Exit 166
now that's bennyland if i've ever heard of it.
Exit 100 here
'cept now i'm a benny too.
I love AC - and I don't even gamble.
AC had (and still has) an opporunity to integrate the casinos into the urban fabric much better than they have been. As it stands, the Borgata is the only casino you can't walk to.
To me, the future of AC is about being a casino town, a beach town, and a walkable, urban place all in one. It seems like, and i don't know if this is already the case but now is the time to focus on Atlantic Ave. in terms of shoring up the retail/restaurant and residential environment. It just screams at you from the Marina to Ventnor "condos, lofts, apartments, shops!" I think "the Walk" really dropped the ball there by not even leaving the option to build up.
And they keep dropping the ball with things like light rail. Instead of agreening to inter-island light rail they keep wanting to study light rail to the airport when all they have to do is build a new station for the commuter rail line they already have and run more frequent service between AC and Egg Harbor City. Or they talk about ridiculous, aerial tram BS. Or the jitney operators go nuts.
(OTOH, by one very conservative estimate, in 30-35 years the island should be completely inundated 2-3 times a year during major storms and it should be breached in 50 years. so i'm not sure how smart any major investments are. I'm in the planning field and no one ever wants to talk about global warming or energy insecurity)