Voice Of The People - Gary Stein

Use Port Authority to save Atlantic City

What if the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, developer of the new World Trade Center and one of the largest cash cows in the country, buys the Revel building? The authority could build a rail connection from Atlantic City International Airport to Revel — not a high-speed train, as California is doing, but a simple tram.

The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, the state and the Port Authority could all chip in to subsidize free or cheap overnight rooms in Revel — or other former casinos — for folks willing to bypass airports in Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore and Washington in favor of Atlantic City International.

The CRDA can replenish its balance sheet by selling vacant lots in the South Inlet to the federal government, which has an interest in preventing construction in tidal-prone areas and can create a small park along the South Inlet beachfront.

If our governor promised New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (the other overseer of the Port of Authority) that New Jersey wouldn't build any casinos in North Jersey, maybe he would support the tram and the investment in the Revel building.

GARY STEIN Mullica Township

Gary Stein is an independent candidate in the 2nd. Congressional District.

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/eedition/news/voice-of-the-people/article_1af4ca05-b5e8-503f-a3ec-796e13b925d7.html