Thumbs Up Review For Atlantic City In The Summer Of '15
By David Madden
ATLANTIC CITY (CBS) -- You can't blame business leaders in Atlantic City if they want to hang on to summer just a little bit longer. And they'll do everything they can to try. Nothing official yet, but signs point to a very successful season.
This is a town in transition and has been for a while now. Recent challenges with a shrinking tax base, paired with a political stalemate on how to fix that, could make for a rough off season. Not to mention a possible strike by workers at one of the eight casinos still open.
But this summer's been an absolute home run. Just ask Mitch Zitomer, chairman of the Greater Atlantic City Chamber of Commerce.
"It's very difficult to get a hotel room on a Saturday night down here," Zitomer tells KYW Newsradio. "The town has been very busy. It's been very active."
Two concerts on the beach went well and they're turning a quiet mall across from Caesar's into a hopping entertainment venue. The outlets continue to grow.
Zitomer can't put a number on this summer's take just yet. We have to get through this weekend, and there is, of course, the Miss America pageant still ahead.
But officials in Atlantic City are taking a long term approach to turning things around. It's all part of an ongoing effort to change the image of Atlantic City from that of a gambling town with a beach to a resort town that just happens to have casinos. Las Vegas has been doing it, without the beach of course, for more than a decade.
Zitomer suggests continued patience as things play out. "Change creates opportunity," he says. "And those who understand the real good characteristics of this and the bones that this town has will come in and make investment in town here and you'll see new things happening."