Business is Down in Atlantic City, NJ: 2024 is Disastrous

There is no debate regarding this fact.

Business is down sharply in Atlantic City, New Jersey this year and even this summer.

Summertime in Atlantic City has been on near automatic pilot for the previous 45 years. You could rest easy, that big crowds would come and the hotel occupancy rate for the entire city would be in a healthy 90-plus percentile.

That is not the case in 2024.

Some simply dismiss the current downturn as a result of having no Atlantic City airshow, or, summer beach concerts this year.

No doubt, these big events generate thousands of hotel room nights and do a great job spurring millions of dollars for the local economy.

And, they are greatly missed.

However, Atlantic City’s current problems go well beyond this.

Atlantic City is also regularly losing out to other jurisdictions, who refuse to select Atlantic City as a destination resort in its current state of decline.

Business entities are cancelling previously scheduled commitments to hold their events in Atlantic City. This is happening at a rate not seen since the colossal failure of the 1964 Democratic National Convention.

This spectacular, major national event failure placed Atlantic City in an economic depression, until the passage of legalized casino gambling more than two decades later.

Atlantic City’s current problems are a city administration failure to execute even the most basic services.

It’s inexplicable, because the City of Atlantic City is flush with millions of dollars in surplus funds.

There is no excuse for the current incompetence of the Marty Small administration.

The current problems are so basic and they can be solved. However, Small is either incapable or unwilling to do his job.

Small’s job is so simple:

Make Atlantic City Safe.

Make Atlantic City Clean.

This will create an environment whereby visitors will come and investors will be attracted to develop in Atlantic City.

There are a number of systemic problems for developers and would be investors during the disastrous Small years.

It has become very difficult to do business in Atlantic City under Small.

Developers are being denied permits that they readily qualify for. They face roadblocks and other delays, which forces them to litigate basic matters that should not be in dispute.

There are no legitimate reasons for these delays.

Atlantic City currently faces a critical tipping point in its storied history since May 1, 1854.

Atlantic City has solved much more complex problems in the past.

This is not hard. The problem today is a City Hall problem, whereby the Mayor faces serious criminal charges and is the most incompetent Mayor in at least modern Atlantic City history.

The state of New Jersey must set goals and objectives for Small. If they are not achieved, the state must take away funding and provide it directly to the casino industry and the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority to manage.

The Atlantic City casinos are managed by capable executives, who can solve these basic … yet, now persistent problems. Give them the opportunity to do so.

Waiting for a local administration to act is not a winning strategy.

Next year (2025), is an election year for Mayor and three council members at large in Atlantic City.

It is a moral and fiscal imperative to make a dramatic course correction in Atlantic City.

Time is running out on Atlantic City.

NOTE: This is a Harry Hurley Opinion - Editorial.