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County wants role on Atlantic City’s plans for its gambling industry

Posted on October 14th, 2010

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With the planned Atlantic City “super council” of Governor Chris Christie in full planning mode, several sectors are already planning their roles in this eventuality, including the county. One of these sectors is the county council, as its executives held a meeting last week to check on their preparedness on what roles they are going to assume. One of these roles is the operations of code enforcement in the tourism area in making sure that merchants with their properties that surround the casino district will be set in a different standard compared to others like ordinary visitors. This puts the county inspectors in a different position, as they do not have any role in the current setting in Atlantic City, unlike other entities like the police. In the status quo, the current implementers of the city code would be the city code inspectors, who in case would be placed in a tight spot, usually consult their colleagues in neighboring municipalities rather than the code inspectors of the county.

In the previous year, it was the county inspectors who were in charge of checking devices that are classified under measures options and weights such as food scales and gas pumps. These services were returned to the city when Langford was placed in office. He then chose to let the old version of the office, the city inspectors, be in charge of all inspections, including the weights and measures, plus casino machinery, and had a close friend be in charge of the division. The director of the Licensing and Inspections Department of the city, Anthony Cox, said, “Obviously, you want to be aware of what’s being discussed. There may be some pros to it and there may be some cons. But if you’re going to talk about helping, the first thing you normally do is ask.” He added that Formica had mentioned in an informal setting that there would be the possibility of helping in the code enforcement of the city by the county months ago, but discussions never went more formal beyond a short phone call.

Another issue to be faced by a possible county patrol for the Atlantic City district would be the area that it would be in charge of. In the county discussions, the area to be patrolled by the county force would be the Boardwalk and Pacific Avenue between the avenues of Maine and Albany. This area would redefine the original vision of the governor which included areas that are not really in the vicinity of the casinos, like the Trump Marina Hotel Casino and the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa.
In the viewpoint of Levinson, border limitations for the patrols are pertinent to make certain that there would be focus, which he believes would guarantee more success and efficiency. He added, “The Boardwalk is smack-dab in the middle of an inner city with all the problems that come with it.”

Formica meanwhile claimed that the county formed its idea for the tourism district after the original zone in which the operations of the Atlantic City Special Improvement District are done. He said, “I think that most agree that you cannot have a noncontiguous zone.” He also adds that the his group may have found some ways of funding the rehabilitation of the area, including lessening casino regulations so that a cash fund can be built for development in the zone. However, changing casino regulations would require the approval of state legislators, and their participation is quite crucial. The delegation of these legislative actions to the local level may also happen, which Levinson did not include in his plans. Thus, observers like Brigid Harrison, a political science professor at Montclair State University and also a resident of Absecon, said the county executive may or may not hurt the sectors that were not included in those meetings. She added, “I think that it is silly and naive of the executive to argue that politics would not be part of this very political process. That being said, there’s probably room for less-than-formal exploratory meetings.”

Levinson said that the primary officials involved in this casino super district were really excluded as the talks he initiated were just for exploratory purposes. He explained, “Their (State officials’) input is important. But when I saw the problems with these summits and the arguments of North Jersey against South Jersey, it became clear to me that this needed to start as apolitical.” But then again, the present of Formica in the forum may lend less credibility to Levinson’s explanation.