Atlantic City has always been a place of contradiction. Neon artificiality, food -stamp reality, persistent urban decay, spectacular natural beauty, multiethnic, multiracial, multilingual — it’s a town that gets beneath the skin, refusing to allow you to give up on it. “The locals call it getting sand in your shoes,” says Trump Plaza security guard Stanley Smith. “And once you have it, you can’t get rid of it.”
A city that reinvents itself as often as this one perseveres on the memory of the good old days left behind and the promise of better days ahead. In a seaside town, there’s always next season. Now, however, it must deal with an economic crisis.
“You want to talk ripple effects?” says Frank Formica, an elected county official and owner of a 95-year-old family bakery that supplies some of the casinos. “The ripple effects are tidal waves.”
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Four casinos closed in nine months. A fifth threatens to close by Thanksgiving. Almost 8,000 workers got pink slips. Many of the lost positions were considered good jobs with union-negotiated benefits, and people made careers out of them. They bought houses. They raised kids. They put themselves and their kids through college
. Atlantic City has always been a place of contradiction. Neon artificiality, food -stamp reality, persistent urban decay, spectacular natural beauty, multiethnic, multiracial, multilingual — it’s a town that gets beneath the skin, refusing to allow you to give up on it.
The community has already lengthened pay periods for its workers to avert a shutdown of services as it tries to stave off insolvency. Governor Chris Christie’s rejection of measures that would have diverted gambling funds to the city created a $33.5 million hole in its budget. Christie and state lawmakers have yet to agree on a plan to rescue the 39,000-resident seaside town.
According to the Press of Atlantic City, the city is expected to run out of money in a matter of weeks, and the short-term picture looks grim. Not only is a $1.8 million bond payment due today, but a $7 million payroll payment is set for Friday as well.
With the city sitting on $500 million in debt, and with budget deficits topping $100 million, default and perhaps bankruptcy looks imminent without a major bailout from the state.