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ATLANTIC CITY — Frank Formica, whose family has owned an Atlantic City bakery for nearly 100 years, wonders why a resort town that attracts more than 30 million visitors a year and has glitzy casinos lining the Boardwalk appears so blighted.

“It is dirty. The public bathrooms, the Boardwalk, Pacific Avenue, Atlantic Avenue and even some casino streets are hard to walk through without being repulsed,” he said.

Formica’s blunt opening remarks set the stage Monday at a forum focusing on Atlantic City’s economic slump and run-down reputation. Formica pointed out that there is still no master plan for guiding the city’s redevelopment.

Hoping to overcome the urban problems, about 25 political and business leaders met for 90 minutes to discuss ways to polish the city’s image. The meeting, closed to the media, did not produce any specific proposals, but Formica and other officials called it a promising first step.

“Look, it took us 30 years to get to this spot today,” Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson said of a new level of cooperation among government officials. “It’s not going to be corrected overnight.”

David S. Cordish, a real estate developer, hosted the meeting. Cordish said he wanted to generate ideas for rejuvenating the local economy amid a three-year downturn caused by the recession and intense competition from casinos in surrounding states.

“Atlantic City needs to be a destination, and there are a lot of ways for doing that. The timeframe is to do it as quickly as humanly possible,” Cordish said.

The meeting was the first of two Atlantic City economic conferences this week. Mayor Lorenzo Langford will hold a summit today at City Hall that is expected to touch upon the same themes as Cordish’s meeting.

“The mayor and I are on the same exact page,” Cordish said.

Langford, who attended the Cordish meeting at the Carnegie Library Center but left early, said he was there “just listening.”

Formica, an Atlantic County freeholder-elect, started things off by calling for more government funding to market and redevelop the city. He said urban blight must be removed to make the city safer and more attractive.

“Atlantic City has re-infected itself with the public perception of being unsafe, something it was well on the way to beating for years,” Formica said in a prepared statement, a copy of which he provided to The Press of Atlantic City. “The perception is reinforced with the increase in violent crime, the uncontrolled panhandlers and a visual absence of police.”

Crime in the city is down to pre-casino levels, but the public’s perception has not caught up to the facts, a Press article Sunday showed.

Officials noted it will take money to help fix the city’s problems. One key agency is the state Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, which uses funding from the gaming industry for housing projects and economic development.

“The place needs to be safe, it needs to be clean and it must be welcoming to the general public,” James B. Kehoe, the CRDA’s chairman, said of the city’s hoped-for transformation.

Kehoe argued that Atlantic City must do a better job of promoting itself if it hopes to attract the tourist dollars that are crucial for reviving the economy.

“Las Vegas spent well over $200 million for marketing, but we essentially spent nothing,” he said. “But we have to buff up the product before we do that.”

The casino industry, which drives the local economy, has suffered a 13.5 percent revenue decline so far this year. Don Marrandino, president of the four Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. casinos in Atlantic City, said more retail shops, restaurants and nightclubs are needed to diversify the attractions beyond gambling.

Marrandino stirred up some controversy with his comments in a Reuters news service story Friday that suggested Atlantic City could also enliven its attractions by offering some Las Vegas-style topless shows. Currently, nudity is banned in Atlantic City’s casino hotels.

“We’re trying to get some of the laws swiftly changed so there can be topless shows in Atlantic City, like there are in Las Vegas,” Marrandino told Reuters.

On Monday, Marrandino backed away from those remarks, saying they were only a tiny part of his interview with Reuters and were taken out of context. He said he was simply trying to draw distinctions between Las Vegas and Atlantic City, not pushing for casino nudity.

“It’s more important to clean up the city and its image. That is not one of the vital things that needs to happen here,” he said of topless shows.

Linda M. Kassekert, chair of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, the gaming industry’s regulatory agency, seemed opposed to lifting Atlantic City’s nudity ban.

“I would be concerned, because not only do we want to attract people who gamble, but we also want to attract families to Atlantic City,” she said. “It’s something we would want to consider only very carefully.”

Contact Donald Wittkowski:

609-272-7258

DWittkowski@pressofac.com

29 comments:

• southjerz (1) posts 7:09 pm

  look, i was born and raised in atlantic city, i moved to florida in 2006. i have been back on several occasions. and on each occasion i see the deterioration of the city, and does it have to do public works keepin the city clean not so much. i am depressed every time i got home for the simple fact the moral of the city is in the dumps. if it keeps on pace the way its going it will be camden. what the city needs is a makeover not a clean up. buildings are old and deteriorating. prostituion is ramped,dealers and panhandlers on every corner on pacific ave. the old convention center is a dump do something with it already. and what exactly do we use the new one for??? absolutly nothing!!!what happen to boxing matches, concerts and all thoes things that used to bring major revene to the city?? where is our marketing, and in your marketing what seperates this city from another?? now why should i go to ac?? there isnt a good answer. and thats where the problem lies..... the city needs a makeover screw cleaning it up because it will just get dirty again.

• THATSINSANE (238) posts 11:59 am

  The place sits on a friggin ISLAND for cryin' out loud. Does the Mayor even ride THROUGH his town? He and the other elected officials needed a newly elected "BREAD-MAKER" to disclose this revelation to them? What a DISGRACE!

• THATSINSANE (238) posts 11:44 am

  What's so amazing isn't that "BLIGHT" was recognized, it's that they didn't pay a bunch o' money to some "political pal's company" to do a "survey" in order to find-out this info!

• therooster (3) posts 11:00 am

  Hey Loveall, could you be any more ignorant? Why not get your facts straight. The SID doesn't use taxpayer monies, it is funded by the downtown businesses who asked to be assessed this fee for SID's services. Second, if you folks in public works did your jobs correctly the SID wouldn't make you look so bad. The SID's parks are clean and green, the city's are dirty and burnt in the summer; you guys leave trash cans overflowing along the streets and Boardwalk while the SID has all kinds of machines and manual labor cleaning the streets. Stick to doing your job and leave the SID alone because without the SID AC would return the ugly and dirty hole that it used to be.

• Bobstake (244) posts 6:55 pm

  The City needs more Police & Public Works employees. They need the k-9 units on the street and visible. The Mayor needs to stop giving lush contracts to his lawyer friends. Clean the town up and business will increase.

• loveall (50) posts 5:50 pm

  Scorpio08401 Ok so us taxpayers just keep on footing the bill for TWO programs that do the SAME things ?? Duhh

• Nunya- (155) posts 5:30 pm

  Spirit, you just babble on and on...You talk about God, and in the next sentance your spurting racism.. ZIP IT

• scorpio08401 (57) posts 3:44 pm

  Gee Loveall, I thought the City with its $200 million dollar budget and Public Works dept was responsible for keeping the city clean. Getting rid of the $1 million special improvement district (which at least can be seen cleaning) will solve the problem? Give more money to Public Works at the resident's expense? What planet are you from ?

• loveall (50) posts 3:14 pm

  Erniemercer is sooo right. Rennie you should have cut the over $1,000,000,000 funding for the AC Special Improvement District years ago when it was brought to your attention that they only employ Approx. 20 people. WOW the city is still dirty ??? But the SID does such a great job right ?? NOT !!!! Rennie cut their budget, hire more city workers in the public works Dept. and make them do their job !! The SID is nothing more then a scam !!!!

• scorpio08401 (57) posts 2:59 pm

  If the public bathrooms, the boardwalk and streets are so dirty, maybe Public Works should be eliminated and the work subcontracted out to a firm that can be held accountable. There are so may friends and family on the city's payroll that there is no room left for workers. Get rid of Public Works today

• spritual awakening (8) posts 2:47 pm

  Mr. Formica can not speak for anyone but for himself. Who is he? Have he participated in any meetings in meetings which involves residents? Or he is just speaking hate and judgement, it does not make wise productive decisions. What makes your life better than anyone else? This world is temporary... Where are you going with hate and judgement? Another truth, there are more white americans than anyother race who is on subsizided assistance, please check reliable resources! Talk with some positive solutions with reliable solutions. Please leave hate out of it... It does not solve problems just make you sound ignorant!

• beachone (79) posts 1:49 pm

  That is a good debate when one talks about what image does Atlantic City really want to become. The statement about bettter amusements or family entertainment has been ongoing for years. Can a gambling destination really work along side family entertainment? I know when my kids were little the only time we visited AC was for dinner we could not gamble because how can you leave 10 and 12 year old alone in that area. This is exactly what Vegas is struggling with, what do you do with the under 16 kids when their parents want to gamble. And what do you do with kids between 16 and just short of 21? Gambling and everything that comes along with it such as drinking, smoking, seedy strip joints, riske shows just doesnt cut it for many families. The real deal breaker is when the newest casino opens in 2011, by then if AC didnt do anything to improve their visitor number then I foresee only 6 operating casinos with many more vacant properties. b1

• NObama (2) posts 1:12 pm

  Q: What's the best thing Las Vegas has going for it? A: It's NOT in New Jersey.

• RandomX856 (158) posts 1:09 pm

  Family entertainment= Get rid of those cheap, falling-apart, unimpressive carnival rides on Steel Pier and replace them with what places like Morey's Piers in Wildwood have: thrill coasters and family attractions.

• executioner1 (307) posts 11:58 am

  Mr. Mercer is 100% correct. A.C. special improvement authority is nothing more than another money grabbing scam. What have they actually improved? How about an audit of them.The walk was funded by investment and CRDA Casino dollars. Shut down the homeless bum center and let the public housind crowd move elsewhere then you would have some positive change like safe streets.

• erniemercer (55) posts 11:43 am

  “Look, it took us 30 years to get to this spot today” == For those of you with short memories, people were saying "Atlantic City is dirty, blighted and needs help" 30 years ago. Casinos were supposed to fix that.

• Madison (74) posts 11:23 am

  Atlantic City was a blighted city the day Resorts opened. But with no competition and the novelty of gaming it did not matter. People came in droves. One casino after another opened, generating millions of dollars in new tax revenue. It was the responsibility of city government to effectuate a renascence of the town. But for thirty years this town has been run for the most part by corrupt, greedy politicians, leaving this town in worse shape than it was in 1978. Frank Formica is right.

• Justathought (34) posts 11:08 am

  This City is run by Afican Americans. The majority of which don't know what work means. Hence, the dirt, blight, and crime. Talking and cashing paychecks and kickbacks will not move this city forward, we need action.

• executioner1 (307) posts 9:55 am

  Of course as usual Langford left early he can not answer criticism. The only thing they should do is kick anybody who commits a crime out of subsidized housing. Oh wait that is Langfords voter base, Good for you Mr. Formica for at last telling the truth.We finally have the peoples voice in local politics. Lets all support Mr. Formica as he is a man of courage.

• spritual awakening (8) posts 9:45 am

  I wonder did they open up with prayer? I never heard of a Summitt without the residents? If you leave a certain group out, how can you resolve the problems which exists in Atlantic City. The reason why I say this is because all meetings open up with prayer. If God is not in it, how is it going to work? Even leaders has bias, hatered and ignorance in their heart how can they be objective or positive when they just want to put a class of people down? The residents was not invited or the media. I believe what has happening is a one sided story which begins with economic status and race. Maybe words such as "those people" was the integral discussion concerning our residents. Linda, wants families to come to Atlantic City to live? What about the current families now? Linda, I truly understand that comment and where is going. I want to ask you, "Have you meet with current families now"! I guess not what families do you mean? If you will do your job in the Casino control commission to ensure residents get jobs maybe their will be no problem! I mean with working wages and upper position! The only thing high profile is concern with is their pockets! They see an investment and do not care about the people. That is why the public was not invited. Their own special interest! How many people or residents they have met in Atlantic City? You just can not kick out the poor everyone is not a criminal because they are poor. I see they was pointing fingers, putting innocent people down that live here and not trying to find a common solution to the problem. They just want to be critical towards someone else trails and take pride in that, that is so sad! I pray that God do not avenge them so bad that they have to live poor one day. No compassion or no love... just hate. I pray that God intercede in their heart to do what is right not to put people down or the community... join to solve the problem and be active. Do not just come to a meeting to think about expanding your fortunes. Have a heart and find love but first pray, and maybe your Summitt can come out with better and positive results.

• Sandnshoes (10) posts 9:43 am

  Whine to the state for even more money. Atlantic City always does.

• Salvatore (45) posts 8:42 am

  Property values are down. Property owners don't forget to file your tax appeal this year. Tax cards are going out soon. Follow directions on back of card to file appeal. Use zillow.com and trulia.com to find 2009 resales (comps). This nj site will help. http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/taxation/lpt/ptbrochures.shtml Link to appeal form and click A-1 http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/taxation/prntlpt.shtml

• Gottabereal (27) posts 8:24 am

  Langfraud left early?Hmmm maybe he had to go to the Garden Pier and see if his croonies were all there collecting free checkas and eatting chitlins?He doesnt care about AC. I was in dunkin Donuts this morn and a product of his admin a fire officer (race i wont mention)said "I go to work when I want to now, I am on my time not the city's time". Sounds like that attitude is infectious in Langfrauds office !

• passline410 (15) posts 8:02 am

  Perhaps a little story will shed some light on some issues. I recently walked by the Medical Center and saw two things that disturbed me an would have easily discouraged my wife from ever going back to AC had she been with me. One, there was a bag of trash on the street that had been there for at least 2-3 days suggesting that there are NO city workers doing cleanup. Secondly, there was a person sitting on the curb with an IV still attached to their cheek. Not the most inspiring site. Doing some cleanup around AC would certainly help its image. Take a good look at the boardwalk and notice that it is jammed with cigarette butts in every crevasse. Not the most appealing site! Clean Up AC!!

• Mr_Glock (232) posts 7:25 am

  You have to get rid of the boobs in the mayor's office before you think about changing the laws to have them on stage!

• acchelsea (0) posts 7:07 am

  How about letting the Special Improvement District help out with keeping the city clean. They already take care of most of the parks.

• TheGateKeeper (3) posts 5:54 am

  "Atlantic City is dirty, blighted and needs help"---and we needed a summit to tells us this?

• moverightalong (195) posts 11:46 pm

  Hey langfart why the rush away from the meeting, when you hear about urban blight Ashame but true . I still say the feds have to come in and clean all up, we will be just as bad as Camden soon!Absecon Island is not going any where no time to soon. We should also use the sheriff, what actually do they do but stand and sit around different courts, waste of money!

• BernieSchwartz (645) posts 10:39 pm

  Frank Formica, I applaud you. Mayor Langford, you left early, doesn't show respect for the participants or your respect for the future of this City.

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