Atlantic City, NJ Mayor Thinks He’s The Greatest Showman; Nope!

Last year, Atlantic City, New Jersey Mayor Marty Small dressed-up as a “Transformer” character.

Yesterday, on Friday, February 2, 2024, Small channeled his inner “McFadden and Whitehead” and performed a singing and dance number to the famous tune, “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now.”

The gentle lady (Darchele Todd) that Small performed with was very good and in tune … Small was not. Small’s dancing and singing was bad. Really bad.

It has been a long tradition for the sitting Mayor of Atlantic City to deliver an unofficial “State of the City” address at a gathering of the Metropolitan Business & Civic Association (MCBA).

Community and business leaders attend, it’s typically a crowd of about 700 people, including casino executives and other citywide leaders.

Simply put, Small is not “The Greatest Showman.” Not even close.

Someone close to Small should have told him that “you can’t sing and you can’t dance … please don’t do it.”

Either no one did, or, he didn’t listen.

These are consequential and serious times. There’s a time and place for fun and games. If Small did his bad singing and dance routine in a City of Atlantic City employee talent show … I wouldn’t say a bad word about it.

My review would have been that your partner was great; you were absolutely terrible and it all would have been well received and in good fun.

However, Atlantic City has had 5 murders and other violent and serious crimes during the first month of 2024.

The Atlantic City Police and Fire Departments are understaffed and Small is more engaged with hiring ex-offenders than he is to the proper direction of public safety at the policy level.

Small also has done absolutely nothing to help residents who have lived without heat and hot water for the past two years.

Here is Small from last year’s MBCA state of the city gathering, appearing as a “Transformer.”

“Can We Say Great Day” in Atlantic City?