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ATLANTIC CITY - State and federal authorities will adapt the New Jersey National Guard Armory as a center for youth indoor sports and classes, Attorney General Anne Milgram announced Thursday.

By this time next year, Milgram told a crowd in the 80-year-old armory's main hall Thursday morning, the floor will be covered with an indoor track and soccer field, and several of the armory offices will be adapted for nonathletic activities.

The project will cost about $2.9 million, Milgram said:

$1 million from the National Guard, $1 million from the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority and $900,000 from the state's coffers of drug offenders' fines. It's part of the state's Strategy for Safe Streets and Neighborhoods program.

"What this will do is give the community a center and give children opportunities that otherwise would not exist," the attorney general said.

Bob Hurley attested to that. The longtime high school basketball coach in Jersey City described the benefit of a similar renovation in that city.

About 500 children a day, some from six nearby housing projects, fill a repurposed building to play basketball and volleyball, run track and cheerlead, Hurley said.

State Sen. James Whelan, an Atlantic City teacher, told the dozens of children in attendance, "You can no longer use the excuse, when you get in trouble, that nobody cares."

Atlantic Cape Community College will schedule and oversee activities, while the National Guard will be in charge of maintenance. Most uses will be free, Milgram said, although events such as track meets could carry nominal fees that would be applied to maintenance.

Atlantic City High School track coach Tim O'Donnell would love to schedule indoor meets at the armory.

"We've heard inklings of this (plan) for 25 years," O'Donnell said. His team runs in about eight meets a season, none closer than Toms River, or Haverford College outside Philadelphia.

"There's a million basketball courts," said O'Donnell. "Let's get one indoor track."

The guard will still conduct training two weekends a month, and its vehicles will be able to drive over the track and field surface without causing damage, officials said.

"I can't wait to see you here in a year," Milgram said, joking that she would race Sen. Bill Gormley on the track.

After she cautioned listeners not to gamble on the result, Whelan piped up, "We do allow betting in Atlantic City - we're trying to get sports betting, too."

Contact Eric Scott Campbell:

609-272-7227

ECampbell@pressofac.com

6 comments:

• Mr_609 (43) posts 10:39 am

  There is a "hidden agenda" behind the entire story! Talks have been going around about "renovating" this building for years! Now all of sudden $2.9 million just becomes available for upgrades and renovations to a building that is just taking up space! Why not use the money to constuct a new building, maybe a middle school, with a sports complex that can serve as an indoor track and field facility! Besides that, the location is terrible! Yet, the guard will still conduct training and ACCC will oversee activities for a nominal fee! Who is this really for???

• Humble1 (47) posts 10:29 am

  Concerning the PAL & Boys & Girls Club I believe that there are more than enough kids to go around.

• acchelsea (0) posts 9:54 am

  With this additional sports complex, what are the PAL building and the Boys & Girls Club going to do?

• Humble1 (47) posts 9:15 am

  I believe that this is a great move for the city. My hope is that politics do not hinder what this facility is intded for. Also, I pray that the activities are well organized and supervised so that chaos does not ensue. Being an African American, I for one am glad that they did not include yet another basketball court.

• UncleFrank (275) posts 8:48 am

  When I was growing up we had nothing. No ballfields, no elaborate facilities whatsoever. Some of the fathers in the neighborhood put up a second rate basketball backboard at the end of the street and that was it. None of us ended up being criminals or drug addicts.

• () posts 6:50 am

  Since they bypassed the City I bet this facility will be used by mostly non residents. What does ACCC know about the youth in this community????? What a crock...

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