Atlantic City mayor: City government will shut down within 3 weeks

[alp227]

Source: Star-Ledger

TRENTON — With Atlantic City set to run out of money, local officials said Monday they will close city hall and stop paying city employees in less than three weeks as they continue to argue with state leaders about how to save the Jersey Shore gambling resort town from going bankrupt.

Mayor Don Guardian announced that "non-essential" local government functions will cease April 8 at 4:30 p.m. if the city doesn't receive state aid.

Guardian said "essential services" like police, fire, revenue collections, and some divisions in public works will continue to work during that time.

He added that the shutdown will last until at least May 2, when the city expects its next quarterly tax payments.

Read more: http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/03/atlantic_city_plans_for_government_shutdown_amid_f.html

[cynzke]

1. Maybe Christie can appoint a City Manager like Snyder did for Detroit!

That is if Christie can pull himself away from Donald "Big D" Trump.

[sofa king]

2. He could do us all a favor and appoint The Don.

First because Trump already bears a lot of responsibility for screwing up Atlantic City in the first place, second because if the guy actually has to fix his mess in Jersey he will instantly lose interest in destroying America.

[HereSince1628]

5. My expectation would be some form of emergency gov't must emerge

if only to sell off the assets to vulture capitalists.

[Hoppy]

6. There will likely be a state take-over of the government.

That, or they will file for bankruptcy.

[HereSince1628]

7. In WI, state takeover would certainly happen for a large town/city

Cities are chartered under state authority, so when a city fails the state regains control. More importantly, having complete control of state government, the new republicans want control to be at the state level. They've thrown off decades of traditional republican support of home-rule.

[nwduke]

11. Trickle down

How's that trickle down economics working out for ya now, GOP?

[tclambert]

13. One way he could save money would be to switch the water supply.

By accepting water with a little more color that poisons children, he could save hundreds and hundreds of dollars. What a deal.

[underpants]

3. Maybe Trump can make it great again

Oh.....never mind

[Nitram]

4. Another one of Trump's glorious "successes." nt

[Hoppy]

8. The problem is beyond Trump's doing.

Numerous mayors and officials have spent, or are still spending time in the slammer for corruption. The city is in the shitter because of extravagant expenditures and not spending money on things that should have been corrected.

The legislation that set up the casinos, provided for a return of $2.00 for every car parked at the casinos. That money went to Atlantic City. This was in addition to the added tax money that came from the property tax the casinos paid.

The city treated this as if it was a piggy bank that was being used to save money to go to Disney Land. New patronage jobs, etc. The most outrageous --- lifeguards getting lifetime pensions after 10 years of doing summer lifeguard jobs. Full pension with lifetime health benefits if you lifeguarded for 25 years.

Meanwhile, areas of the city were torn down and replaced by subsidized housing. The problem is that they are architecturally ugly. Other parts of the city were allowed to remain as relics from the 1900's: single family, asphalt siding, wood siding that needed repair and so forth.

There are few commercial areas.... maybe a bodega or two or a bar, here and there. That's about it.

Vacant lots abound. Some of the area looks like Newark did after the '67 riots.

Improvements were made. There is a small museum on the edge of the boardwalk that is dedicated to Atlantic City history. There is the exhibition hall which has a few exhibits each year. That was generally a waste because most of the exhibitions and trade shows are held directly in the casinos.

So it boils down to, the boardwalk is the only thing they have going for them.... oh, I forgot about the Tanger shopping mall that is about 4 or 5 years old. It is two blocks from the boardwalk. It has the same crappy stores you would find in any other shopping mall. So why would anyone bother?

Guess what? They don't. On a given summer day, you will find, maybe 150 people walking between the stores. It is an outdoor mall so if it rains, no customers. From November to April, no customers.

What is left? Gambling. That was fine until Pennsylvania opened casinos. The Pa. casinos are located about 15 to 20 miles from the N.J. border. If gambling is all you want, why would you drive 2 hours to A.C., when you could drive 1 hour or less to Pa.

So, there you have it folks.

The problem is beyond Trump's doing.


Around the area are blocks of vacant land.

[jtuck004]

10. "The problem is beyond Trump's doing. " Actually it is reflective of the real estate swindler.

He thinks you can borrow a bunch of money, build some garish piece of crap building, throw in the cheapest labor, and call it done. Avoid taxes, don't invest in the people, and eventually you have tens of millions of lives in decline.

We have a nation that thinks it can neglect it's bills, neglect investment in the people around us, and still thrive. What we don't realize is that we educated and trained and helped house a nation for mostly white folks for over 200 years, while people who were indigenous to the land, and later black folk, were used and thrown away to maintain the nation's lifestyle, along with millions of white folk who were thrown into poverty to maintain the lifestyles of the wealthy. That murder and neglect of those populations has now come home to roost, and a whole country full of people are doing worse in many ways, for the profit of a very few.

Because when the bills come due, they sap the wealth that everyone thought they had built. It is their own doing, and their children, unlike those they have made wealthy, will pay the price with their lives.

The problem isn't beyond his doing, it's exactly what he does.

[turbinetree]

9. And to add to this mix.....................

in city Bridgeton NJ, they use to have a manufacturing base called Hocking Glass, where all of the glass was used and manufactured to make soup jars, drinking glasses etc, they called this place the Garden State for a reason, they produce the fruits and vegetables and they use to pack the same fruit and vegetables and ship it across the country, not any more, they are coming in from Chile, Mexico, etc................................. after NAFTA and the other "trade deals".

So guess where they went..............................and this needs to laid right at the feet of those that support these "trade deals, or flip flop on these "trade deals", they are a economic disaster, and as soon as people fully understand this fact, then, the situation will get worse, before they get better.

And only one candidate has shown the principles of this and it's Bernie Sanders, he has never wavered in this principle

Honk-------------------for a political revolution Bernie 2016

[phantom power]

12. I wonder if anybody will learn from these failures of governance.

Or, will people just throw up their hands and say "oh well, just proves Conservatives were right that government is always the problem" and continue our transition into being a third world country.