Posted on 09/07/2011 4:11:25 PM PDT by redreno
Gov. Chris Christie has a name for people who visit Las Vegas in the summertime: "Stupid."
Speaking at a news conference to introduce the new head of a state agency tasked with revitalizing Atlantic City, the nation's second-largest gambling market, Christie couldn't resist taking a shot at No. 1.
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
Vegas has an allure that Atlantic City lost a long time ago. Over the last 10 years private developers have poured around $50 billion into the Las Vegas valley. This includes $10 billion to build City Center, $3 billion to build the Cosmopolitan, $2 billion to build the Fountainbleu (and it is still at least $1 billion away from completion, sits there gutted and unfinished as a reminder of what happens to the last person to invest in a rising market), $4 billion on Wynn and Encore, $2 billion for the Palazzo, plenty of other upgrades and improvements like Caesar’s 2 new towers (built separately), the Maloof brothers’ $600 million add-on, and plenty of other investments... plus the ten billion spent to construct all those homes - something like 100,000 new housing units/condo towers were built in the last decade. (now a housing bust).
How much private money has come to Atlantic City in the last decade?
I got no dog in the fight, I don’t live in or invest in Las Vegas but I do go there a few times a year on business and am amazed at what they have built up. It is truly a city that reinvents itself. Most of the old properties like Dunes and Sands are gone, the relatively old properties like the new MGM and Ceasars etc (over 20 years old) spend to improve, and the new places built in the last decade or so are the nicest of hotels you could ask to stay in. It probably cannot sustain further massive investment at this time, and I would even go so far as to suggest it now needs to be broken up (too many properties in too few hands) but the people who have invested in that city have done everything they can think of to make it attractive to anyone. If you want to eat they got the best restaurants. If you want to party they have the best clubs. If you want entertainment they get the best acts.
...And it is the only city in the world that has 100,000 hotel rooms within 3 miles of any one one of the 3 main convention centers. Which means a constant stream of visitors of all stripes and all types attending conventions and trade shows and assemblies of various types. Atlantic city couldn’t hope to compete.
C’mon - if it were a Christie v. Obama election, you’re telling me you are going to sit on the sidelines or even vote for Obama??? I’m NOT a cheerleader for Christie - I don’t know enough about him (exactly how I feel about Perry and many others) to know whether he’d be my first choice but I do know that four more years of Obamanomics is going to destroy my small business. The LAST person I will vote for is Obama. The very last.
Oh? This was about revitalising Atlantic City!
LOL
Let me tell yuh. Go to Vegas, then go to Atlantic City.
Underwhelmed doesn’t aptly describe the feeling of disappointment and I went to every single place in the 90’s.
It wuz so .....Yawn. The height of the ceilings was weird and so not Vegas.
Did I mention the humidity? Blech!
Don’t get me wrong. If I’m on the East Coast, I might go to AC. Just can’t think of why I’d go. Maybe a show but then what? AC is still boring or dangerous if you leave the concalves of the casinos.
Love the signs as you leave AC that flash “Stay Alert...Stay Awake...Stay Alive!”
If I make to the 95 I should be fine....
I’d rather hang out with smog than the native liberals ;)
When he’s talking you can actually hear him getting fatter...
Obama v Obummer? That’s a no brainer. It is a moot point on this anyway. He is damaged goods this go round. He has stated on the record that he is not ready to be president. Numerous times. The Christie attack ads would be brutal.
How many times does he have to say he isn’t interested before you believe him?
ooops forgot to add my “/s” tag at the end.
besides we all know it’s too late for anyone to join the primary /s (this time i didnt forget )
That is another great point. Go to Las Vegas, you fly into McCarran Airport direct from most major cities, and at subsidized fares. As your plane lands you are literally looking into the strip hotel windows. You are $20 maximum (unless the cabbie cheats you by taking the tunnel/freeway) to any strip hotel. As low as $12 to get to some of the closer ones. And that includes the apx $4 charge to just to pull the meter lever.
(driving can be perilous though).
It is about 15 miles from the Atlantic City airport to, say, the Taj Mahal. Not the same experience.
I’m not saying this is a huge issue, but, there is something “cool” about literally landing on the Las Vegas Strip. Flying in and out of there is fast and easy. Leave the hotel 1 hour before your flight and you are OK to make almost any flight. It adds to the idea that you can do Las Vegas impulsively - which many people do. I’m sure they do the same to Atlantic City, but, it isn’t the same especially wrt flying in.
Perhaps NJ should fund a bullet train to get people there from NYC and Philly fast and east.
#one problem is getting a flight to AC- after January, when Air Tran and it’s Atlanta connection leaves, it is only Spirit which is fine if you are coming or going to Florida. Otherwise, you need to fly to Philly or Newark and take an hour to an hour and a half ride down.
#one problem is getting a flight to AC- after January, when Air Tran and it’s Atlanta connection leaves, it is only Spirit which is fine if you are coming or going to Florida. Otherwise, you need to fly to Philly or Newark and take an hour to an hour and a half ride down.
Part of the mystique baby!
Landing at McCarran is cool when you see the enormous hotels. Especially when done on private jet. Then it’s even cooler.
There ain’t nothing cool about getting to AC. Step across the street and you’re in ugly town, USA. It stays that way until you escape.
Vegas is more like “Gawd! Did I really do all that?!” and then you grin, cuz your parent weren’t there to tell you to go to sleep, which you sorely need.
Atlantic City, on the other hand, has never been a real "destination" at all. The typical Atlantic City gambler is a retiree who hops on a bus from New York City or Philadelphia and spends an entire day down there. They never stay in a hotel room and may never eat in a restaurant, which is why the Atlantic City casinos have always been so small compared to the Las Vegas scene.
Oddly enough, this has made Atlantic City a very profitable place for most of these big casino chains . . . because they were able to generate a lot of gambling revenue without investing a couple of billion dollars in extravagant venues.
Atlantic City doesn't even really compete with Las Vegas at all. Their biggest competition comes from other casinos within 2-3 hours of NYC and Philadelphia. They lost a lot of business to those two big Connecticut casinos, and more recently they took a huge hit when Pennsylvania allowed legalized gambling at a few places.
During a bad NJ winter... christie was asked if he thought it was cold... he responded... “Not too bad”. After he walked away... one man said to the other, “He must be crazy”... to which his friend responded, “It ain’t so cold up in there where he is”.
LLS
I’ve been to Vegas many times. Who goes outdoors?
Wouldn’t you take this guy in a heartbeat over Obama though?
I wonder if his helicopter is air-conditioned?
Well Governor, visiting New Jersey ANYTIME is stupid. Just my take. Still got jellyfish in that sewer you call an ocean?
Christie seems to be suffering from foot in mouth disease
It does play cute on youtube when he is putting down some snotty union teacher, but otherwise - wearing thin
And man, does he need Weight Watchers- next to the skinny Nobama he was rather an embarrassment. That and being an angry man will kill him if he doesn’t fix himself.
100 in LA sucks the big one.
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