8.8.26 Seth Grossman WPG Radio. Are last Saturday’s brawls in Atlantic City becoming normal. Zoning laws cause stagnation and high prices. Why don’t NJ pension funds pay cost-of-living increases?

WPG Radio. Seth Grossman. https://youtu.be/hLDNjJeYkZ4?si=Ad7lVCzwGYB3VRNn Above YouTube Video: Second Floor of the Quarter of the Tropicana Hotel-Casino in Atlantic City on Saturday Night, August 1, 2026 Also click here for link to Facebook video: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/14nR8Auck5C/ Viral Videos of Fights and Violent Confrontations in Atlantic City Last Saturday (August 1): They apparently started at the Bungalow Beach Bar, moved onto the Boardwalk, and then into the Tropicana Casino and its entertainment mall known as the Quarter. There were other disturbances outside the closed Chelsea Inn. This was widely reported on Facebook and other social media and provoked much public comment. It appears that nobody was seriously injured. However, will the perception of what Thomas Sowell called "Black Redneck" culture kill Atlantic City again, as it did in early 1970s, before casinos? Deadly Shootings and the Perception of Crime Destroyed Atlantic City before casinos in 1972-1973: During these years, there was a random fatal daylight shooting on the Boardwalk. There was a deadly shootout between two Philadelphia gangs at the Club Harlem. Someone threw a beer can at a Miss America contestant during the Miss America Pageant Parade which was then held at night. By 1974, there was a popular expression, "Will the last person to leave Atlantic City please turn out the lights." In 1974, legislators proposed amending the NJ State Constitution to allow casinos in New Jersey to fix this. However, voters rejected that proposal. In 1976, NJ voters approved an amendment to allow casino gambling only in Atlantic City. We need to talk about specific ways to end this behavior. Criminals who break the laws must be locked up and removed from society. If we don't have enough jails, especially youth detention jails, we need to build them. There have to be consequence for barbaric behavior. We also need to have teenagers working again during the summer. That means we need to get rid of minimum wage laws. Nobody is going to pay high wages to kids who never worked before and need lots of supervision and training. We also need to remove mentally ill and drug and alcohol addicted "homeless" from tourist areas. Of course, we can't do anything until we are free to openly talk about these things. Update: These incidents are becoming normal at many vacation destinations including cruise ships and amusement parks. The first video below describes brawls and fights that broke out during the last night of the Wisconsin State Fair on Sunday, August 16. The second describes an alleged attack on a nine year old child on a luxury cruise ship. https://youtu.be/Cm5TeEtkdhc?si=6ljJRM2vY_2Euip2 https://youtube.com/shorts/EhmGEeRne54?si=t0nsRl1hLUjV3i_g It is now normal to name public buildings after mediocre career politicians. Atlantic City's City Hall was just named after Ernest Coursey. At one time, public buildings were named after people who achieved something extraordinary. Now we name buildings after politicians who have been in office a long time. Ernest Course was first hired by Atlantic City's City Council President to drive him around and do personal errands in 1986. His job title was clerk-typist even though he never learned how to type. In 1991, he was elected to City Council from his ward. He was appointed to deputy mayor, a full-time position created for him when he helped get a new mayor elected. When that mayor was voted out of office, Coursey ran and was elected to the Atlantic County Board of Freeholders (now Commissioners) from one of five county districts. He was elected to four three-year terms. He then helped elect a new Atlantic City mayor. That mayor appointed to a newly created full time "chief of staff" position. He then got sick and died last year. He was not known for any extraordinary or particular achievement during his 39 years in politics. And now City Hall in Atlantic City is now named after him. Above Image: Site of the old Dolphin Dock on Bay Avenue in Somers Point. The old owners retired and closed their bait and tackle shop in 2014. New owners thought this was an ideal spot for a new restaurant. They were denied permits because zoning laws required more parking spaces. (The Clam Bar next door doesn't have enough parking spaces either. However, it was built before new zoning laws went into effect.) Above Image: Site of old parking lot of Shore Medical Center on Bay Avenue in Somers Point. When the hospital built a new three level garage for patients and staff, it planted grass and trees on its old parking lot. New Jersey Zoning Laws do nothing but guarantee high prices, high taxes and stagnation. Most towns in New Jersey towns have zoning and building laws that do not allow any successful new buildings or businesses to be built anywhere. new business to be built or opened anywhere. Almost every existing business and building is in violation of something in the zoning or building laws. If the owner gets old and wants to sell to someone who wants to build or operate something new, almost anything new violates the zoning law. If the building burns down, and the owner just wants to rebuild what he had before, he can't do it. Nothing new can get built or opened unless that owner gets a "variance" from the law or a special "redevelopment zone" for just his property. This is expensive and often takes years. The application process requires expensive lawyers, experts, and political connections. Only rich insiders can do this. Even after doing all this, many applications are denied. This is one reason why everything is too expensive. This is why the site of the old Wonderland amusement park in Ocean City has been a dead zone in Ocean City for the last two summers. This is why so much prime waterfront land along Bay Avenue in Somers Point has been vacant for years. Pension System and Cost-of-Living Increases: Retired police and firefighters are lobbying for yearly cost of living increases in their pensions. If the pension funds were sound, this would not be a problem. However, New Jersey government pension funds are broke. There are many reasons for this. For years, there was no connection between how much employees put into their pension funds, and how much they received when they retired. Police officers and fire fighters would often work years for modest salaries, but then get promoted to chief just before their retired. Their pensions were based on their salaries as chief rather than salaries during most of their careers. Teachers and even lifeguards routinely got big pay hikes just before they retired to juice up their pensions. Then, the police got the law changed so they could retire at age 55 after 25 years of employment, and at any age after 30 years. That meant some police officers and firefighters retired as early as age 52. The pension funds never collected enough contributions to pay retirees for that many years. Some retirees live until their 80s and spend more years collecting their pension than they did working! SPEECH TO TEXT ROUGH TRANSCRIPT: - We'll probably begin - by talking about the series of violent incidents - that took place last Saturday - on the boardwalk in Atlantic City. - I don't know if you heard much about - it, but it's been all over Facebook, YouTube, - all the social media. - Apparently, it began, - last Saturday night, August 1, - at when there was a fight at the - Bungalow Beach Bar, - in the beach, I guess, off the, the - Tropicana Casino. - And then they canceled a party there. About - 400 people went on the boardwalk, - and there were fights on a boardwalk, and - then many more moved into - the club voice at the Tropicana - and where there was another big fight. And - then the fight spilled - over into the, I guess, "The Quarter" an area of shops and restaurants in the Tropicana Casino. Then it went outside to the Chelsea Inn, - which is closed, but apparently there was a - fight outside, and then to near the Albany Avenue Bridge. And, of course, when you look at the - video that's been posted, - almost everyone all of those involved were young and Black. They met the profile of people who were part of what Thomas Sowell called in 2005 a "Black Redneck Culture." Although dozens of people were involved, only about four or five were arrested. And of course, video of this is all over Facebook and YouTube. It reminds me of what Atlantic City went through back in 1972 and 1973. That was when someone was randomly shot and killed on the Boardwalk, in broad daylight in the Inlet section. I remember being in the military in, - in South Carolina at the time, and everybody - in South Carolina was talking about somebody getting, - you know, shot and killed on the Boardwalk - Of Atlantic City. - And then, - I guess the following Easter, two gangs from Philadelphia had a shootout at the Club Harlem in Atlantic - City, - and that was the end of the Club - Harlem. - And a couple years later, somebody threw a beer can at a - Miss America contestant during the Miss America parade. - And, really, that perception of violence, - that perception of a ghetto culture in Atlantic - City killed Atlantic City. - And that created the need - for the casinos. We had the casinos. We - had, - forty years of boom in Atlantic City, - but we we never dealt with that problem. - And, - and I don't know if if this is - going to hurt Atlantic City again, - but it seems that dealing with this perception - or this crime problem, homeless problem, whatever you - want to call it, if the word gets out - there that Atlantic City is unsafe, Atlantic City - is unpleasant - Yeah. You could spend hundreds of millions of - dollars on redevelopment projects, - but it won't do any good. And we'd - see how this perception - has killed amusement parks, - has killed - cruise ship lines,...