Despite four years of yeoman’s work repairing and altering Atlantic City‘s image, the Atlantic City Alliance is being abandoned like an orphan on the church steps. State Senate 
President Steve Sweeney (D, left) blamed the casinos for killing it off and Borgata President Tom Ballance confirmed that the ACA had become a low priority: “Atlantic City is on the brink if bold actions are not taken in the very near term” … actions that don’t include the ACA.
Added state Sen. James Whelan (D), “things have changed now. We’re in an emergency situation, and there are more urgent needs for the money the alliance had been using could be put to better uses, even if it means no one is promoting the resort as a whole.” The ACA’s remaining $30 million will be rechanneled into either shoring up Atlantic City’s finances or financing “a development agency to attract new business and homes here,” according to The Associated Press.
Gov. Chris Christie‘s envoy to Atlantic City, Jon Hanson, pronounced the ACA’s work good but not good enough. Only new ACA boss Jeff Guaracino would stick up for his agency. “It is widely acknowledged that the ACA has improved the image of Atlantic City and driven visitation and defended Atlantic City through crises — murders and hurricanes and layoffs. What you’re hearing now is that there is a new crisis,” he said, alluding to the recent wave of casino closures.
But the ACA isn’t going quietly. It’s going to have the biggest booth at the forthcoming New York Times Travel Show. Miss America Kira Kazantsev will be among those gladhanding on behalf of the Boardwalk. Guaracino is coordinating meetings with at least 100 travel-media representatives, saying, “We cannot let the negative publicity on last year’s 
closed casinos create the wrong visitor perception.” He also touted research from Philadelphia, New York and Baltimore that showed 75% of respondents now view Atlantic City as a nightlife and dining destination.
“We can’t take any market for granted,” said Guaracino in something of an epic understatement. “Any traveler with cash is important for Atlantic City.” Since the New Jersey Legislature has yet to vote on legislation abolish the ACA, the agency still has time to spend down its $30 million budget. Even then, Guaracino says this isn’t necessarily the end. The ACA was the Boardwalk’s only unified marketing arm and some aren’t taking its abolition kindly. One such is Steel Pier owner Tony Catanoso, who says “some vehicle will be needed to replace what they did.” But he’s bucking a phalanx of casino owners who say they can’t afford it.
* Ignoring the adverse regional demographics of the Southern Tier, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) is dreaming of a “blockbuster” project that will persuade his Location 
Board to put a casino there. It should be noted that the area had months to lure a large-caliber project and none were forthcoming. “If only those past applications are resubmitted, which were failures in the first place, then nobody wins. But I think all those other people who were rejected in the other regions might actually apply, and it might actually be this time in the Southern Tier – which was the intent,” said Cuomo, justifying his intervention in the process.
And who knows? Perhaps a rejected applicant like Cordish Gaming may decide that some casino revenue, however slim, beats none at all. That’s their best hope, since Cuomo is backing the Location Board’s decision on the Catskills and Capitol regions.
* If you think I’ve been hard on Caesars Entertainment‘s bankruptcy maneuverings, you should Chuck Monster‘s takedown of the process. Nothing is spared — not even Gary Loveman‘s hairdo.
