Well, I’m back from four days off. Beautiful weather meant lots of Boardwalk time, and here’s what I noticed.
The Tourism District is already having an effect. There’s a new energy up on the ’walk. Some new signs. New planters in places. The rolling-chair problem seems to have been solved. And overall, the Boardwalk is cleaner — and, importantly, cleaner earlier in the day. The crews are getting out there earlier in the morning, which means you no longer have to wait until noon for the previous night’s trash to get picked up.
Another big plus: The new section in front of Revel is open. Which gave me this idea: When Revel opens, the city should allow bike riding on the Boardwalk from Revel into the Inlet all day long. Once the damaged Inlet sections are fixed — that is in the works, right? — people should be able to rent bikes at Revel and ride over to Gardners Basin all day long. It would be a great way to link the two attractions. You could even let people leave their bikes at Gardners Basin and take a water taxi over to the casinos in the Marina Section.
And someday, maybe there will be a bunch of fun shops and restaurants between Revel and the basin where bike riders can stop. Allowing bike riding all day long would be a great way to funnel traffic through the area.
