{"id":17579,"date":"2016-01-14T12:01:10","date_gmt":"2016-01-14T20:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=17579"},"modified":"2019-11-24T10:20:22","modified_gmt":"2019-11-24T18:20:22","slug":"atlantic-city-under-siege-detroit-casinos-deliver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/atlantic-city-under-siege-detroit-casinos-deliver\/","title":{"rendered":"Atlantic City under siege; Detroit casinos deliver"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Jersey<\/strong> state Senate President Stephen Sweeney<\/strong>\u00a0(D) hasn’t been elected governor yet but he’s behaving as though he were the Garden State’s chief \"Sweeney\"<\/a>executive. He’s the driving force behind a suddenly urgent move to exert state control over Atlantic City<\/strong>. Voicing economic policy evidently honed from playing too many games of Monopoly<\/em><\/a>, Sweeney’s plan would “give the [Local Finance Board<\/strong>]\u00a0control over governmental and administrative operations; the right to dissolve any municipal board or commission; and the right to sell municipally owned assets including water, sewer, wastewater and storm water facilities as well as city-owned real estate.” So who gets Boardwalk and Park Place?<\/p>\n

Seriously, this regimen could place a heavier financial burden on hard-hit Atlantic citizens, although Sweeney thinks they’re a pampered lot. According to his figures, Atlantic City spends\u00a0$6,717 per capita<\/a>, more than double what Newark<\/strong> and triple what Camden spend on their\u00a0constituents. Mayor Don Guardian<\/strong> (R) disputes the figures and decries the double-whammy Sweeney has laid on the Boardwalk. The takeover proposal followed immediately on the heels of a legislative accord to expand gaming in New Jersey. Guardian deplored this series of events as\u00a0\u201cAtlantic City\u2019s Pearl Harbor<\/strong>.\u00a0It sounds like an occupying force coming down …\u00a0It\u2019s a terrible precedent. The people of New Jersey elect the state legislature to run the state, not take over its cities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Local politician Ernest Coursey<\/strong> called out Sweeney, saying,\u00a0\u201cIt will be a \"chris-christie-cnbc\"<\/a>cold day in hell before we just stand by idly.\u00a0Everything the state touches turns to crap.\u201d (Remember, Revel<\/strong> was built partly with tax abatements.) Nor can Gov. Chris Christie<\/strong> (R) escape blame for the crisis, having let the PILOT Program bailout package gather dust on his desk for five months while he was out on the campaign trail, then sending it back to the Legislature for revision. Guardian has been doing a good job on his watch, so it would be a shame if the power-hungry Sweeney relegated him to a puppet figure.<\/p>\n

* By contrast, Detroit<\/strong> casinos played Santa Claus<\/strong> to Motown last year, delivering the city $5 million more revenue than it was expecting<\/a>. The threat from Ohio<\/strong> turns out to have been far less than feared and Detroit casinos are firmly on the comeback trail. Ironically for a city built on the automobile<\/a>, lower gas prices were credited with helping fuel the upsurge.\u00a0“Money that\u2019s\u00a0not spent at the pump\u00a0is money that can be spent at the casino,\u201d said Calderone Advisory Group<\/strong> Managing Director Alex Calderone<\/strong>. Both MGM Grand Detroit<\/strong> and MotorCity Casino<\/strong> were up 4% for the year and Greektown Casino-Hotel<\/strong> managed a 1% increase, so it was good news all around.<\/p>\n

* \u201cDeclare every red cent, not just contributions to lawmakers … Because \"Fort\"<\/a>they\u2019re not doing it just out of the goodness of their hearts.\u201d With those fighting words, state Sen. Vincent Fort<\/strong> (D) called for casino companies lobbying for Georgia<\/strong> casinos to open their books<\/a>. Already, 24 lobbyists — 70% of them registered to MGM Resorts International<\/strong> — have descended upon the Peachtree State, sensing a new market on the verge. However, this race is for those who set store by the fable of the tortoise and the hare, because legalizing casinos will be a two-year process. And despite 62% public support, the Lege’s approval isn’t a given.<\/p>\n

* \u201cPacked house. The vibe and also the energy for the reason that room only agreed to be magnificent.” That — or something remotely like it — was said by a Hard Rock Hotel & Casino<\/strong> executive about the late David Bowie<\/strong>. The surrealistic verbiage comes from a back-translated obituary for the Thin White Duke that has to be read to be fully appreciated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Jersey state Senate President Stephen Sweeney\u00a0(D) hasn’t been elected governor yet but he’s behaving as though he were the Garden State’s chief executive. He’s the driving force behind a suddenly urgent move to exert state control over Atlantic City. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23,154,44,14,4,152,149,11,33,157,31],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17579"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17579"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17579\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25452,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17579\/revisions\/25452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}