Trump era in Atlantic City to end with a blast Wednesday with implosion of Trump Plaza

ATLANTIC CITY – With the former Trump Plaza about to be demolished, this might seem like a good time to assess the legacy of the casino-hotel’s one-time operator.

Only someone’s already done that, enthusiastically praising Donald Trump’s role in the gaming industry.

“The Trump Organization enjoyed tremendous success in Atlantic City,” this account gushes, “and Donald Trump has been commended for the timing of his exit from this business.”

At least that’s the view from The Trump Organization’s online history.

But others see it differently, recalling 15 years of Boardwalk bombast, braggadocio, and business reversals.

“This is the fitting end of Trump’s era,” Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. said of the planned Wednesday implosion of Trump Plaza’s long-vacant hotel tower, which has even inspired nearby Caesar's to promote a "stay and view" Schadenfreude special offering guests a "front seat to Atlantic City history."

“You can’t take away the fact that he invested his money and got a lot of jobs for people,” the mayor said of Trump. “But he stiffed a lot of people and was selfish.”

Small also asserted Trump “made a mockery” of a struggling community “when he said, ‘I made a lot of money in Atlantic City and I got out.’”

Indeed, during his tumultuous time here, Trump drew attention for his celebrity status and glittering properties — and for his casino firm’s massive losses and multiple bankruptcies.

And while Trump boasted about his Atlantic City empire, critics note, his contractors often clamored — frequently, without success — for full payment. Similarly, Trump’s lenders saw his debts reduced in court without repayment, while investors saw prices plunge for his casino firm’s stock.

Oh, and lawsuits flew around like so many seagulls fighting over spilled popcorn.

“I think some people are going to be happy to see the Trump Plaza come down,," said David Spatz, a Linwood radio host who once covered the casinos as an entertainment reporter.

At one point during Trump's time in Atlantic City, Spatz said, "The sun rose and set on him here."

But the casino operator "also screwed over a lot of people in town," said Spatz, who has a midday show on NewsTalk 1400 WOND.

For every person with fond memories of Trump, he suggested, "You'll probably find three who say, 'I lost my job. I lost my business. I lost this and that because he wouldn't pay his bills.'"

As a reporter, Spatz also witnessed Trump’s ability to quickly change his mood and to revise his version of reality.

The casino operator could share a pleasant meal with a reporter — typically pouring ketchup on a steak "burnt to a crisp" — and then call later with an angry tirade over his coverage, said Spatz.

“Trump would say, ‘I never said that!’ and you would say, ‘Yes, you did, Donald.’”

Ultimately, the Trump firm’s uneven record in Atlantic City reflected his personality, observed Marvin Roffman, a former gaming analyst.

“Trump is a very smart guy, but he has a major flaw; he cannot take criticism,” said Roffman, who lost his job after Trump threatened to sue his employer over an unflattering opinion of a Trump property.

“As long as you’d say things he was in agreement with, he could be a really nice, sweet guy,” said Roffman. “If you said something he didn’t want to hear, he’d turn into a monster.”

The demolition of Trump Plaza, vacant since 2014, will remove an eyesore from the center of the city’s famed Boardwalk, said Small, whose administration has made the project a top priority.

It also will erase the last remaining link to the Trump era, he added.

The casino-hotel, built at a cost of $214 million, was Trump’s first venture in Atlantic City when it opened next to Boardwalk Hall in 1984.

The developer added the Trump Marina one year later and his largest gaming hall, the Trump Taj Mahal, in 1990. A fourth attraction, Trump World’s Fair, operated from 1996 to 1999.

Trump’s name, once omnipresent on his buildings, no longer glows on the resort city’s skyline.

The Trump Marina, which was sold in 2011, is now the Golden Nugget. The Taj Mahal changed hands after a 2004 bankruptcy and closed in 2016; it reopened two years later without its brightly colored domes and minarets as the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

Trump World’s Fair was demolished after its closing.

more

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-era-atlantic-city-end-120136581.html

Dr. Anthony Fauci Wins $1 Million Prize For 'Speaking Truth To Power' On COVID-19

Dr. Anthony Fauci, America’s top infectious disease official, was awarded a $1 million Israeli prize Monday for his leadership on HIV research and AIDS relief, his advocacy of COVID-19 vaccines and for steadfastly defending science.

The awards committee of the Dan David Prize, which is affiliated with Tel Aviv University, praised Fauci for “speaking truth to power” amid the pandemic, and “courageously defending science in the face of uninformed opposition during the challenging COVID crisis.” The committee also hailed the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases as the “consummate model of leadership and impact in public health.”

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https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/dan-david-prize-anthony-fauci-085030748.html

Pics related "Truth to Power"

>>12944243

>Gateway Bridge Project.

Article from a month ago

To move its economy forward beyond the pandemic, New York City first needs to figure out how to move commuters, workers and residents around its wider region. Figuring that out will very likely entail aid from a federal government suddenly more amenable to the city’s needs under soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and President Joe Biden.

The diverging dramas around two of the region’s most important transportation systems — the long-hoped-for green light for the Gateway rail project under the Hudson River, and the budget crisis facing the subways, commuter rail and other parts of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority — highlight just how much infrastructure investment, or disinvestment, may impact any future recovery.

Even with the $4 billion included for the MTA in the most recent federal stimulus providing a lifeline that helps the agency avoid draconian 40 percent subway and rail service cuts, the system will still need to cut service on the Long Island Rail Road, hike fares this spring, and deal with $8 billion in debt expected through 2024.

Meanwhile, Gateway — which includes replacing the Portal Bridge over the Hackensack River, upgrading and fixing an existing tunnel between New Jersey and Penn Station and digging a new one under the Hudson, all of which aim to improve rail speed and capacity — has been engaged in as much pre-construction planning and work as possible. But a fair amount of procurement and pre-construction is still necessary. That includes federal approval of the project’s environmental impact statement, a key hold-up by the Trump administration.

With the administration of“Amtrak Joe”Biden poised to shift national infrastructure priorities, however, it seems the New York region will finally get a committed federal partner to build what’s long been called the nation’s most vital infrastructure project. And, with federal support for congestion pricing in Manhattan, another transit initiative that the Trump administration held up, the MTA may get a new funding stream to help speed up recovery from the significant ridership dips of 2020.

“President-elect Biden has prioritized infrastructure and the Hudson Tunnel project, building a new tunnel and fully rehabilitating the existing tunnel, specifically, which is good news,” said Stephen Sigmund, chief of public outreach for the Gateway Program Development Corporation, a nonprofit corporation overseeing the massive public works project. “And the right investment for any administration is to partner with us to build Gateway — providing tens of thousands of jobs, improving reliability and ultimately capacity, and protecting 20 percent of the nation’s GDP from a potential closure of a vital link to the nation’s economic heart.”

Craig Schulz, a spokesperson at Amtrak, currently estimates a $9.8 billion tab for the new tunnel, $1.8 billion for the rehab of the existing tunnel, and $13 billion for the entire Hudson Tunnel project overall.

The Gateway Program now has more support than it has had in years. The governors and congressional delegations of both New York and New Jersey back the project, though New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in late 2020 pushed the release of a report questioning if building a new tunnel was necessary.

more

https://commercialobserver.com/2021/01/gateway-project-new-york-biden-schumer/

>>12944243

>>12944333

After thought (just posted article from a month ago)

COVID/FAUCI BS, is the whole point of Covid Relief really about FUNDING the DS BILLSHIT into the "RELIEF" Bills allegedly for us peasants, but FULL OF POISION PILLS that didn't pass legislation previously? The ONLY WAY they could PUSH IT THROUGH was THIS WAY???

Election Fraud/Covid SCAMdemic Relief/FUNDING

Coming into focus more clearly.

Article from Jan 2021

A Dem-controlled Senate boosts hope that major infrastructure bill will pass in 2021

The sudden flip in the Senate could have transit officials doing spinning cartwheels by the end of 2021.

Both Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, the Democrats who claimed Senate seats after winning Georgia runoffs, are both big advocates of transit and green infrastructure.

The Democrats now hold a slim majority in the Senate, and word is already circulating that a historical infrastructure bill could be passed once the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act expires in September. In fact, the new administration could start pushing for a new bill as early as February. The new Senate also is expected to move on another COVID-19 relief bill, which would mean more money for struggling transit agencies.

During his campaign, Warnock called for a major reinvestment in a clean economy based on green transportation and energy infrastructure and said he wanted to improve and expand public transportation. Meanwhile, Ossoff told voters he wants an “unprecedented American infrastructure program that includes big, overdue investments in transportation and transit.”

New York Sen. Chuck Schumer will soon be majority leader of the Senate, and he has repeatedly called for a robust and green infrastructure bill. The next Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, also is being viewed as a positive appointment for infrastructure, especially transit.

https://www.rtands.com/rail-news/a-dem-controlled-senate-boosts-hope-that-major-infrastructure-bill-will-pass-in-2021/