Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian gave his un-official State of the City speech on Wednesday, Jan. 13 at the annual Metropolitan Business & Citizens Association (MBCA) luncheon.
The event at Harrah’s Waterfront Conference Center attracted a sold-out crowd of 1,000. Just about anybody…who was anybody…was there. As usual, the team of John Schultz & Gary Hill put on another ‘must attend’ event.
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Minutes before the MBCA festivities began, the Mayor & Council had the critical task of addressing the State take-over issue. This happened just down the hall from the MBCA event with members of the press. Watch Video & See Pics.
Even after Senator Sweeney’s State sucker punch, Guardian kept his cool as threats of municipal take-over loomed.
Once the press conference was over, the wildly popular Mayor still greeted, pitched, summarized, predicted and sang the praises of a city in the early phases of re-invention. Guardian reminded the packed house of how NJ has worked cooperatively with the city over the past 18 months. The recent green-lighting of a revised Casino Property Taxation Stabilization Act (pilot) was one such example of state-city cooperation.
Event co-host Gary Hill, Executive Director for the MBCA, executed another great kick-off to a new year.
Mixed feelings permeated the impressive new Harrahs Conference Center. It was only a few days earlier that NJ Senate Democrats floated the “Municipal Stabilization and Recovery Act”. This could give the state Department of Community Affairs’ Local Finance Board the power to….essentially… take over Atlantic City.
If the bill becomes law, Atlantic City Council could be stripped of it’s power. City Council President Marty Small asked the gathering of journos if they had a copy of the proposed bill, as Council did not get one.
Yes, the road is bumpy when you’re forced to re-invent a whole city and region. You’ll need to break a few eggs to make that great omelette. Still, most are extremely optimistic about Atlantic City and the annual MBCA kick off to 2016 was proof of that. What a tremendous showing of support for the Mayor and the road map for a new Atlantic City.
RELATED:
Listen on Demand: Gary Hill on The Mel Taylor Radio Show. DEC. 11, 2015. WPG 1450 >
