By HARRY HURLEY
Political Columnist
Many times in life when something is just too “close” to you … it can easily be taken for granted. Most objectivity is simply lost.
For example, if you’ve lived near our fabulous barrier island for any length of time, you can lose all sight regarding how majestic the beach, boardwalk and Atlantic Ocean really are. This is not meant to be a harsh critique, it’s merely human nature.
We almost stop seeing it. It’s obviously still there, we just about forget that it’s there. It’s like any imperfections at your home or office. You just walk past them like “they’re” not even there.
People save thousands of dollars for their once-a-year, or, maybe even once in-a-lifetime vacation to Atlantic City. Their jaws drop when they first smell the salt water air and see our beautiful natural resources.
We can also take those people who mean the most to us for granted. Again, it’s not right, but, it is many times the case. Again, people don’t intend to do this, it just happens over time.
Many also take for granted the incredible, top rate hotel rooms, food and beverage and entertainment policy that puts Atlantic City in favorable comparison to any jurisdiction in America and beyond.
We also have some very talented professionals, who regularly deliver the goods in the Atlantic City market place. MEET AC, the Atlantic City Sports Commission and the Atlantic City Convention Center to name a few.
The present Jim Wood (President and Chief Executive Officer of MEET AC) era has resulted in one of the most substantial periods for overall growth and development in Atlantic City history. Jim Wood is a winner and he has brought his winning ways to Atlantic City.
The Atlantic City Convention Center has 500,000 contiguous square feet of exhibit space. You can add to that another 109,100 square feet of exhibit space in the atrium lobby.
Boardwalk Hall is an award-winning multi-purpose event space that is the home of numerous iconic events with as many as 15,000 people in attendance. Some of the biggest boxing matches, concerts and special events (The Beatles, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Celine Dion, The Rolling Stones, Mike Tyson and so many more).
The Atlantic City Casino industry has stepped up in a big way and have added hundreds of thousands of more square feet of convention and meeting space. Harrah’s Waterfront Conference Center (100,000 square feet) and Resorts Casino Hotel (64,000 square feet) have led the way on the hotel casino side for adding much needed additional meeting space for Atlantic City.
It may sound like jargon, some kind of slogan, but, Atlantic City really does mean business and consistently delivers excellence in service and product. Make no mistake about it, Atlantic City is a world class hotel, casino, meeting and convention destination resort. However, if you will refer to my earlier Hurley Doctrine about how people can so easily take things for granted; most people probably don’t realize this fact!
The Summer takes pretty good care of itself in Atlantic City. The casinos, beach, ocean, boardwalk, attractions, shopping, food and beverage, entertainment, sports books and more! It’s amazing. You won’t find these natural and man-made resources and facilities anywhere else. Take a moment and look at a “typical” Summer week in Atlantic City.
From an entertainment standpoint alone, consider the following:
Tim McGraw, The Jersey Boys, Lionel Richie, Mary J. Blige, Rascal Flatts, Frankie Valli, Florida Georgia Line, The Beach Boys! This is just some of the entertainment at only ONE casino, The Hard Rock Hotel Casino, for just the month of July, 2019.
Beyond the big headliners, Hard Rock has also implemented a 365 live events entertainment policy. There is live entertainment of some form every day of the week throughout the year.
When Jim Allen re-opened the old Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort as the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Atlantic City: This added 2,000 hotel rooms, more than 20 signature restaurants, the 7,000 seat Mark G. Etess Arena (Note; It was very classy, but, not a surprising move that Jim Allen kept the Etess Arena name … because Jim is a real class act).
Go try to find all of this in another jurisdiction. It does not exist anywhere else.
Combining hotel casino and non hotel casino rooms, Atlantic City now offers about 18,000 total rooms. This makes Atlantic City a major player in terms of attracting major conventions and meetings.
To be great, you need the inventory. You need hotel rooms, food and beverage and convention and meeting space to be exceptional. The Atlantic City jurisdiction is exceptional, by any standard of measure.
I have an expression that we must “remember to remember” things, big and small. It can give you a “new” outlook. You’ll have a finer appreciation as to how lucky we all are. Beyond the ludicrous and disturbing politics at times in our state, we have so much going for us.
Important to note, when the chips are down, this region always comes through in the clutch. It wasn’t that long ago (2016) that the latest political circus stunt was thrusted upon us to try and bring legal gambling to North Jersey; in the form of a ballot question.
As that campaign began, we had so much going against us. We had the larger population of the Central and North potentially against us. They could have potentially lined up together and won the ballot question. We had our own State Senator (the late Jim Whelan) and Assemblyman Vince Mazzeo aggressively working against our vital interests.
Yet, our amazing region banded together in 2016 like never before and overwhelmingly defeated this question by a margin of nearly 80 percent to 20 percent. This ballot question appeared 40 years earlier, (1976) when the voters of New Jersey approved casino gaming for Atlantic City only.
Had the ballot question of 2016 passed, there would be no Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Atlantic City, or, Ocean Resort. Additionally, multiple other Atlantic City casinos would have been forced to close for economic reasons. Our area would have faced our own Great Depression.
Again, please “remember to remember,” that during the Great Recession, Atlantic City/Atlantic County had the highest unemployment rate and highest home foreclosure rate in America.
The Great Recession lasted in America from December, 2007 through June, 2009. This was the longest Recession since World War II. However, things were much more severe for our area. It took the Atlantic County region several years longer to emerge.
Please remember this the next time the “usual suspects” plan their next casino gaming (for North Jersey) scheme. It’s not a matter of “if” this will happen, again; it’s only a matter of “when” it will happen.
Harry Hurley is the president of Harry Hurley Consulting and Communications, LLC. He hosts the daily talk radio program “Hurley in the Morning” 6-10 a.m., weekdays on Townsquare Media, WPG Talk Radio 104.1 FM & 1450 AM, where he also serves as the senior programming consultant. Harry was elected to both the Philadelphia (2013) and New Jersey (2015) Radio Broadcasting Hall of Fame. Harry Hurley has also been selected (2015-2019) as one of the Top 100 Most Important Talk Radio Hosts in America by Talkers Magazine. Hurley is the inaugural recipient of the New Jersey Broadcasters Association “Broadcaster of the Year” (2019). Hurley is also performing national fill-in, on-air talent work for FOX News Radio on their nationally syndicated platforms. He has hosted various television programs in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware and is the editor and publisher of his news and information website,www.harryhurley.com. Send comments to HarryHurley@aol.com
