled TV viewers about the frequent bankruptcies of his casinos.
