Atlantic City, N.J., hires lawyers to restructure debt

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

World | Tue Jun 28, 2016 7:28pm EDT

Atlantic City, N.J., hires lawyers to restructure debt

NEW YORK | BY HILARY RUSS

Atlantic City, New Jersey's fiscally distressed gambling hub, has hired public finance attorneys to restructure some of its $240 million of outstanding bond debt, Mayor Don Guardian said on Tuesday.

New Jersey law firm McManimon, Scotland & Baumann will work on reducing the city's debt load, much of which it took on to pay back casinos that won property tax appeals.

City officials are meeting with the firm this week, Guardian told residents in a meeting Tuesday evening, which was livestreamed by the Press of Atlantic City.

The city's fortunes have faded as gambling competition in neighboring states cut into its casino industry and eviscerated its property tax base.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-atlantic-city-budget-idUSKCN0ZE322

[scscholar]

1. Nucky taking too much off of the top? (ntxt)

[Hoppy]

2. No. Outside of a few blocks around the casinos, the place is a shit hole.

They had 35 years and billions of $$$ to redevelop and fix the place. Who knows where that money went to? As an example of fucked up finances, lifeguards who work for ten summers can get a pension. Work for 25 years and get a pension, plus paid health care for the rest of your life. Who knows what other political hacks get pensions for doing nothing?

Five blocks from the casinos are vacant lots, boarded up houses, houses in disrepair and maybe a few low income projects.

Wanna get laid or a blow job? Its available on the streets near the casinos for a few bucks.

Empty casinos are in beginning stages of decay.

Drive 1/2 mile from the casinos and more vacant land and so forth.

There are a few high rises that were built to sell to gamblers. One of these is hosting an auction to sell the units one at a time.

The problems became apparent when casinos opened up in Pennsylvania and New York. Why would a gambler from N.Y.C. or northern N.J. want to spend two hours on the road to play slots when they can drive 45 minutes to Yonkers, the Poconos or Bethlehem? Why would a Pennsylvania gambler drive an hour to A.C. when they can drive 15 minutes to a casino near the N.J. border.

A.C. is fucked.