Jim Perskie's Editorial Blog

It's always interesting to see what other people are saying about Atlantic City, so I pass this along from NJSpotlight.com, a well-done issues-oriented website that many of you may not be familiar with.

Who says there is no good economic news — did you see this? Revenue from the sale of state lottery tickets increased 1 percent last year. Yeah, I know ... doesn’t sound like much. But it meant an additional $31 million in ticket sales — nothing to sneeze out — and it means lottery sales are now at a record $2.64 billion. (Of that, $1.54 billion is paid in prizes, leaving $930 million for the state budget after overhead.)

So what’s with the lovefest between Gov. Chris Christie and President Barack Obama?

I really don’t want to be yet one more voice railing against New Jersey’s pedestrian law, but ...

With something like the Dave Matthews Band Caravan (do you know how hard it is for an old guy like me not to type Dave Mason?), what the out-of-town papers are saying is more important than what we are saying at The Press. If the idea is to build Atlantic City's brand, it's critical that people elsewhere hear about how well this show went.

I like Christine Petersen, the director of public safety in Atlantic City. And I think she had no idea what she was getting into when she came to the resort after a 25-year career as a Jersey City police officer. Atlantic City chews up outsiders. Always has. It’s just that kind of place.

Well, I’m back from four days off. Beautiful weather meant lots of Boardwalk time, and here’s what I noticed.

Folks distressed by the high salaries some public-safety employees make in New Jersey might want to check this out.

Atlantic City should have a monorail!

There’s an interesting and ironic backstory to Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno’s decision to overrule an administrative law judge and declare that Olympic gold-medalist Carl Lewis is ineligible to run for state Senate in the 8th Legislative District because he doesn't meet the state's residency requirements.

I had forgotten about Grete Waitz until I read the story on the AP wire this morning saying she had died at age 57 of cancer.

Sure, Gov. Chris Christie’s speeches at the Brookings Institution and other big public-policy think tanks and institutes in Washington are impressive. (To some, anyway.)

Allow me to take on this all-important question of the moment in Atlantic City:

“Atlantic City needs to be fixed. It’s not a safe city. Right now, people don’t want to go to Atlantic City because it’s not safe.”

To pick up on my last post about Gov. Chris "Candid, Blunt Talk" Christie making up stuff and not getting called on it by the fawning national media ... it looks like folks are finally getting wise to him.

I read in The Pinkster’s column that Atlantic City has finally fixed the rolling-chair problem. That’s huge.

Anyone else shocked that no one in Trenton apparently has any idea how much money will be saved because of casino “re-regulation,” how the savings will be counted and audited and how the money will actually get to the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority to fund the new Tourism District?

I’m a little ashamed to admit that I hadn’t been to Wildwood in probably 15 years until Thursday night, when I drove down the Parkway for one of The Press’ town-hall meetings with readers.

So at 7:18 p.m. last night, the governor’s crack press office, which never makes a move that is not politically calculated to the max, sent out a release that said Gov. Chris “Fiscal Responsibility” Christie was asking the federal government for $53 million in emergency aid because of the winter storm that hit the state Dec. 26.

Most governors have kept their distance from Atlantic City. It was probably a good idea. The good ones — the ones who were good for the city — helped behind the scenes. But face it, no smart governor would want to be too deeply or too publicly  involved in the snake pit of Atlantic City.

I like language. I like its power to inform, as well as its power to obfuscate, when that is the goal. And probably because I come from a family of lawyers, I actually like reading legal opinions and statutes. Lawyers take language very seriously, as indeed they should.

The flap over Gov. Chris "Watch Me Humiliate and Threaten My Constituents on YouTube" Christie wasn't all that substantive. I don't think it really matters where the governor is. He can govern without being here.

Ah, the war on Christmas has begun — at least in the minds of those who believe this myth as much as they believe the myth about the holiday itself. The letters have already started to come in. All it takes for some is to see the words “holiday” or “Xmas” on a sign — and there it is, proof that “political correctness” is busy taking Christ out of Christmas.