Guardian 2016 Recap, Urinal Inspections, Battle with GOP & State

From the ‘Boardwalk Insider’:  Some, like Councilmen Marty Small & Frank Gilliam hope this turns out to be his last ‘State of The City’ speech.

On Jan 4, in front of 450+ attendees, Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian tapped danced around the bad and spent most of his presentation focused on private and State & Federal development projects….stuff he had little influence on. Many of these plans have yet to be started. (Poler Coaster, Gardners Basin, etc)

The 4th year mayor did his best to linger on both the Stockton University Campus construction project and the Inlet Boardwalk expansion. The two projects are mainly driven, managed and financed by federal, state and county orgs.

City Councilman Frank Gilliam, who, along with Councilman Marty Small are both candidates for Mayor. They face each other in a primary come June. Both want to limit Guardian to a single 4 yr term. Both believe Guardian made too many enemies and continues to waffle on issues. He would never win any negotiator awards either.

Guardian also used his time to share this gem:

He rigorously inspects cleanliness of public restrooms on the Boardwalk during his morning bicycle ride: “I can wipe my finger on a urinal and find out if it’s been steam cleaned.”

That creepy quote was printed all over the world…..by the Associated Press.

Seth Grossman ·Executive Director at Liberty and ProsperityThe people who know won’t talk. The people who talk don’t know. The people who know what is going on in Atlantic City know that Mayor Guardian is absolutely clueless.

The loss of the Taj and its 2,000 rooms, plus its meeting space is significant.

Though a darling of the press, behind the scenes it’s a much different story for the bow-tied Mayor and former executive with the Boy Scouts of America and a former VP of Gary Hill’s MBCA.

Guardian will find it much more difficult in NOV 2017 as his positive accomplishments over the past 4 years are few and far between. Don can’t rely on a complacent electorate, much like the one he wooed in 2012. It was a razor-thin win over a too-confident Lorenzo Langford that put this gay, white and Republican into office.

Dandy Don can also forget about any party support from his Republican colleagues. Guardian burned those bridges often.

  • Didn’t endorse or support his party’s Presidential candidate
  • Guardian seemed to endorse Hillary Clinton as she stumped and dumped on Atlantic City, on the Boardwalk in front of Trump Plaza last summer.
  • When asked who Guardian was voting for on Nov. 8, the RINO (Republican in name only) said ‘I’ll vote my conscious’. Outgoing Republican Freeholder Alex Marino made that verbal mistake as well. We guess he’s just positioning for his work at Stockton University. Will Marino make Stockton a sanctuary campus? Will there be safe spaces?
  • Picking fights with those who want to invest in AC, like Glenn Straub & Carl Icahn.
  • Icahn says Guardian could’ve helped during a strike that forced him to shut the casino on Oct. 10.

On Don Guardian’s Watch:

  • Hotel rooms dropped from 18448 to 13,461 by the end of September 2016.
  • An additional 2,010 rooms were lost when Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort closed in October.
  • Foreclosures increased
  • Did not follow thru on having all AC streets paved. Not even Atlantic Ave.
  • Watched silently as Borgata got assessed for $850 million…. while the market valued it at close to 2 billion
  • Some claim that Mayor Guardians sits on too many boards, creating  too many conflicts of interest. His connection with MUA is especially problematic. See: his endorsement of having MUA purchase Bader Field for twice the former airport’s value. Nothing more than a shell game. That financial flim-flam was quickly squashed by Trenton.
  • Guardian often tee’d off the NJ Governor by changing his mind on deals made with Gov. Christie.
  • County Exec Denny Levinson is well aware of Don Guardian’s forgetfulness. Specifically, in regard to that deal he made with Levinson about tax assessment refunds. City Council reminded Levinson that the Mayor can’t do deals on his own. Seems like the Mayor was unaware of that rule.
  • Protects his cozy relationship with CRDA and casino buddies when making like tough for outside investors like Glenn Straub. Not vigilant as CRDA board member. Concert failures. News Years Eve fail.
  • Jumped the gun and used the radio to announce a not-yet-confirmed Toby Keith beach concert. Ultimately the show never happened. Promoter Live Nation was not amused.
  • Ticking off Dick Clark Productions & The Miss America Organization. Whether you like the MISS A deal or not, as Mayor, you have to respect and live up to that signed contract. The last thing you should do is take your personal feelings to the national press. Well, that’s exactly what Mayor Don did. He took a big steamy one on Miss America……right within the pages of Bloomberg News. This unprofessional behavior didn’t make it to the Press of Atlantic City. Those ink-stained nitwits covered for Donny boy….and ignored this story…..as they often do for Don. No wonder the Press of AC circulation & readership is in a death spiral.
  • The Mayor spoke too soon about Garden Pier, home of the Atlantic City Historical Museum. It was celebrated as another win for Team Don…..and vulture investor Bart Blatstein, the Margate man behind Tower Investments.

SNJtoday > http://www.snjtoday.com/story/33463799/video-atlantic-city-plays-monopoly-as-property-sales-help-city-collect-funds

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