My local community activism was ignited by the neglect of our iconic boardwalk buildings and what we could do to restore them. I’m still of course very passionate about this. In the past and even very recently current city leaders have publicly complained about how difficult Madison  Marquette is to deal with, that they have to read about any plans they have in media and held them in default for failing to maintain the boardwalk buildings culminating with filing a permit to demolish the casino building in January. They have a long record of ignoring even basic maintenance and allowed deteriorating conditions to close the two convention hall venues and close the casino walk way.

In fact we learned that Madison Marquette very reluctantly accepted the $13 million state grant to address leaks in the Paramount theater. Now they are using it as part of their required equity for the tax credits to undertake the restoration.

In a complete reversal the Mayor & Council and Madison Marquette are now united on the state tax credit award. What happened ?

One would think the city would have known about the scope and details of the project in advance. When I asked them at the council meeting this week, they denied that. With all the justifiable animosity towards Madison Marquette, you would think the city might try to explain why they thought this was now a good idea. This doesn’t add up.

One would think that local historic preservationists might have wanted an opportunity to have input into the project.

What are the scope and details of the restoration project? Why was this not this all done out in the open prior to the NJEDA’s meeting?

This is another problem we face in the city, lack of transparency from the city government.

City leaders, including my opponent, have sat on their hands for the last 13 years and allowed conditions to badly deteriorate. They own that. The decision to award the tax credits was rushed for political reasons to give the impression during a critical election that convention hall will now be saved.  

It’s hard to believe and accept that after vetting Madison Marquette that the State would deem them as a good corporate citizen. The tax credit application lists the land value that convention hall sits on as $21.9 million. Yet the Asbury tax assessors office values it at  $13 million.

Which is it? Did Madison Marquette inflate the number or have we under assessed and under taxed them?

We should also scrutinize the tax credit award agreement as it pertains to compliance,  oversight, and accountability. And since the tax credits alone are not enough to complete a restoration project we need to know more about what commitment Madison Marquette is making to use its own resources to undertake the restoration?

I wish convention hall was in the hands of a more trustworthy entity. That would make many of us feel more comfortable with this kind of public investment and the likelihood of a successful project.

What will the city do now about the casino building now that the tax credits have been approved for convention hall?  

I have consistently stood up for solutions accountability for the restoration of these building buildings and will continue to do so as Mayor.