Fifteen Ideas for Atlantic City

Fifteen Strategic Ideas for Atlantic City – By Bill Kelly billkelly3@gmail.com (609) 425-6297

1) Use Atlantic City’s History as a basis for promotion. They started a Mob-Museum in Las Vegas with help of the FBI, but without community support, it faltered. Vegas didn’t get started until after World War II, while organized crime got organized right here in Atlantic City. That museum belongs here, in Atlantic City, where the 1929 convention of mobsters was held by the same people who decided, at the AC meeting, that gambling should replace booze as the mob’s primary source of income after prohibition ended. The old Masonic Hall would be a good place for it. [See: Vegas http://www.themobmuseum.org/ ]
2) Fix the Boardwalk Hall organ – the largest in the world, and make it a major attraction again, and let it be used for benefit concerts for non-profit organizations. http://www.acchos.org/
3) Do whatever it takes to bring back the Miss America pageant back to the Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall. http://www.acchos.org/
4) The PGA Senior’s Tour began at the Atlantic City Country Club and there should be a PGA Champion’s Tour event at the Jersey Shore, to compliment the LPGA event, as well as a major amateur tournament similar to the Sonny Fraser invitational that was discontinued when ACCC was purchased by the casinos. http://www.pgatour.com/2010/s/06/21/30th-anniversary/index.html
5) Golf at the Jersey Shore is totally under rated, and the figures are easy to see where Ocean City, Maryland spends hundreds of thousands of dollars to promote their two dozen golf courses, and earns nearly $50 million a year income, while the Jersey Shore clubs spend less than one hundred thousand on golf marketing, and earn less than $5 million a year. It’s not a matter of throwing money at advertising, it is a matter of proper promotion, and the use of the fabulous history of the Jersey Shore clubs to attarct golfers from out of town and compete with the other markets. [ See: http://kopublicrelations.blogspot.com/2011/06/using-history-to-promote-jersey-shore.html]
6) While the beach and boardwalk are important, the back bays of Atlantic City are not utilized as they should be by boaters, fishermen, sailors and canoe/kayaks. While the local boat construction industry has concentrated on large yachts, they also should be building smaller boats that more people can afford and use locally. Among the boats that should be concentrated on are canoes and kayaks, sculling and row boats, Olympic class sailboats, and Americas Cup Class sailboats.
7) There is a new, international circuit of really fast and exciting America’s Cup Class catamarans and they are looking for places to race – and Atlantic City should be considered as a possible venue. While the America’s Cup is now in San Francisco, it might be raced again in Newport, and Atlantic City could be considered for the World Cup event of America’s Cup Class boats, which would be like hosting the Super Bowl of boats. [http://www.facebook.com/pages/International-Catamaran-Challenge-Trophy/138683199492757 ]
8) The America’s Cup is now back in America, in San Francisco, but they can’t seem to agree on having a regatta there, so Atlantic City should put an offer on the table that can better Newport for the defense of the next Cup or contest for getting the World Cup race, which is held the year before and after the America’s Cup and is a fleet race that includes all of the major competitors. Even if the America’s Cup or World Cup races cannot be obtained a new Cup should be placed in competition, like the Cape May Cup of the 1800s in which sailboats raced the length of the Jersey Coast from Sandy Hook to Cape Mahy.
[ http://www.americascup.com/]
9) In order to attract foreign visitors, the Atlantic City Airport should make it easy for private yachts to dock and planes to land from Europe. The Atlantic City Air Port and Yacht basin should make it easy and encourage wealthy yachters and globetrotters to visit.
10) There should be easy train and/or trolley connections between downtown Atlantic City and the Atlantic City International Airport, the FAA Tech Center and Stockton College, though there is no mass transit connection between these four key points that are core infrastructure attributes to the Jersey Shore.
11) Atlantic City should offer more concerts and shows, bring back the Atlantic City Pop Festival (1969) and Atlantic City Jazz Festival, start a folk festival and make them city-wide events, both in and outside of the casinos. [http://jerseyshorenightbeat.blogspot.com/2008/02/atlantic-city-pop-fest-flashback-1969.html ]
12) The casino showrooms should make it easy for the acts to film and record their shows and sold-out shows should be presented live over the internet – or archived and viewed later, or the music downloaded and listened to shortly after the show is over – Live From Atlantic City.
13) With all of the acts that come to Atlantic City there should be full service recording studios for them to record new albums and videos, and the film industry should be encouraged to come to the Jersey Shore to make movies. There’s no reason why the Boardwalk Empire set was built on a Brooklyn lot, when it could be right in Atlantic City and made into a tourist attraction when not in use.
14) There used to be over 200 liquor licenses in Atlantic City, and they should be reissued so new bars and restaurants can be opened outside of the casinos, and operated 24 hours a day – 7 days a week. Atlantic City should be promoted as it has always been known as an “Open City,” not only open to new businesses, but open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, AC 24-7 - for business, for meetings, for pleasure, and an effort should be made to try to attract those international jet setters, New York and Philadelphia pleasure seekers, and just ordinary people who want to have a good time.
15) There should be a high-speed, giant catamaran pedestrian-only ferries that run between Atlantic City Inlet, Philadelphia, Cape May and New York City, similar to Australian ferries and the ferries planned for Hawaii by the John Lehman group. [See: Tassie Devils http://stott.customer.netspace.net.au/devilcat.htm ]