Vol. 2, No.7, July 2005
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My Kind of Town
Atlantic City has always been a special place and is getting even better
Rarely does a person get the opportunity to regulate an industry in his own home town, but that's exactly what happened to me when I as appointed to the New Jersey Casino Control Commission. And that appointment has given me a unique opportunity to not only to get a bird's eye view of what is happening in my home town, but also to help shape it.
I was born in a very special, a very wonderful Atlantic City. Some people don't mince their words when they describe how far Atlantic City had fallen before casinos, but you won't hear me say an unkind word about it. The Atlantic City of my youth was a great and special place. I grew up in a neighborhood with nicely manicured lawns and well-maintained homes. My parents and my neighbors swept their sidewalks and picked up any stray trash that might be found along the street. They took pride in the way things looked. By noon on Saturdays, their properties had to be standing tall because folks were moving around and your place had to look good. I grew up in a community where the neighborhood fire station was a safe haven and we didn't need a sign on the building telling us so. It was truly a place where the village raised the children. It was also a place where lots of people came to play. We had a beach and a boardwalk and every summer people came in waves.
I was too young to realize what was happening to Atlantic City after the 1964 Democratic National Convention. In my community I was insulated from the forces that were ravaging much of my hometown. I was raised by parents who were not directly impacted by the decline in tourism, so I never knew that I didn't live in the greatest place in the world. After all, I had the beach, the "boards," four ocean piers packed with things to do, the White House Sub Shop, Tony's Baltimore Grill, little league and junior football league. All the good stuff.
When the casino referendum passed, I remember watching the rebirth of Haddon Hall although not really understanding why all those people were waiting in lines to get inside. I remember how the Howard Johnson's Regency was transformed into the Boardwalk Regency and how local motels were converted into temporary office space for casino projects. I can remember the excitement of the people hoping for new opportunities with these companies. And I remember how the city's seasonal economy was transformed and Atlantic City became a 24/7 town.
Through those early years, I remember seeing the industry growing up around our community, but I also remember that nothing else was going up. That led to an outcry in the community, a demand that casino gaming be used to rebuild all of Atlantic City, not just casino areas. It was a demand that led to the Northeast Inlet project—today a trophy of redevelopment—and continues today with redevelopment projects throughout the city. These projects have helped to rebuild neighborhoods and communities into places where people take pride in the way their homes look, places where people sweep their sidewalks and plant flowers in their gardens.
My hometown has been, and continues to be, transformed by the gaming industry. Neighborhoods like where I grew up used to be enclaves of stability in a very unstable town, but redevelopment has taken root and started spreading through the entire city. That's why I find it particularly gratifying—and humbling—to be involved in regulating the industry.
The old dump is gone and the Borgata is there in its place. The football stadium at Bader Field was replaced with the Sand Castle baseball stadium and the new Skate Zone. The old Tuna Club and Yacht Club closed more than 20 years ago and now luxurious new homes stand where they were. The old Lits Department Store is now the CitiCenter office building and the city's retail hub has moved to the Walk. There are great restaurants and shops in the city's hotels and soon some of the highest-end retailers will open their doors with exclusive shops on one of our piers. Waves of people are coming to Atlantic City to party, to shop, to dine, to be entertained, to gamble and to gambol. And now they are doing it all year round.
A lot of credit for all of this development has to go to my predecessors on the Casino Control Commission. Starting with Joe Lordi, the first chairman of the commission, they were dedicated to ensuring that the people who were invited into our community were people of good character, honesty and integrity. I was just a kid at the time, but they made certain that there would be decent jobs for me, my siblings and my friends when we grew up.
As a commissioner, it's now my turn to continue that dedication and continue to work to make Atlantic City an attractive place for people to invest their money and for people to spend their money. And it's my turn to help make sure Atlantic City is a very special and a very wonderful place for the next generation. That's the least I can do for my home town.
