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County Players Jockeying for Position in Proposed Atlantic City Renovation

Posted on October 12th, 2010

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While the state of New Jersey is busy with coming up of ways to regulate the casino industry and the local governance of the state’s gambling capital, Atlantic City, officials of the county have also been carefully talking over their own plans for some portions of the currently troubled city. Dennis Levinson, an executive of Atlantic County stated lately that he had meetings with representatives of the business organizations of the city to exchange insights and thoughts on how to make the county government more involved in the proposal of state Governor Chris Christie to regenerate the tourism industry of the city. Christie, who is a Republican, conferred a program that invited a partnership between the public and private sectors that would be facilitating the casino-driven tourism district.

The initial talks between Levinson and the other participants came about only a week ago with the inclusion of a projected sketch of particular boundaries for the projected tourism district of the governor, the outlook of the moderating law enforcement in that area by the Atlantic County Sheriff’s Office, and county officials taking on a number of functions in the area of city code and planning. Those propositions are being considered autonomous of the tourism proposal of the governor and his team’s new arrangement to supervise Atlantic City’s fiscal management, signed on by officials of the city and state and city. All are indications that political leaders of the state on various government levels are considering Atlantic City as a leading economic resource that they can’t afford to see wasting away.

All the same, Levinson did not get hold of the office of the governor with regard to the meeting. The county administrator said his intention was to arouse involvement and enthusiasm among the players he invited to the meeting before arriving at any proposal to the governor. On the other hand, officials of the Governor’s Office did not get back on a number of requests for their side’s reaction. Officials who took part in the meeting include Tom Carver, CRDA Executive Director and Susan Ney Thompson Chief Operating Officer; Ken Calemmo, chairperson of the Greater Atlantic City Chamber, and Joe Kelly, Chamber President ; Atlantic County Freeholder Frank Formica; President of the New Jersey Casino Association Mark Juliano and Joe Fusco, also a member of the association. After the other participants talked with The Press of Atlantic City about the assembly, Levinson confirmed he broached the talks because he felt the need for prompt action.

Levinson commented, “Time is of the essence. We’re in October. It was July when the governor came down and there has been no legislation since. This is probably the most efficient way to get it done. We’re already set up here. We know Atlantic City, and we know the problems that it faces.” Meanwhile, Formica said, “The county has tried to realize what kind of a role they can plan in assisting Atlantic City and the state as it refers to this tourism zone. The first question we asked is, ‘How do you make it clean and safe?” The proposal of the governor, which is based on what has been recommended to him by an advisory mission, arranged the goal of establishing Atlantic City “clean and safe” by the date July 1, 2011. Formica said those present in the meeting talked about the idea of moderating the district’s patrolling and code enforcement with county services, along with managing some facets of planning.

The group talked about the potential of staffing the zone with 50 patrolmen, most of whom would be police officers of Atlantic City who have just been laid off. The city has let go of 60 officers from the police force just this year, including 40 officers only two weeks ago. Formica said that new platoon, is expected to be organized by Atlantic County Sheriff Frank Balles, who has talked about this possibility with Levinson on various instances but who was not in attendance during the last meeting. Balles said organizing the security of the area through the Sheriff’s Office creates the best sense, both from an efficiency point of view and on a financial plane. He adds, “You can put two officers out there for the cost of one Atlantic City officer, or almost three for one state trooper. Our services would supplement Atlantic City’s law enforcement. This is not to take over their entire operation throughout the city. I’m waiting to hear from the powers that be on how we proceed.”