Detroit With a Boardwalk: Why Atlantic City is dying.

Politico Magazine ^ | October 20, 2014 | George Anastasia

[C19fan]

Thirty years ago, disgraced Atlantic City Mayor Michael Matthews stood in front of a federal judge and pleaded guilty to accepting a bribe from an FBI agent posing as a mobster. It was 1984. Atlantic City was a boomtown then, just six years into the casino gambling era that was going to remake the shabby resort town that I was assigned to cover as a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Every day, I watched as buses from up and down the East Coast dumped thousands of slot machine mavens and roulette table hopefuls at the eight gambling palaces that had sprung up since 1978. Construction was everywhere. So was land speculation. The real estate market was a real-life game of Monopoly. Everyone, it seemed, was flying past Go and collecting their $200.

[katnip]

I like Atlantic City. I love the boardwalk, the ocean, the feral cats that are cared for there. The casinos and shops are beautiful.

You can’t go out once it’s dark though for fear of being mugged or killed. And don’t walk up those side streets.....

[PieterCasparzen]

Almost no one does.

[the OlLine Rebel]

I said “seedy”, as in dumps.

The gilded casino may look nice, but the area around it will still be a dump. At least, the area will not be better off than it was before. They make it as if everyone will be rich, including the workers. Ultimately it is status-quo, at best.

I stand by that regardless of government, although I admit “success” partly depends on what kind of regulation exists.

[the OlLine Rebel]

Come again....”funny money”?

[dead]

Detroit is headed in the opposite direction due to GOP control of the state. The riverfront is looking good these days.

The GOP controls New Jersey too, at least at the gubernatorial level.

Unfortunately, here in Sopranoland, the government and the mob are the same company.

Your party just determines how big an envelope gets shoved under your door.

[PIF]

Maybe when the weather cycle changes, Nature will clean up AC as it did in the 40’s ...

[mythenjoseph]

You actually think of Christie as a republican?

[dead]

You actually think of Christie as a republican?

He must be a Republican because the media investigates and writes about his scandals.

[joethedrummer]

I took that to mean: “fun” money... extra money to blow.

Nowadays, every DIME has to be watched in this economy. thank you, barry; congress!!!

Way fewer people have money to ‘burn’ these days.

[PATRIOT1876]

Go to Detroit to gamble?!?!

“Win $400 at blackjack!
Lose $400 and your life as you leave the casino”

[bill1952]

You seriously left out crushing government regulations on real industry along with sky high tax increases.

[SkyPilot]

That's the mentality of many in New Jersey: don't admit sin is sin, and take what's "in it for me."

It is the same with Property Taxes, the highest in the nation.

The corrupt NJ Supreme Court ruled over 30 years ago that schools in minority communities could fleece the rest of the "white" districts out of their property taxes.

New Jersey's high property taxes are fault of former Abbott Districts, Assembly members say

This was called the Abbott Decision.

The result was that the towns raise their property taxes to cover the town's own needs (police, fire, schools), and then tax the residents again so that they can shovel another 30% of stolen tax money to the Abbott districts, who piss away about $20,000 per student.

Most of that money is further stolen by the teachers and administrators, who use it to pad their own salaries and benefits.

The schools, meanwhile, get astro turf football fields, top computer equipment, and stadium lights that would rival an NFL team. Their students, however, are the same illiterate thugs that they always were.

Same with Atlantic City. They tried to pretend it was Disney World, but it was never anything but a mob infested hell hole of prostitution, drugs, alcoholism, gambling addiction, and crime.

[discostu]

The didn’t see the change coming. Vegas realized as Indian casinos took hold that to get the tourists they needed gambling to be a second attraction. The Disney with slots change was rocky at first, but eventually they landed where they want to be, there’s lots of fun entertaining reasons to go to Vegas, a good chunk of the tourists never gamble a penny.

[Poison Pill]

oops. My bad!

[grania]

I'm wondering how many people in MA believe the rhetoric about gambling bringing in jobs. How many towns voted down casino schemes? How many can see in neighboring CT that Foxboro/MoheganSun have had a long-term negative impact on the economy, because that revenue was depended on?

Parts of MA (mostly west of Sturbridge) could still be salvaged, with a return to Yankee independence, ingenuity, and job creation. It would probably take the collapse of federal and state government, and before the older generations dies out. Most of those towns out there would do just fine, if they could govern themselves.

[SamAdams76]

Gambling ultimately never works. It always gets seedy.

Las Vegas is the exception with that. In fact, each time I go there, it's even more upscale then the time before. They still have the old downtown area (Fremont Street Experience) that is kept "seedy" on purpose for old time's sake (a fun and safe place to be on a Friday or Saturday night).

The difference with Las Vegas is that it was built with entertainment in mind, not just for the gambling. People from all over the world travel there so you have world-class restaurants and shows. You don't even have to gamble to have a good time there.

Atlantic City was built in the middle of a slum and nobody with any alternatives will want to go there as a destination. So you see that was going to end badly.

Ditto for all the suburban casinos popping up all over the country. They are just sad places. Busloads of old ladies going there to play Bingo and penny slots. Local riff-raff skulking about. Bored housewives. Sad sack losers. Lousy buffet food. Tight slots and unfavorable table games (i.e. Blackjack pays 6 to 5 instead of 3 to 2).

I live near the two biggest casinos in the world (Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun in CT) but I prefer to save my money and go to Las Vegas once or twice a year.

[the OlLine Rebel]

I had the same view of Foxwoods when I was there.

I moved out just when Mohegan was starting to build.

Lots of “casino workers” all over.

Nothing based on “service” - especially that kind - ever prospers much in the end. Real products is where it is at. SE CT wasn’t really any different from what it had been before Foxwoods. Luckily, it was out in the open land area so did not have any immediate impact on real urban areas. 20 years later, does anyone talk about that area as being a seriously wealthy place? No, just average suburban mostly.

If I just want to go to shows or something, I’d go to NYC.

Only the horses hold any interest for me. Love the racing, and the gambling is OK.

I was made to go to our new local casino last week with my bonehead friend who likes stupid gambling although it was for lunch. Her friend doesn’t like gambling either; she and I saw a welfare-type homie plunk down $200 (lost) in just the 2 minutes we were watching his blackjack table. The casino is actually smaller than I thought it would be. I can never really say they are “nice” because it’s just red and fake gold everywhere with loud (sight and sound) machines.

[SamAdams76]

A few years ago, I went to a casino in Joliet, Illinois. Just outside of Chicago. I think it was a Harrah's.

Now that was a seedy, run-down joint. For some reason, they were giving us the TSA experience just to get in the place. Metal detectors and the whole nine yards. Once in there, you felt trapped. They had an "all-you-can-eat" buffet that made you sick to the stomach just looking at it. The slobs in line in front of me were ladling food on their plates with the same spoon and getting food mixed up in the other trays. But people didn't go there for the food. They shoved the salisbury steak/mashed potato in their mouths and rushed back to the the slots. Those were the tightest slots we ever played. In Vegas, we could put $100 in a slot and play for a couple hours at max bet because you usually get lots of little payouts to keep you going for a while. There, the $100 lasted maybe 10 minutes. Those machines weren't giving anything back! Of course there was no competition from nearby casinos so that's probably why.

[Undecided 2012]

Fred, me too. I went there in 1977, lost $50 in like 15 minutes playing slots, left and never returned

[Undecided 2012]

>>>>>>The result was that the towns raise their property taxes to cover the town’s own needs (police, fire, schools), and then tax the residents again so that they can shovel another 30% of stolen tax money to the Abbott districts, who piss away about $20,000 per student.

Most of that money is further stolen by the teachers and administrators, who use it to pad their own salaries and benefits.>>>>

Let me ask you something, thankfully I live in Texas today but let me ask you something.

How would you feel as a white male/female teacher at West Philly High, Overbrook HS, Gratz HS

The best pay or pension wouldn’t entice me to sign up.