Atlantic City Councilman: ‘End Homeless Living Under Boardwalk’

George Tibbitt, Atlantic City Councilman-at-Large is calling for an end to providing those living under the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey with food, blankets, clothing and other services.

In a live, on-air appearance this morning with us on Townsquare Media, Tibbitt dropped the gauntlet and directly attributed the homeless living under the boardwalk with two recent boardwalk fires.

The Friday, February 3, 2023 (6:00 p.m.) boardwalk fire started underneath the boardwalk.

An Atlantic City firefighter fell through the boardwalk while battling this major fire, which occurred directly adjacent to the Ocean Casino Resort.

There was a second boardwalk fire this past weekend in Atlantic City that almost no one even knows occurred, because it has not received much publicity at all.

Tibbitt was emphatic in his disagreement with Atlantic County Prosecutor Will Reynolds’ philosophy of visiting with and delivering (what he calls) “Blessed Bags” to the homeless and underserved in Atlantic City.

The bags consist of food, water, socks, blankets and other items.

Tibbitt believes that the operational strength of the Atlantic City area in terms of the well funded structure that is in place for providing social services, money, etc. is creating the problem of the homeless living under the boardwalk and in casino parking garages.

For many years, other parts of the State of New Jersey regularly provide one way bus tickets to people to send them to Atlantic City.

This is expressly because of the elaborate and generous social services available in Atlantic City.

Tibbitt spoke at length on-air about the great job that former New Jersey State Police Lt. Tom Gilbert did in addressing the homeless population, living under the boardwalk.

Gilbert was the former commander of the Atlantic City Tourism District.

Tibbitt stated that all of the gains achieved under Gilbert have been lost.

SOURCE: Live on-air interview (2/6/23) with Atlantic City Councilman George Tibbitt