Hard Rock @ TAJ Closing

[JIMDUECE`SWILD]

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/h ... 691fc.html

[olds442jetaway]

My friend was there right around the time the TAJ opened. Trump happened to be wandering around checking out the work and noticed one marble tile that either was a little crooked or off color. He went kinda nuts making the workers drop everything, either get more from Italy, or bust up and replace the piece immediately. What a difference is it's state now.

[notes1]

i know Trump is an egotistical, self promoter, and i would never vote for him, but, i do think he built a great property at the Taj. the subject of AC has been beaten to death, but it is all speculation. i would really enjoy reading an in depth piece that was actually unbiased news reporting, on what happened and where all the money went.  why did the casinos and government not buy all the ugly, crime ridden area around the casinos, so that folks would feel safe? i just do not accept that their doom came from superstorm sandy and competition. vegas has competition, but survived. i can understand the demise of tunica, they have nothing else to offer, but AC has the ocean.  if anyone ever sees an article on this, please post,  would like to read it. likely will be years before the whole truth is known.   

[DaBurglar]

i know Trump is an egotistical, self promoter, and i would never vote for him, but, i do think he built a great property at the Taj. the subject of AC has been beaten to death, but it is all speculation. i would really enjoy reading an in depth piece that was actually unbiased news reporting, on what happened and where all the money went.  why did the casinos and government not buy all the ugly, crime ridden area around the casinos, so that folks would feel safe? i just do not accept that their doom came from superstorm sandy and competition. vegas has competition, but survived. i can understand the demise of tunica, they have nothing else to offer, but AC has the ocean.  if anyone ever sees an article on this, please post,  would like to read it. likely will be years before the whole truth is known.   nOTES1, YOU MAY DESPISE ME PERSONALLY FOR WHAT YOU think ARE MY PERSONAL POLITICAL VIEWS, BUT i DO NOT FEEL THE SAME ABOUT YOU ....IN FACT i KEEP TELLING YOU I agree with much that you write,  and THIS is one such example!!!I have been visiting AC FREQUENTLY since February 2009 (twice monthly about staying 5-6 days on average EACH visit), and I became intimately familiar with the city, the casinos, the politics, the economy and anything else that is relevant to the Casino Industry as it exists in the AC market.   The questions you ask are extremely valid and demand answering IF Atlantic city is to ever mount ANY type of recovery and exist in the future........Since its formation, Atlantic city has been hindered by corruption of the most egregious and costly variety, with a multitude of MAyors, councilmen and other city officials doing jail time for a host of corruption related offenses.....that's one big way AC has squandered its riches.     Close behind and enmeshed with the corruption has been the short sighted political leadership which, since casinos opened in 1978-79, has implemented a variety of economic policies that have only benefitted a handful of real estate developers who built and maintained a series of LARGE Condo Complexes along the shore near the casinos on the Boardwalk.....the city's politics and demographics are STARKLY divided between a relatively few wealthy constituents and a large constituency of poor, destitute citizens who are on welfare and social assistance, which the city pays a decent chunk along with the state and federal government.   Many of the casino workers do not actually LIVE in AC so these poor citizens are essentially a drain on the coffers and on the city's resources (health care, law/legal system, etc)The money the city received over the years from the casinos was NOT re-invested into the city at any where near the rate or amount that was originally envisioned by the New Jersey Legislature's southern members when the approved gambling back in 1979......MUCH of the revenue generated by AC for the State of New Jersey's coffers has gone to help Northern New Jersey with all its problems and demands from being the neighbor of NEW YORK CITY and all that is required from that!!!!    Many AC casino workers and executives that I have talked to regularly lament and gripe over this fact, that the lion's share of the TAX revenue that the AC casinos generated between 1980 and 2006 was spent on just about ANYTHING in the state of NEW JERSEY    EXCEPT Atlantic City itself!!!!    Hence, the city never benefited from the fruits of its labors.....and we all know about how fiscally screwed up the State of NJ is, with its many problems and with its outrageous costs related to PENSIONS for various groups and organizations that were negotiated decades ago when the cash was flowing out of AC and no one saw an end to it.....  Anyway, that's the general version of things, but there are other factors in the mix as to why the city of AC is in such awful shape after having so many decades of cash-rich prosperity with regards its casinos.......AC was a virtual monopoly on gambling east of the Mississippi from 1978 until around the very late 1990s when the two CAsinos in Connecticut (Foxwoods and Mohegan) really came online full blast, and even then AC continued to dominate the market until 2006.......AC was generating BILLIONS every year (reaching a peak in 2006-2007 with over 6-1/2 Billion!0     Think about that, BILLIONS AND BILLIONS, year after year.....and yet the state of New Jersey in general and the city of AC in particular are fiascoes!!! Corruption, shortsightedness, greed, incompetence, political gamesmanship all mixed together to result in what we see now......

[Tedlark]

i know Trump is an egotistical, self promoter, and i would never vote for him, but, i do think he built a great property at the Taj. the subject of AC has been beaten to death, but it is all speculation. i would really enjoy reading an in depth piece that was actually unbiased news reporting, on what happened and where all the money went.  why did the casinos and government not buy all the ugly, crime ridden area around the casinos, so that folks would feel safe? i just do not accept that their doom came from superstorm sandy and competition. vegas has competition, but survived. i can understand the demise of tunica, they have nothing else to offer, but AC has the ocean.  if anyone ever sees an article on this, please post,  would like to read it. likely will be years before the whole truth is known.   
    Ha! Showed you; it wasn't beat to death afterall. It was still kicking a bit...

[notes1]

i do not despise anyone on this forum. i have asked for help from some and they were nice enough to assist.again, if someone finds an unbiased in depth piece on what happened to AC, please post the site.  

[Carcounter]

I live in NJ. Go back and look at who was in charge during the wine and roses days. Florio,McGreevey, Whitman, Corzine. Nuff said.

[OTABILL]

i do not despise anyone on this forum. i have asked for help from some and they were nice enough to assist.again, if someone finds an unbiased in depth piece on what happened to AC, please post the site.  


Not sure if you can find a completely unbiased article but you may want to take a look at the following:

The last hand: The epic bust of Atlantic City’s gambling economy

[JIMDUECE`SWILD]

Update !  http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news ... e9cdd.html

[DaBurglar]

The last hand: The epic bust of Atlantic City’s gambling economyexcellent article, thank you otabill for displaying it....I missed it when it first came out!All time best quote ever by an Atlantic City Official on the situation in general:Mayor Guardian“The monopoly of gaming for Atlantic City ended five years ago, and the
fact that no one woke up and said this is a chapter that’s closing and
we need a new chapter was beyond me,” says Mayor Don Guardian, who took
office in January and whose campaign slogan was “A New Beginning.” “We
put all our eggs in one basket, and you never put all your eggs in one
basket.”As I have lamented many times, the sheer level of incompetence and apathy exhibited by AC's business and political leaders going back a decade to around 2004, a full 2 years before the casinos OPENED and came ONLINE in Pennsylvania in 2006, is pathetic.I mention 2004 because THAT was the real beginning, because it took Pennsylvania a full 2-plus years to actually BUILD all them casinos once gaming was approved, so AC clearly had ample time to prepare and think of SOMETHING.....There is no way AC could have prevented a DROP OFF in Revenue and players, but there are PLENTY of things they could have done to cushion the blow, to prevent the ABJECT meltdown and crisis that has resulted......I have screamed many times that AC should have from the get go been offering players WHATEVER it takes to keep them coming, and obviously this means GIVING more and profiting less, but it still allows casinos to SURVIVE, workers to KEEP their jobs and leaves open the possibility that the customers will spend more at some time in the future IF...IF you manage to keep them around or on the roll.....if they BOLT completely, you are left with nothing.But they did not do this, the casino management, even as late as 2010-2011 when things totally started falling apart, kept CUTTING comps and perks and everything that attracts players, in an effort to MAINTAIN their EXECUTIVE quarterly bonuses for ONE MORE QUARTER......you do not know how many times I heard this lament from dealers, workers, waitresses, etc.    Shameful.....The one lone exception (INDEED the one lone BRIGHT spot) in all this sadness is of course, the BORGATA......and why?   Simple....they are run by a VEGAS company who has been dealing with stiff competition for decades prior, and they KNOW how to keep customers happy and maintain there base.......RESIST the urge to cut cut cut when things slow down, NEVER compromise on service or quality (i.e. food, cleanliness, rooms, etc.)     Borgata is going strong and (along with the GOLDEN NUGGET) is set to reap the rewards this summer when all the former Boardwalk clientele meander over to the marina area and INCREASE their customer base!Seriously, along with Guardian's great question, another really good question is WHY oh WHY none of the other now defunct casinos (like AC CLUB, or TRUMP) could have simply SEEN what was working for Borgata and copied it?   Surely it would have helped at least a little, perhaps jusssst enough to survive???Finally, when REVEL "opened" in 2012 and immediately   cannibalized already severely depressed and down market, it was the last straw for the AC Club and Trump.....They (the city of AC and the state of NJ) should have had the fortitude to simply deconstruct that half built monstrosity in 2010 instead of doubling down on it.......and THAT was primarily the fault of the Christie Administration.