Now that Trumps impeachment inquiry in underway, it seems pertinent that we take some time to look at the myth of his great success in Atlantic City. When Donald Trump came to Atlantic City he came to monopolize the board. The New York real estate tycoon first bought Trump plaza Casino on the Boardwalk in 1984 and then set eyes on the vacant urban renewal site in in 1990 on the inlet to build a 42 story, 1,250 room hotel. It was at the time New Jersey’s tallest building and the world's largest casino. He put up little of his own money and shifted personal debts to the casinos and collected millions of dollars in salary, bonuses and other payments. The burden of his failures fell on investors and others who had bet on his businesses. Stock and bond holders lost more than 1.5 billion after issuing $675 million worth of junk bonds with a 14% interest rate. At the completion of construction the Taj’s total debt was $820 million that needed $1.3 million a day just to cover the costs of interest rates. Unable to meet this demand, the Taj filed for bankruptcy relief a year after opening and would again three more times before eventually having to close in 2016. each time persuading bondholders to accept less money rather than be wiped out. Trump enterprises repeatedly added more expensive debt and returned to the court for protection from lenders. And after purchasing the casino for $1.2 billion in 1990, Trump would sell it for $50 million in 2016, just 4 cents on the dollar of what was paid. More curious though, is although his investors lost so much, Trump however, seemed to somehow profit from the casino that made no profits.
The Taj employed more than 8,000 people. In efforts to make debt payments in 2016 his company, Trump Resorts Enterprises, decided to cut pension benefits and health insurance to unionized workers. This act was quickly followed by the largest protest in Atlantic City history as the local 54 of hotel and casino employees international union striked on the Boardwalk for a month until the Taj ultimately folded and closed. The building has since been scrubbed of his name and now as of last year run as the Hard Rock Casino, which is owned by Florida’s Seminole First Nations Tribe.
In 2012, the Revel casino opened, costing, $2.4 billion and was a most anticipated undertaking in Atlantic City. Its entire exterior was built with gold toned glass so that it would discreetly disappear at night, which it had in two years. In 2016 the Revel Casino had declared bankrupt twice. Five casinos have closed since 2014 and 25,300 jobs had been lost. Atlantic City is saddled with $224 million in bond debt largely tied to casino property tax appeals. Economist writer Cohen stated that “the impact of the local area's economy lost decade on its residents' welfare has been stark." (Cohen)
Atlantic City now has 9 casinos. Gambling revenue has plummeted since Pennsylvania casinos opened casinos in 2010, which is down from $5.2 billion to $2.86 billion in 2013. Gang-related crime is still prevalent in lower income neighbourhoods, and about 30% of Atlantic City residents live below poverty.
Atlantic City again was a ghost town. Along with its casino closures countless others associated businesses were affected. But there was to be a new revival in Atlantic City in the form of a University when Stockton University bought the Showboat in 2016 to convert the closed casino and hotel into a University campus and student dorms. It was learned however that a covenant of Trump Enterprises disallowed the casino to be sold and used for any other function other than a casino. Trump’s and other casinos made walkways joining the casinos in a series of interior bridges that connected all the casinos on the boardwalk that I suspect all hold the same covenant on its titles. It seemed that even after Trump had left Atlantic City his stranglehold on the city remained. Stockton had then sold the Showboat and built a new campus on the boardwalk that with 1,000 students and dorms for 506 with plans to expand. This campus opened last September, recently celebrating its first year. It is hoped that the influx of students would infuse local businesses and dramatically alter the public perception of Atlantic City.
Atlantic City, like all resort towns, manufacture and sell a widely shared fantasy. Despite its historic glory and majestic appeal it is also what Money magazine once called “ the worst place to live in America”. Much like the game of Monopoly intended, there is a lot to learn here in looking at Atlantic City as a case study. It is a lesson of how drawing racial and economic lines will cause its demise, and if you’ve ever played the game of Monopoly, you know you need to destitute everyone else to win. It was promised that casinos would act as a “unique tool of urban renewal” yet this entailed that casinos, private corporations, and Donald Trump, would become the urban planners, investing in an inclusive tourist industry and not the city’s residents. To me Atlantic City was America; a small isolated microcosm of extreme wealth and poverty, of racial segregation, beauty pageants, boxing matches and not much else. And perhaps there is a second chance here for the city to reinvent itself as a University town instead of a casino resort, but it needs to heed its lesson, as does America, because for eight years, the length of two presidential terms, Trump ruled Atlantic City, and in the end turned on his employees, investors and the town and then left. The mythology of his success in Atlantic City imparts a warring we can't ignore, for planners, government, and its public.
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