Governor & NJ Legislature: Do Right By Past Atlantic City Senator

Now would be a good time to right a wrong. The Atlantic City Convention Center would not exist were it not for former New Jersey Senator Bill Gormley.

Gormley Secured The Funding

And, the price tag was a steep $ 268 million dollars. You couldn’t build it today for $ 1 billion dollars.

Gormley secured the funding without a single taxpayer dollar being raised.

At the time, it was the largest public project in New Jersey history.

Thursday, May 1, 1997

The Atlantic City Convention Center opened.

It opened with great excitement and high expectations about what the future would have in store for Atlantic City as a major destination resort.

The William L. Gormley Atlantic City Convention Center

Is how this building should read. I’ve been saying it for years. John Froonjian, who wrote the definitive book on Bill Gormley, “A Son Of The City” agrees.

Harry Hurley photo.

Don’t Compound A Previous Mistake

Gormley also secured all of the funding required for a much-needed $ 90 million dollar, three-year restoration of Historic Boardwalk Hall.

This restoration project saved Boardwalk Hall and transformed it into a special events arena ... while also preserving the historical nature of Historic Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall.

Yet, Somehow …

The Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall was named after someone else. That was wrong.

Don’t Wait For Gormley To Die

The 79-year-old Marine has the heart of a 40-year-old.

The practice of waiting for someone to die in order to name something after them is wrong … especially in the case of Gormley. He’s earned this recognition.

Here is What Former New Jersey Governor Tom Kean Said About Bill Gormley

The quote is extraordinary as follows:

Today's political polarization can be depressing. Intense partisanship. Political performance art instead of policy. Gridlock instead of governance. It would be great to find a politician whose priority was getting results. A bipartisan politician who cared about outcomes, not self-promoting publicity or tribalism. A fighter unafraid to take on powerful special interests or to address the most complex issues. And who brought to mind a word rarely associated with politics: fun. New Jersey's 2nd Legislative District in Atlantic County had such a leader: former State Senator William L. Gormley. Gormley's work changed the face of Atlantic City with housing, a convention center, a rail terminal, an events hall, a new road, hotels, shopping - all helping the regional economy. His statewide efforts on shore protection, property tax relief and justice benefited all New Jersey residents. This book tells his story. It is not an adversarial critique; it's more of an appreciation of his career. That might disappoint his critics, about whom Gormley himself might say, "Obviously, not everybody loves me." But any neutral assessment must conclude that Gormley was extraordinarily successful as a legislator, as a leader and as a protector of Atlantic City, Atlantic County and its people, wrote Governor Kean.

Gormley Delivered This Project

Gormley was a force of nature who successfully engineered and navigated the complicated labyrinth of both politics and finance — both skill sets were required in order to bring to fruition the brand new construction of a state-of-the-art facility, that featuried 500,000 square feet of contiguous space for meetings and conventions.

The financing was made possible when former Governor Jim Florio and Gormley worked effectively in a bi-partisan manner to merge the convention center financing with a New Jersey sports authority bailout measure of that era.

This fueled the dream for an Atlantic City Convention Center, by giving it the final push that was needed to gain the widespread legislative support that was required to make it happen.