The latest stories from The Press of Atlantic City, in case you missed them.
1
- WAYNE PARRY Associated Press
ATLANTIC CITY — Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. said Thursday he remains committed to his family and to his city as he deals with charges that he and his wife abused their teenage daughter.
In his first public comments since prosecutors on Monday charged him and his wife, La’Quetta, the city’s superintendent of schools, with physically and verbally abusing their 16-year-old daughter and endangering her welfare, Small said he would not be distracted from his duties.
“We’ve all seen news accounts of what’s going on with myself personally,” he said in a speech at the East Coast Gaming Congress at the Hard Rock casino. “It’s just that: personal.
“But I pledge to each and every one of you, it doesn’t change my commitment, number one, to my family, and it doesn’t change my commitment here to the great city of Atlantic City,” the mayor said.
An affidavit filed in the case by the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office says the girl at one point acknowledged making up the accusations against her parents because she was angry they wouldn’t let her go out with friends.
But in many other sections, the affidavit includes detailed claims by the girl that the abuse was real, and it said she photographed bruises she said were inflicted by her parents and sent them to her boyfriend, who shared them with detectives.
The office of Prosecutor William Reynolds cited evidence including recordings of interactions between the girl and her parents; her statements to police, school personnel, a therapist and state child welfare investigators, and messages she sent to friends asking for help, saying she did not feel safe at home.
The mayor is accused of repeatedly hitting his daughter in the head with a broom until she blacked out, and repeatedly punching her in the legs, court documents say. Her mother is accused of dragging her by her hair, punching her in the chest and face, and hitting her with a belt.
The root of the conflict, according to the court document, was the Smalls’ disapproval of their daughter’s boyfriend.
Their lawyer, Ed Jacobs, has said the mayor and his wife “are completely innocent of any wrongdoing and will ultimately be vindicated.”
Small’s appearance at the casino conference was scheduled months ago, and there was considerable anticipation as to whether he would begin his speech with his trademark phrase, “It’s a great day in the city of Atlantic City,” given his current legal troubles.
He did indeed use the phrase, noting challenges Atlantic City faces, including the impending opening of New York City casinos.
Small pledged to work with the casinos and all levels of government to prepare the city for that challenge and make Atlantic City “the very best it can be.”
Part of that should include cleaning up and redeveloping Pacific Avenue, the street nearest the ocean on which six of the nine casinos front, said Jim Allen, the global chairman of Hard Rock International who got his start in the casino industry as a cook in Atlantic City.
He called improving the appearance of that street “the game-changer.”
“If we continue to leave Pacific Avenue the way it’s been since the ‘70s, then the perception of the town won’t change, just the vacant lots and boarded-up buildings.”
2
- John O'Connor
EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP — A township man wanted by the Atlantic County Sheriff’s Office is in custody after a standoff with police on Ivins Avenue since Thursday afternoon.
Prentiss Blaylock, 37, was arrested Friday and transported to a local hospital for medical evaluation before incarceration. No injuries were reported at the time, police Capt. Cherie Burgan said Friday afternoon.
Blaylock had been sought on charges of unlawful possession of a weapon, child abuse, aggravated assault, terroristic threats, resisting arrest and theft.
Burgan said Thursday the local police department was acting as support to the U.S. Marshals, the agency leading the operation.
Social media posts Thursday near the scene showed several heavily armed officers patrolling the area.
Staff writer John Russo contributed to this report.
3
- John O'Connor
GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP — A township man was found dead Wednesday afternoon with several wounds, the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office said.
Police responded to a home in the 400 block of South Odessa Avenue and found the body of Shawn P. O'Neill Jr., 42, at 2:49 p.m., the Prosecutor's Office said in a news release.
The cause and manner of O'Neill's death are under investigation. Anyone with information can call the Prosecutor's Office at 609-909-7800.
4
- Matthew Cavallo
With nearly 14,000 followers on his Instagram account, Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. posts a lot about his life, from the professional to the personal. That hasn't changed as prosecutors investigated Small and his wife, searched their home and on Monday charged the couple with abusing and assaulting their teenage daughter. The mayor has remained active on the platform, posting about everyday life, but also assuring his audience that he's fighting the allegations.
Here are a sample of some posts over the past five months.
Small posted on Instagram after charges were announced against him and his wife, adding a few new hashtags such as #unbothered and #eddiejacobstalksforme, a reference to his defense attorney.
Small shares a post March 25 telling his audience he doesn't know the meaning of the word "surrender." Three days later, prosecutors executed search warrants at his home.
Small shares a photo of himself in the Mayor's Office on April 4, captioned "Standing Tall…Standing on my Square…Standing on Business." The post comes three days after Small holds a news conference with his family and attorney to address the investigation and search of his house. He calls the issue a "family matter" and stresses there is no hint of public corruption or malfeasance.
Small shares a video of a group of young men saying his catchphrase, "Can we say great day?" outside the Wawa in Margate on April 14.
Small shares a photo of himself and his family Nov. 25.
Hours before prosecutors announce charges against Small and his wife, the mayor posts a video of himself working out.
Small shares a quote from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on March 28 following the news of police executing a search warrant at his Atlantic City home.
On Christmas Day 2023, Small shares a post wishing everyone a great day from himself and his family. The post does not include any family photos.
On Dec. 21, Small attends a Philadelphia 76ers game with the Atlantic City Recreation Department. "Under The Small Administration we spare no expense when it comes to our kids," he says in his Instagram post.
5
- Press staff reports
LINWOOD — From Monday through Friday, a police-controlled stop-and-go traffic pattern will be in effect on Shore Road between Patcong and Garfield avenues from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., weather permitting, for road preparation work by New Jersey American Water.
Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson said this week he empathizes with motorists who encounter delays and uneven road surfaces along Shore Road due to utility work.
“I hear complaints from residents who rely on this roadway for their daily travels and are frustrated by the continued disruptions and condition of the roadway surface,” Levinson said, “and frankly, I do not blame them. After the utility companies complete their work, and with sufficient time for settlement, they are required to restore the roadway to its original condition, but that does not appear to be happening.”
Milling and paving are scheduled for the following week, April 29 to May 3, with the same traffic pattern in place from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The length of Shore Road from Somers Point to Pleasantville was paved by the county several years ago, Levinson said, but work by utility companies for gas, water, electric and cable infrastructure improvements has required periodic, and often poorly timed and coordinated, openings of the roadway to allow for this work.
“Shore Road seems to be constantly torn up in one location or another for work by utility companies. It is not the county that is doing this, but many people assume if it’s our road, it’s our work.”
Motorists may experience delays and should plan travel time accordingly or seek an alternate route.
6
- WAYNE PARRY Associated Press
ATLANTIC CITY — Atlantic City casinos are facing threats on multiple fronts from new competitors not just in New York, but from within their own state.
That’s not great news for a seaside resort in which the amount of money won from in-person gamblers continues to lag, with seven of the nine casinos winning less from on-premises customers than they did before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
At the East Coast Gaming Congress Thursday at the Hard Rock casino, numerous executives from some of the major casino companies in America acknowledged the opportunity of three downstate New York casino licenses — and the risk they will present to Atlantic City.
And the operator of a racetrack in northern New Jersey, just outside New York City, told The Associated Press he believes New Jersey voters will authorize construction of a casino in the Meadowlands shortly after New York casinos open and New Jersey gamblers tire of paying bridge tolls and sitting in traffic to get to gambling halls in New York.
“Now more than ever we know there’s a threat coming with New York City gaming coming,” Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. said at the conference. “We understand the threat. We want to continue to work together to do things right to put Atlantic City into a prime position, no matter where these casinos are, that we diversify our options.”
Jim Allen, chairman of Hard Rock International, is straddling both markets.
His company operates a casino in Atlantic City that is the second-most successful in the market. And Hard Rock is partnering with New York Mets owner Steve Cohen on a proposed $8 billion casino complex at Citi Field in the city’s Queens section.
If as many as three casinos open in or close to New York City, Allen said, Atlantic City’s in-person gambling revenues could fall by 20% to 30%.
“We have to be prepared for that,” he told attendees at the conference.
Allen said Atlantic City’s Hard Rock will weather the storm of New York competition. But he said he does not want to see any competitors in the city close, throwing 2,000 to 3,000 people out of work in a repetition of a wave of casino closings in Atlantic City from 2014 to 2016 that saw five casinos close. Two have since reopened under new ownership.
Tom Reeg, CEO of Caesars Entertainment, which owns three of Atlantic City’s nine casinos, also said New York casinos will be a challenge. His company, too, is seeking a New York casino license with SL Green, and Roc Nation in Times Square.
“We’re pursuing that license with fervor,” Reeg said. “I share Jim’s concern about where the (Atlantic City) market is headed as we head into New York.”
Soo Kim, chairman of Bally’s Corporation, which has a casino in Atlantic City, said table games revenue from New York gamblers “will be harder to attract” once casinos open in New York City. “With casinos in New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware, there’s casinos everywhere.”
He said New Jersey can rely on its robust internet gambling market to offset some expected losses.
Concerns don’t end with New York.
Jeff Gural runs the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, Bergen County, just outside New York City, along with the Tioga Downs and Vernon Downs racetrack casinos in upstate New York.
He also has a deal with Hard Rock to build a casino at the Meadowlands Racetrack — a proposal that was put on the back burner when New Jersey voters overwhelmingly rejected a referendum on expanding casino gambling beyond Atlantic City in 2016.
“I’m just waiting for New York to open,” Gural said in an interview. “People will say, ‘Why am I driving over the George Washington Bridge and paying an $18 toll and sitting in traffic to go gamble?’”
Gural said the 2016 referendum failed largely because it was written to permit more than one casino in northern New Jersey without specifying where.
“People don’t want a casino in the neighborhood,” Gural said. “If we make it clear it’s only at the Meadowlands, common sense tells you there will be a casino in the Meadowlands.”
Gural said that will happen in “a lot sooner than 10 years.”
Mark Giannantonio, president of Atlantic City’s Resorts casino and of the Casino Association of New Jersey, said during Wednesday’s opening day session of the convention that Atlantic City views New York casinos as a threat.
“New Jersey has to be prepared for this, to make Atlantic City more attractive for people to visit, and there’s a lot of work to do,” he said. “Table games clearly will be impacted.”
He said Atlantic City has a “two-year window” to prepare for New York competition by cleaning itself up, improving its infrastructure, and assigning more police to the Boardwalk and other areas so visitors see a visible law enforcement presence. He also said Atlantic City needs to solve its problem with homelessness.
But Giannantonio said Atlantic City can survive the advent of new competition in an already cutthroat northeastern casino market.
“I’m always going to rely on hotel, entertainment, retail and the experience on the casino floor,” he said. “I believe in my heart that Atlantic City, with some hard work, will be an opportunity. We’re excited about the future.”
7
- John O'Connor
WILDWOOD — Former President Donald J. Trump will return to the resort for a beachfront rally next month, U.S. Rep Jeff Van Drew, R-2nd, confirmed Thursday.
“It’s definitely going to happen,” Van Drew said. “Certainly, it’s going to be very exciting.”
Van Drew also confirmed the event in a Facebook post.
“President Trump holding a rally on the beach in Wildwood will be like nothing New Jersey has ever seen,” Van Drew said in a statement. “People are still talking about the energy and excitement around President Trump’s rally in January of 2020, which still holds the record for the most tickets ever requested. We have no doubt this rally will be even bigger and better.”
The announcement came after the Wildwood Board of Commissioners approved an agreement Monday with the Trump campaign for the May 11 rally.
“What a great boost to our town at the start of the summer season!” Mayor Ernie Troiano Jr. and Commissioners Steve Mikulski and Krista McConnell said in a statement. “We host hundreds of large-capacity events annually, so the city is ready to welcome the crowds and looks forward to making the weekend successful for everyone.”
The Trump campaign said on its website Thursday that doors will open at noon and Trump will begin speaking at 5 p.m. Tickets can be reserved at donaldjtrump.com.
In January 2020, before the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was felt in the United States, Trump’s visit to the Wildwoods Convention Center on the Boardwalk — a rare visit to southern New Jersey by a sitting president — drew thousands to the beach resort in the winter.
“We want to relive the magic,” Van Drew said Thursday. “This is going to be on the beach. the ocean is going to be at his back.”
He expects tens of thousands to attend the beach rally.
Van Drew said Trump spends about half his time in New Jersey, dividing his year between Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, and Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster in Somerset County.
Van Drew, who is running for reelection this year, said he remains close with Trump. Elected as a Democrat, Van Drew changed parties, becoming a Republican and pledging his support for Trump in the White House in 2019.
“I speak with the president about once a week,” Van Drew said.
He indicated a beachfront rally could have an impact in Pennsylvania, typically described as a swing state, and in New Jersey, which has not supported Trump in previous elections. He said recent polls show the gap closing in blue New Jersey.
“These are unusual times in which we live,” he said.
After losing his reelection bid to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020, Trump refused to accept the loss, a significant break from American tradition.
Asked if he accepted the 2020 results, Van Drew said Biden has been the president since the inauguration.
He said there were issues with the vote in 2020, citing Arizona and other states. This year, Republicans will dispatch thousands of attorneys to ensure the integrity of the vote, he said.
“Election integrity is going to be extremely important,” Van Drew said. “If the election has integrity and is safe and free and fair, I certainly will accept whoever prevails.”
Several other events are planned in the Wildwoods that weekend, including the Wildwoods Spring Fling festival, a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Hereford Inlet Lighthouse in North Wildwood, a cheer competition and a hot rod and muscle car show.
“Amidst an already exciting Mother’s Day weekend filled with events and businesses opening for the 2024 summer season, we are excited to see that these festivities not only offer a vibrant experience for our community, but also provide invaluable support to our local businesses. We eagerly anticipate the positive impact these special events will bring to our region,” Tracey Boyle-DuFault, executive director of the Greater Wildwood Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement.
8
- Michelle Brunetti Post
Saying the Atlantic City Housing Authority has “lost the trust of the residents it was created to serve,” U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., urged the new acting secretary of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to take over the authority Thursday morning.
Menendez talked about ongoing conditions such as water and gas leaks, mold, lack of heat and hot water and more about 45 minutes into a hearing of the Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.
“In addition the authority itself is rife with management problems, including issues with its procurement and contracting procedures that had delayed critical fixes to units,” Menendez said.
Testifying were interim HUD Secretary Adrianne Todman and Federal Housing Finance Administration Director Sandra Thompson.
“I am aware of this issue and also directed our senior leadership ... to take more urgent action,” Todman said. “What you described is horrific, and no person ... should be experiencing that.”
Housing Authority Executive Director Tom Sahlin said via text Thursday he was in union negotiations and could not view the testimony.
“I don’t believe there will be a response/comment to this,” Sahlin said.
Todman said HUD has negotiated a recovery plan with the Housing Authority and was actively making sure it was followed.
One HUD official described an audit of the authority as “one of the worst audits that I have ever read in my life,” Menendez said, and HUD’s recovery plan is “not enough for these residents who have been living in inhumane conditions for so long.”
The recovery plan calls for the authority to make a long list of improvements by the end of 2024, with some deadlines set for March, June and December.
But Menendez said more needs to be done, “especially when the plan is being executed by the same authority that has allowed these issues to fester for years, all the while ignoring or retaliating against residents who spoke out about the problems they were facing.”
The authority recently granted a new contract to Jerry Volpe’s Governance & Fiscal Affairs, which has been handling procurement for more than a year, as the authority has been cited for improperly using emergency contracting and failing to submit audits on time.
Menendez sent a letter in December to then HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge urging a takeover of the Housing Authority, and said he was reiterating that request now.
“Will you commit to personally reviewing this situation and getting back to me with what you plan to do to accelerate relief for the residents of Atlantic City?” Menendez asked.
Todman said she would.
U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-2nd, has also called for HUD to take over the Atlantic City authority.
The authority’s attorney, Rick DeLucry of Cooper Levenson, and Sahlin attended Wednesday night’s City Council meeting to give a presentation on the authority’s status and attempt to solve problems.
Council attorney Robert Tarver would not allow anyone from the public to ask questions, saying litigation prevented questioning.
Sahlin said lack of funding and lack of staffing were the main problems for the agency and criticized the media for misrepresenting the facts.
Authority board member Geoffrey Dorsey also said at the meeting that he reached out to Van Drew’s office to try to get an appointment to talk to the congressman, but the office has not been responsive.
No one from the authority mentioned Menendez, who is currently facing trial on bribery and corruption charges.
About 130 residents of the authority’s largest public housing community, Stanley Holmes Village, have sued over conditions there. The next hearing is set for Monday morning in Atlantic County Superior Court.
Three former staff members are also suing the authority, alleging they were either fired or forced out of their jobs for complaining about improper procurement activities and other problems with how the authority was run.
“HUD must immediately take over ... to insure the safety and dignity of its residents,” Menendez said. “And every day we allow the authority that allowed all this to happen to affect the residents as it has, is a day it becomes HUD’s problem rather than the Atlantic City Housing Authority’s.”
9
- Michelle Brunetti Post
ATLANTIC CITY — City Council Wednesday night introduced an ordinance to establish buffer zones around schools and religious buildings where cannabis businesses will not be allowed even if within the city’s “green zone.”
Sixth Ward Councilman Jesse Kurtz suggested an amendment, which passed, that also bans cannabis businesses from Atlantic Avenue lots between Georgia and Mississippi avenues around St. Michael’s Church.
“They are closest to (the church) and the Sisters of Renewal,” Kurtz said. “The sisters objected. They were not engaged in the initial conversation. They were horrified (cannabis would be nearby) where they do rehab classes.”
The Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal Convent is on Mississippi Avenue, near proposed cannabis sites.
Atlantic City has created a “green zone” district where cannabis is an approved use.
Council passed the amendment, then passed the introduction of the amended ordinance, which will have its public hearing and final vote next month and will become law if passed then.
Kurtz is also involved in a petition drive by residents of Chelsea Heights, many of whom he represents, who are fighting the council’s recent decision to extend the cannabis zone to Albany Avenue on the edge of their residential neighborhood.
City spokesperson Andrew Kramer said Wednesday the petition had been received and signatures were being reviewed.
Kurtz has said 801 signatures of registered city voters are required to get the question on the November ballot, and the petition delivered to City Hall had almost 1,100 signatures on it.
In November, sisters from the convent attended a Casino Reinvestment Development Authority hearing to ask that proposed cannabis business sites not be allowed near them.
The CRDA acts as the city’s planning authority within the Tourism District, and staff said at the time it could not prevent it, as Atlantic City’s cannabis zoning rules did not include setbacks from churches.
Members of the convent and order told the CRDA they host classes, including some for teens, and sobriety meetings.
The matter of cannabis sales near churches has come up before. Over the summer, members of the Chelsea Baptist Church opposed a planned cannabis business about a block away.
Mayor Marty Small Sr.’s administration sees cannabis as a powerful economic engine, potentially bringing new jobs and new investment to the city, and setting a goal to make Atlantic City a cannabis destination.
Staff Writer Bill Barlow contributed to this report.
10
- John O'Connor
ABSECON — A city man was arrested Tuesday evening after he allegedly threatened to stab another man who asked him to stop smoking marijuana in a park, police said.
Kevin J. McAnally, 56, was charged with assault and weapons offenses. He was released on a summons pending court.
Police responded to the city's sports complex on Morton Avenue at 5 p.m. in reference to an assault. Investigators determined a man who was at the park asked McAnally to stop smoking marijuana near his juvenile siblings, police said in a news release.
McAnally brandished an awl, a pointed tool used for marking surfaces or making small holes, and chased the victim in a threatening manner, prompting a witness to call 911, police said.
The victim was not injured, police said.
11
- Bill Barlow
WILDWOOD — Repeated warnings to “Watch the tram car, please” have been part of the soundtrack of summer on the Wildwoods Boardwalk for decades.
Businesses along the Boardwalk, through the Special Improvement District, want to keep those beloved bright yellow people movers rolling and have asked for $1 million in federal money to upgrade the fleet.
Billed as a sightseeing trip, the $5 ride also keeps people moving on the long Boardwalk.
“The tram cars are incredibly important to the image of the Boardwalk and as transportation on the Boardwalk,” said Pat Rosenello, executive director of the nonprofit SID as well as mayor of North Wildwood.
The effort comes 20 years after the tram cars were rescued from the brink of extinction, with the SID operation of the cars beginning in 2004. The unique transportation has been making the rounds on the Boardwalk for decades.
Some portion of the tram car fleet dates to 1939, when they were built for the World’s Fair in Flushing, New York.
“Some of the engines and passenger trailers are the originals,” Rosenello said. “They’ve earned their retirement at this point.”
The SID has been gathering support for the funding requests from local governments, in the form of resolutions. There is no federal commitment, Rosenello said, but the SID staff has been in communication with U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-2nd, about the application process.
There was no immediate response from Van Drew’s office about the funding request. Rosenello said Van Drew could make a request for the funding early this fall. The funding would not be up for a congressional vote until early 2025, and the SID would likely not see any money until 2026.
“You typically don’t get confirmation until the federal budget is adopted,” Rosenello said. “It takes a while to get approved.”
The money would allow for the replacement of some of the vehicles. To replace the entire fleet would cost about $3 million, Rosenello said.
This year’s SID budget, raised by a special levy on Boardwalk businesses, comes in at $325,000.
Greyhound built the trackless trains for the World’s Fair. When it was done, the tram cars were packed away for a decade until they debuted on the Wildwoods Boardwalk on June 11, 1949. Wildwood businessman Gilbert Ramagosa purchased the engines and trains to bring to the resort, charging 10 cents a ride each way.
That cost continued to increase over the decades.
In 1963, eight more engines and trains were bought from a metal shop in Camden.
Ramagosa sold the tram cars to a group of local business owners is 1994, one year before he died. By 2003, the owners had enough, citing increased costs for insurance and operations, and the increasing value of the property where they were warehoused in the winter, as reasons the cars would ride no more.
But 2004 saw a lifeline from the SID, which purchased the cars and resumed their operation in 2007, according to a fact sheet provided by Rosenello, ordering the first new trailer cars since 1963.
Five new trailers were built in 2014, with five original cars retired from service the next year. The first new engine came online in 2016, named for longtime employee John “Gig” Gigliotti.
The fleet’s eight tram cars carry more than 600,000 passengers each summer.
“During the peak hour at night, a seat on the tram car is a precious commodity,” Rosenello said.
12
- Dana DiFilippo newjerseymonitor.com
In a new blow for transparency advocates, the state Supreme Court decreed Wednesday that the County Prosecutors Association of New Jersey is not a public agency and so doesn’t have to share its records with the public.
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey has unsuccessfully fought the association since 2019 for its financials, meeting agendas and minutes, briefs filed in state or federal courts, and any policies or practices the association shared with county prosecutors.
The records fight evolved into a broader debate over whether the association — a nonprofit that’s wholly publicly funded and whose sole members are the 21 county prosecutors — is subject to public scrutiny under the state Open Public Records Act and common law right to access.
In a split ruling Wednesday, a majority of the court sided with the nonprofit association’s bid to maintain secrecy, while two justices dissented.
Justice Anne Patterson, writing for the majority, largely focused on language in both OPRA and the common law that defines a public agency as one created by a “political subdivision” and a public record as one either made by a public official carrying out their official duties, required by law to be kept, or filed in a public office.
“The county prosecutor is not the alter ego of the county itself, and does not constitute a ‘political subdivision,’” Patterson wrote.
The association, she added, has no public office, no constitutional or statutory powers, and no authorization to investigate, arrest, or prosecute anyone, she added.
“If the prosecutors’ offices have CPANJ-related documents that are subject to the common law right of access, the ACLU can request those documents from the public entities that have them — the prosecutors’ offices,” Patterson wrote.
Chief Justice Stuart Rabner and Justices Lee Solomon, Fabiana Pierre-Louis, and Douglas Fasciale joined in Patterson’s decision, which affirmed rulings by trial and appellate judges.
A strong dissent
Justice Rachel Wainer Apter penned a sharply worded dissent that was joined by Justice Michael Noriega.
“Because no private citizens are members of CPANJ, every document recorded, generated, or produced by CPANJ is recorded, generated, or produced by a public official. And CPANJ itself says that it was created to promote ‘the orderly administration of criminal justice within the State and the fair and effective enforcement of the constitution and laws of this State’ — a governmental purpose of the highest order,” Wainer Apter wrote.
The public access New Jersey’s public records law guarantees to government records plays “a key role … in a vibrant democracy,” so any limitations on it should be decided in favor of public access, she added.
Wainer Apter also zeroed in on the association’s public funding, agreeing with the ACLU’s argument that it’s a public agency because its work is carried out by publicly funded county prosecutors and their staffs in their government offices using government resources.
“Public officials should not be permitted to hide behind organizational forms to utilize government resources to carry out government business in secrecy,” Wainer Apter wrote. “This means that county prosecutors’ offices should not be permitted to escape OPRA by labeling certain of their activities as occurring on behalf of CPANJ, rather than themselves, when the ACLU alleges that there is no functional difference between the two.”
Attorney Christopher Gramiccioni, who represented the association and Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella, its current president did not respond to requests for comment, and a spokeswoman for Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo Onofri, a recent past association president, referred comment to Musella.
Why it matters
The ACLU first asked for the records because of the powerful role the association plays in state criminal justice matters, said Jeanne LoCicero, the ACLU’s legal director.
The association meets monthly with the state Attorney General’s Office to mull matters around the enforcement of the state’s crime laws. It also has filed briefs weighing in court cases with widespread impact, including the pandemic releases of people in prisons and jails and the constitutionality of criminal statutes and searches and seizures.
“We thought New Jerseyans should have more information about how these public figures are operating and the decisions they are making about criminal justice policy in our state,” LoCicero said.
ACLU advocates are “disappointed” by the ruling, she added.
“As the dissent rightly points out, it’s hard to understand how they can continue to use state employees to work on behalf of a private nonprofit entity,” she said.
Attorney CJ Griffin filed a supporting brief in the case on behalf of Libertarians for Transparent Government and the Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jersey. Griffin also has represented the New Jersey Monitor in unrelated matters.
“This decision raises some red flags about how the ethics laws might be implicated and whether or not a private organization like this should be using government resources and government attorneys to defend it in court,” Griffin said.
Still, she and LoCicero said anyone looking to learn county prosecutors’ doings can still seek answers directly from the 21 prosecutors themselves.
“It requires more work. It’s going to take 21 requests and tracking it down and one agency saying: ‘I don’t have it,’ and the other one saying they don’t either, maybe lawsuits because they’re going to claim it’s a CPANJ record versus a county prosecutor record,” Griffin said. “I just have some worries there, especially in light of everything that just happened with the Warren County prosecutor.”
The state Attorney General’s Office took over the Warren County Prosecutor’s Office earlier this month and ousted prosecutor James Pfeiffer after state investigators found the office misused state funds meant for insurance fraud investigations.
The bigger picture
The ruling comes as state legislators are considering changes to the state public records law that critics warn would drastically restrict records access, making it much tougher for the public, press, and others to find out what public officials are doing.
Protests by community activists and transparency advocates derailed votes on the bill in the past month, and its fate remains uncertain, although legislators have said they are working on amendments.
Wednesday’s ruling, in the broader context of that legislative brouhaha, is “concerning,” Griffin said.
“The state is trending towards more systems that allow for secrecy and that make more records off limits, that allow government to operate more in darkness. And now, here’s an organization that’s really just the prosecutors calling themselves an organization sometimes when they meet and sometimes not,” she said. “So allowing that to remain in darkness is just concerning.”
This story first appeared on the New Jersey Monitor.
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- WAYNE PARRY Associated Press
ATLANTIC CITY — Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. said Thursday he remains committed to his family and to his city as he deals with charges that he and his wife abused their teenage daughter.
In his first public comments since prosecutors on Monday charged him and his wife, La’Quetta, the city’s superintendent of schools, with physically and verbally abusing their 16-year-old daughter and endangering her welfare, Small said he would not be distracted from his duties.
“We’ve all seen news accounts of what’s going on with myself personally,” he said in a speech at the East Coast Gaming Congress at the Hard Rock casino. “It’s just that: personal.
“But I pledge to each and every one of you, it doesn’t change my commitment, number one, to my family, and it doesn’t change my commitment here to the great city of Atlantic City,” the mayor said.
An affidavit filed in the case by the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office says the girl at one point acknowledged making up the accusations against her parents because she was angry they wouldn’t let her go out with friends.
But in many other sections, the affidavit includes detailed claims by the girl that the abuse was real, and it said she photographed bruises she said were inflicted by her parents and sent them to her boyfriend, who shared them with detectives.
The office of Prosecutor William Reynolds cited evidence including recordings of interactions between the girl and her parents; her statements to police, school personnel, a therapist and state child welfare investigators, and messages she sent to friends asking for help, saying she did not feel safe at home.
The mayor is accused of repeatedly hitting his daughter in the head with a broom until she blacked out, and repeatedly punching her in the legs, court documents say. Her mother is accused of dragging her by her hair, punching her in the chest and face, and hitting her with a belt.
The root of the conflict, according to the court document, was the Smalls’ disapproval of their daughter’s boyfriend.
Their lawyer, Ed Jacobs, has said the mayor and his wife “are completely innocent of any wrongdoing and will ultimately be vindicated.”
Small’s appearance at the casino conference was scheduled months ago, and there was considerable anticipation as to whether he would begin his speech with his trademark phrase, “It’s a great day in the city of Atlantic City,” given his current legal troubles.
He did indeed use the phrase, noting challenges Atlantic City faces, including the impending opening of New York City casinos.
Small pledged to work with the casinos and all levels of government to prepare the city for that challenge and make Atlantic City “the very best it can be.”
Part of that should include cleaning up and redeveloping Pacific Avenue, the street nearest the ocean on which six of the nine casinos front, said Jim Allen, the global chairman of Hard Rock International who got his start in the casino industry as a cook in Atlantic City.
He called improving the appearance of that street “the game-changer.”
“If we continue to leave Pacific Avenue the way it’s been since the ‘70s, then the perception of the town won’t change, just the vacant lots and boarded-up buildings.”
- John O'Connor
EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP — A township man wanted by the Atlantic County Sheriff’s Office is in custody after a standoff with police on Ivins Avenue since Thursday afternoon.
Prentiss Blaylock, 37, was arrested Friday and transported to a local hospital for medical evaluation before incarceration. No injuries were reported at the time, police Capt. Cherie Burgan said Friday afternoon.
Blaylock had been sought on charges of unlawful possession of a weapon, child abuse, aggravated assault, terroristic threats, resisting arrest and theft.
Burgan said Thursday the local police department was acting as support to the U.S. Marshals, the agency leading the operation.
Social media posts Thursday near the scene showed several heavily armed officers patrolling the area.
Staff writer John Russo contributed to this report.
- John O'Connor
GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP — A township man was found dead Wednesday afternoon with several wounds, the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office said.
Police responded to a home in the 400 block of South Odessa Avenue and found the body of Shawn P. O'Neill Jr., 42, at 2:49 p.m., the Prosecutor's Office said in a news release.
The cause and manner of O'Neill's death are under investigation. Anyone with information can call the Prosecutor's Office at 609-909-7800.
- Matthew Cavallo
With nearly 14,000 followers on his Instagram account, Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. posts a lot about his life, from the professional to the personal. That hasn't changed as prosecutors investigated Small and his wife, searched their home and on Monday charged the couple with abusing and assaulting their teenage daughter. The mayor has remained active on the platform, posting about everyday life, but also assuring his audience that he's fighting the allegations.
Here are a sample of some posts over the past five months.
Small posted on Instagram after charges were announced against him and his wife, adding a few new hashtags such as #unbothered and #eddiejacobstalksforme, a reference to his defense attorney.
Small shares a post March 25 telling his audience he doesn't know the meaning of the word "surrender." Three days later, prosecutors executed search warrants at his home.
Small shares a photo of himself in the Mayor's Office on April 4, captioned "Standing Tall…Standing on my Square…Standing on Business." The post comes three days after Small holds a news conference with his family and attorney to address the investigation and search of his house. He calls the issue a "family matter" and stresses there is no hint of public corruption or malfeasance.
Small shares a video of a group of young men saying his catchphrase, "Can we say great day?" outside the Wawa in Margate on April 14.
Small shares a photo of himself and his family Nov. 25.
Hours before prosecutors announce charges against Small and his wife, the mayor posts a video of himself working out.
Small shares a quote from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on March 28 following the news of police executing a search warrant at his Atlantic City home.
On Christmas Day 2023, Small shares a post wishing everyone a great day from himself and his family. The post does not include any family photos.
On Dec. 21, Small attends a Philadelphia 76ers game with the Atlantic City Recreation Department. "Under The Small Administration we spare no expense when it comes to our kids," he says in his Instagram post.
- Press staff reports
LINWOOD — From Monday through Friday, a police-controlled stop-and-go traffic pattern will be in effect on Shore Road between Patcong and Garfield avenues from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., weather permitting, for road preparation work by New Jersey American Water.
Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson said this week he empathizes with motorists who encounter delays and uneven road surfaces along Shore Road due to utility work.
“I hear complaints from residents who rely on this roadway for their daily travels and are frustrated by the continued disruptions and condition of the roadway surface,” Levinson said, “and frankly, I do not blame them. After the utility companies complete their work, and with sufficient time for settlement, they are required to restore the roadway to its original condition, but that does not appear to be happening.”
Milling and paving are scheduled for the following week, April 29 to May 3, with the same traffic pattern in place from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The length of Shore Road from Somers Point to Pleasantville was paved by the county several years ago, Levinson said, but work by utility companies for gas, water, electric and cable infrastructure improvements has required periodic, and often poorly timed and coordinated, openings of the roadway to allow for this work.
“Shore Road seems to be constantly torn up in one location or another for work by utility companies. It is not the county that is doing this, but many people assume if it’s our road, it’s our work.”
Motorists may experience delays and should plan travel time accordingly or seek an alternate route.
- WAYNE PARRY Associated Press
ATLANTIC CITY — Atlantic City casinos are facing threats on multiple fronts from new competitors not just in New York, but from within their own state.
That’s not great news for a seaside resort in which the amount of money won from in-person gamblers continues to lag, with seven of the nine casinos winning less from on-premises customers than they did before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
At the East Coast Gaming Congress Thursday at the Hard Rock casino, numerous executives from some of the major casino companies in America acknowledged the opportunity of three downstate New York casino licenses — and the risk they will present to Atlantic City.
And the operator of a racetrack in northern New Jersey, just outside New York City, told The Associated Press he believes New Jersey voters will authorize construction of a casino in the Meadowlands shortly after New York casinos open and New Jersey gamblers tire of paying bridge tolls and sitting in traffic to get to gambling halls in New York.
“Now more than ever we know there’s a threat coming with New York City gaming coming,” Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. said at the conference. “We understand the threat. We want to continue to work together to do things right to put Atlantic City into a prime position, no matter where these casinos are, that we diversify our options.”
Jim Allen, chairman of Hard Rock International, is straddling both markets.
His company operates a casino in Atlantic City that is the second-most successful in the market. And Hard Rock is partnering with New York Mets owner Steve Cohen on a proposed $8 billion casino complex at Citi Field in the city’s Queens section.
If as many as three casinos open in or close to New York City, Allen said, Atlantic City’s in-person gambling revenues could fall by 20% to 30%.
“We have to be prepared for that,” he told attendees at the conference.
Allen said Atlantic City’s Hard Rock will weather the storm of New York competition. But he said he does not want to see any competitors in the city close, throwing 2,000 to 3,000 people out of work in a repetition of a wave of casino closings in Atlantic City from 2014 to 2016 that saw five casinos close. Two have since reopened under new ownership.
Tom Reeg, CEO of Caesars Entertainment, which owns three of Atlantic City’s nine casinos, also said New York casinos will be a challenge. His company, too, is seeking a New York casino license with SL Green, and Roc Nation in Times Square.
“We’re pursuing that license with fervor,” Reeg said. “I share Jim’s concern about where the (Atlantic City) market is headed as we head into New York.”
Soo Kim, chairman of Bally’s Corporation, which has a casino in Atlantic City, said table games revenue from New York gamblers “will be harder to attract” once casinos open in New York City. “With casinos in New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware, there’s casinos everywhere.”
He said New Jersey can rely on its robust internet gambling market to offset some expected losses.
Concerns don’t end with New York.
Jeff Gural runs the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, Bergen County, just outside New York City, along with the Tioga Downs and Vernon Downs racetrack casinos in upstate New York.
He also has a deal with Hard Rock to build a casino at the Meadowlands Racetrack — a proposal that was put on the back burner when New Jersey voters overwhelmingly rejected a referendum on expanding casino gambling beyond Atlantic City in 2016.
“I’m just waiting for New York to open,” Gural said in an interview. “People will say, ‘Why am I driving over the George Washington Bridge and paying an $18 toll and sitting in traffic to go gamble?’”
Gural said the 2016 referendum failed largely because it was written to permit more than one casino in northern New Jersey without specifying where.
“People don’t want a casino in the neighborhood,” Gural said. “If we make it clear it’s only at the Meadowlands, common sense tells you there will be a casino in the Meadowlands.”
Gural said that will happen in “a lot sooner than 10 years.”
Mark Giannantonio, president of Atlantic City’s Resorts casino and of the Casino Association of New Jersey, said during Wednesday’s opening day session of the convention that Atlantic City views New York casinos as a threat.
“New Jersey has to be prepared for this, to make Atlantic City more attractive for people to visit, and there’s a lot of work to do,” he said. “Table games clearly will be impacted.”
He said Atlantic City has a “two-year window” to prepare for New York competition by cleaning itself up, improving its infrastructure, and assigning more police to the Boardwalk and other areas so visitors see a visible law enforcement presence. He also said Atlantic City needs to solve its problem with homelessness.
But Giannantonio said Atlantic City can survive the advent of new competition in an already cutthroat northeastern casino market.
“I’m always going to rely on hotel, entertainment, retail and the experience on the casino floor,” he said. “I believe in my heart that Atlantic City, with some hard work, will be an opportunity. We’re excited about the future.”
- John O'Connor
WILDWOOD — Former President Donald J. Trump will return to the resort for a beachfront rally next month, U.S. Rep Jeff Van Drew, R-2nd, confirmed Thursday.
“It’s definitely going to happen,” Van Drew said. “Certainly, it’s going to be very exciting.”
Van Drew also confirmed the event in a Facebook post.
“President Trump holding a rally on the beach in Wildwood will be like nothing New Jersey has ever seen,” Van Drew said in a statement. “People are still talking about the energy and excitement around President Trump’s rally in January of 2020, which still holds the record for the most tickets ever requested. We have no doubt this rally will be even bigger and better.”
The announcement came after the Wildwood Board of Commissioners approved an agreement Monday with the Trump campaign for the May 11 rally.
“What a great boost to our town at the start of the summer season!” Mayor Ernie Troiano Jr. and Commissioners Steve Mikulski and Krista McConnell said in a statement. “We host hundreds of large-capacity events annually, so the city is ready to welcome the crowds and looks forward to making the weekend successful for everyone.”
The Trump campaign said on its website Thursday that doors will open at noon and Trump will begin speaking at 5 p.m. Tickets can be reserved at donaldjtrump.com.
In January 2020, before the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was felt in the United States, Trump’s visit to the Wildwoods Convention Center on the Boardwalk — a rare visit to southern New Jersey by a sitting president — drew thousands to the beach resort in the winter.
“We want to relive the magic,” Van Drew said Thursday. “This is going to be on the beach. the ocean is going to be at his back.”
He expects tens of thousands to attend the beach rally.
Van Drew said Trump spends about half his time in New Jersey, dividing his year between Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, and Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster in Somerset County.
Van Drew, who is running for reelection this year, said he remains close with Trump. Elected as a Democrat, Van Drew changed parties, becoming a Republican and pledging his support for Trump in the White House in 2019.
“I speak with the president about once a week,” Van Drew said.
He indicated a beachfront rally could have an impact in Pennsylvania, typically described as a swing state, and in New Jersey, which has not supported Trump in previous elections. He said recent polls show the gap closing in blue New Jersey.
“These are unusual times in which we live,” he said.
After losing his reelection bid to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020, Trump refused to accept the loss, a significant break from American tradition.
Asked if he accepted the 2020 results, Van Drew said Biden has been the president since the inauguration.
He said there were issues with the vote in 2020, citing Arizona and other states. This year, Republicans will dispatch thousands of attorneys to ensure the integrity of the vote, he said.
“Election integrity is going to be extremely important,” Van Drew said. “If the election has integrity and is safe and free and fair, I certainly will accept whoever prevails.”
Several other events are planned in the Wildwoods that weekend, including the Wildwoods Spring Fling festival, a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Hereford Inlet Lighthouse in North Wildwood, a cheer competition and a hot rod and muscle car show.
“Amidst an already exciting Mother’s Day weekend filled with events and businesses opening for the 2024 summer season, we are excited to see that these festivities not only offer a vibrant experience for our community, but also provide invaluable support to our local businesses. We eagerly anticipate the positive impact these special events will bring to our region,” Tracey Boyle-DuFault, executive director of the Greater Wildwood Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement.
- Michelle Brunetti Post
Saying the Atlantic City Housing Authority has “lost the trust of the residents it was created to serve,” U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., urged the new acting secretary of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to take over the authority Thursday morning.
Menendez talked about ongoing conditions such as water and gas leaks, mold, lack of heat and hot water and more about 45 minutes into a hearing of the Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.
“In addition the authority itself is rife with management problems, including issues with its procurement and contracting procedures that had delayed critical fixes to units,” Menendez said.
Testifying were interim HUD Secretary Adrianne Todman and Federal Housing Finance Administration Director Sandra Thompson.
“I am aware of this issue and also directed our senior leadership ... to take more urgent action,” Todman said. “What you described is horrific, and no person ... should be experiencing that.”
Housing Authority Executive Director Tom Sahlin said via text Thursday he was in union negotiations and could not view the testimony.
“I don’t believe there will be a response/comment to this,” Sahlin said.
Todman said HUD has negotiated a recovery plan with the Housing Authority and was actively making sure it was followed.
One HUD official described an audit of the authority as “one of the worst audits that I have ever read in my life,” Menendez said, and HUD’s recovery plan is “not enough for these residents who have been living in inhumane conditions for so long.”
The recovery plan calls for the authority to make a long list of improvements by the end of 2024, with some deadlines set for March, June and December.
But Menendez said more needs to be done, “especially when the plan is being executed by the same authority that has allowed these issues to fester for years, all the while ignoring or retaliating against residents who spoke out about the problems they were facing.”
The authority recently granted a new contract to Jerry Volpe’s Governance & Fiscal Affairs, which has been handling procurement for more than a year, as the authority has been cited for improperly using emergency contracting and failing to submit audits on time.
Menendez sent a letter in December to then HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge urging a takeover of the Housing Authority, and said he was reiterating that request now.
“Will you commit to personally reviewing this situation and getting back to me with what you plan to do to accelerate relief for the residents of Atlantic City?” Menendez asked.
Todman said she would.
U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-2nd, has also called for HUD to take over the Atlantic City authority.
The authority’s attorney, Rick DeLucry of Cooper Levenson, and Sahlin attended Wednesday night’s City Council meeting to give a presentation on the authority’s status and attempt to solve problems.
Council attorney Robert Tarver would not allow anyone from the public to ask questions, saying litigation prevented questioning.
Sahlin said lack of funding and lack of staffing were the main problems for the agency and criticized the media for misrepresenting the facts.
Authority board member Geoffrey Dorsey also said at the meeting that he reached out to Van Drew’s office to try to get an appointment to talk to the congressman, but the office has not been responsive.
No one from the authority mentioned Menendez, who is currently facing trial on bribery and corruption charges.
About 130 residents of the authority’s largest public housing community, Stanley Holmes Village, have sued over conditions there. The next hearing is set for Monday morning in Atlantic County Superior Court.
Three former staff members are also suing the authority, alleging they were either fired or forced out of their jobs for complaining about improper procurement activities and other problems with how the authority was run.
“HUD must immediately take over ... to insure the safety and dignity of its residents,” Menendez said. “And every day we allow the authority that allowed all this to happen to affect the residents as it has, is a day it becomes HUD’s problem rather than the Atlantic City Housing Authority’s.”
- Michelle Brunetti Post
ATLANTIC CITY — City Council Wednesday night introduced an ordinance to establish buffer zones around schools and religious buildings where cannabis businesses will not be allowed even if within the city’s “green zone.”
Sixth Ward Councilman Jesse Kurtz suggested an amendment, which passed, that also bans cannabis businesses from Atlantic Avenue lots between Georgia and Mississippi avenues around St. Michael’s Church.
“They are closest to (the church) and the Sisters of Renewal,” Kurtz said. “The sisters objected. They were not engaged in the initial conversation. They were horrified (cannabis would be nearby) where they do rehab classes.”
The Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal Convent is on Mississippi Avenue, near proposed cannabis sites.
Atlantic City has created a “green zone” district where cannabis is an approved use.
Council passed the amendment, then passed the introduction of the amended ordinance, which will have its public hearing and final vote next month and will become law if passed then.
Kurtz is also involved in a petition drive by residents of Chelsea Heights, many of whom he represents, who are fighting the council’s recent decision to extend the cannabis zone to Albany Avenue on the edge of their residential neighborhood.
City spokesperson Andrew Kramer said Wednesday the petition had been received and signatures were being reviewed.
Kurtz has said 801 signatures of registered city voters are required to get the question on the November ballot, and the petition delivered to City Hall had almost 1,100 signatures on it.
In November, sisters from the convent attended a Casino Reinvestment Development Authority hearing to ask that proposed cannabis business sites not be allowed near them.
The CRDA acts as the city’s planning authority within the Tourism District, and staff said at the time it could not prevent it, as Atlantic City’s cannabis zoning rules did not include setbacks from churches.
Members of the convent and order told the CRDA they host classes, including some for teens, and sobriety meetings.
The matter of cannabis sales near churches has come up before. Over the summer, members of the Chelsea Baptist Church opposed a planned cannabis business about a block away.
Mayor Marty Small Sr.’s administration sees cannabis as a powerful economic engine, potentially bringing new jobs and new investment to the city, and setting a goal to make Atlantic City a cannabis destination.
Staff Writer Bill Barlow contributed to this report.
- John O'Connor
ABSECON — A city man was arrested Tuesday evening after he allegedly threatened to stab another man who asked him to stop smoking marijuana in a park, police said.
Kevin J. McAnally, 56, was charged with assault and weapons offenses. He was released on a summons pending court.
Police responded to the city's sports complex on Morton Avenue at 5 p.m. in reference to an assault. Investigators determined a man who was at the park asked McAnally to stop smoking marijuana near his juvenile siblings, police said in a news release.
McAnally brandished an awl, a pointed tool used for marking surfaces or making small holes, and chased the victim in a threatening manner, prompting a witness to call 911, police said.
The victim was not injured, police said.
- Bill Barlow
WILDWOOD — Repeated warnings to “Watch the tram car, please” have been part of the soundtrack of summer on the Wildwoods Boardwalk for decades.
Businesses along the Boardwalk, through the Special Improvement District, want to keep those beloved bright yellow people movers rolling and have asked for $1 million in federal money to upgrade the fleet.
Billed as a sightseeing trip, the $5 ride also keeps people moving on the long Boardwalk.
“The tram cars are incredibly important to the image of the Boardwalk and as transportation on the Boardwalk,” said Pat Rosenello, executive director of the nonprofit SID as well as mayor of North Wildwood.
The effort comes 20 years after the tram cars were rescued from the brink of extinction, with the SID operation of the cars beginning in 2004. The unique transportation has been making the rounds on the Boardwalk for decades.
Some portion of the tram car fleet dates to 1939, when they were built for the World’s Fair in Flushing, New York.
“Some of the engines and passenger trailers are the originals,” Rosenello said. “They’ve earned their retirement at this point.”
The SID has been gathering support for the funding requests from local governments, in the form of resolutions. There is no federal commitment, Rosenello said, but the SID staff has been in communication with U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-2nd, about the application process.
There was no immediate response from Van Drew’s office about the funding request. Rosenello said Van Drew could make a request for the funding early this fall. The funding would not be up for a congressional vote until early 2025, and the SID would likely not see any money until 2026.
“You typically don’t get confirmation until the federal budget is adopted,” Rosenello said. “It takes a while to get approved.”
The money would allow for the replacement of some of the vehicles. To replace the entire fleet would cost about $3 million, Rosenello said.
This year’s SID budget, raised by a special levy on Boardwalk businesses, comes in at $325,000.
Greyhound built the trackless trains for the World’s Fair. When it was done, the tram cars were packed away for a decade until they debuted on the Wildwoods Boardwalk on June 11, 1949. Wildwood businessman Gilbert Ramagosa purchased the engines and trains to bring to the resort, charging 10 cents a ride each way.
That cost continued to increase over the decades.
In 1963, eight more engines and trains were bought from a metal shop in Camden.
Ramagosa sold the tram cars to a group of local business owners is 1994, one year before he died. By 2003, the owners had enough, citing increased costs for insurance and operations, and the increasing value of the property where they were warehoused in the winter, as reasons the cars would ride no more.
But 2004 saw a lifeline from the SID, which purchased the cars and resumed their operation in 2007, according to a fact sheet provided by Rosenello, ordering the first new trailer cars since 1963.
Five new trailers were built in 2014, with five original cars retired from service the next year. The first new engine came online in 2016, named for longtime employee John “Gig” Gigliotti.
The fleet’s eight tram cars carry more than 600,000 passengers each summer.
“During the peak hour at night, a seat on the tram car is a precious commodity,” Rosenello said.
- Dana DiFilippo newjerseymonitor.com
In a new blow for transparency advocates, the state Supreme Court decreed Wednesday that the County Prosecutors Association of New Jersey is not a public agency and so doesn’t have to share its records with the public.
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey has unsuccessfully fought the association since 2019 for its financials, meeting agendas and minutes, briefs filed in state or federal courts, and any policies or practices the association shared with county prosecutors.
The records fight evolved into a broader debate over whether the association — a nonprofit that’s wholly publicly funded and whose sole members are the 21 county prosecutors — is subject to public scrutiny under the state Open Public Records Act and common law right to access.
In a split ruling Wednesday, a majority of the court sided with the nonprofit association’s bid to maintain secrecy, while two justices dissented.
Justice Anne Patterson, writing for the majority, largely focused on language in both OPRA and the common law that defines a public agency as one created by a “political subdivision” and a public record as one either made by a public official carrying out their official duties, required by law to be kept, or filed in a public office.
“The county prosecutor is not the alter ego of the county itself, and does not constitute a ‘political subdivision,’” Patterson wrote.
The association, she added, has no public office, no constitutional or statutory powers, and no authorization to investigate, arrest, or prosecute anyone, she added.
“If the prosecutors’ offices have CPANJ-related documents that are subject to the common law right of access, the ACLU can request those documents from the public entities that have them — the prosecutors’ offices,” Patterson wrote.
Chief Justice Stuart Rabner and Justices Lee Solomon, Fabiana Pierre-Louis, and Douglas Fasciale joined in Patterson’s decision, which affirmed rulings by trial and appellate judges.
A strong dissent
Justice Rachel Wainer Apter penned a sharply worded dissent that was joined by Justice Michael Noriega.
“Because no private citizens are members of CPANJ, every document recorded, generated, or produced by CPANJ is recorded, generated, or produced by a public official. And CPANJ itself says that it was created to promote ‘the orderly administration of criminal justice within the State and the fair and effective enforcement of the constitution and laws of this State’ — a governmental purpose of the highest order,” Wainer Apter wrote.
The public access New Jersey’s public records law guarantees to government records plays “a key role … in a vibrant democracy,” so any limitations on it should be decided in favor of public access, she added.
Wainer Apter also zeroed in on the association’s public funding, agreeing with the ACLU’s argument that it’s a public agency because its work is carried out by publicly funded county prosecutors and their staffs in their government offices using government resources.
“Public officials should not be permitted to hide behind organizational forms to utilize government resources to carry out government business in secrecy,” Wainer Apter wrote. “This means that county prosecutors’ offices should not be permitted to escape OPRA by labeling certain of their activities as occurring on behalf of CPANJ, rather than themselves, when the ACLU alleges that there is no functional difference between the two.”
Attorney Christopher Gramiccioni, who represented the association and Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella, its current president did not respond to requests for comment, and a spokeswoman for Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo Onofri, a recent past association president, referred comment to Musella.
Why it matters
The ACLU first asked for the records because of the powerful role the association plays in state criminal justice matters, said Jeanne LoCicero, the ACLU’s legal director.
The association meets monthly with the state Attorney General’s Office to mull matters around the enforcement of the state’s crime laws. It also has filed briefs weighing in court cases with widespread impact, including the pandemic releases of people in prisons and jails and the constitutionality of criminal statutes and searches and seizures.
“We thought New Jerseyans should have more information about how these public figures are operating and the decisions they are making about criminal justice policy in our state,” LoCicero said.
ACLU advocates are “disappointed” by the ruling, she added.
“As the dissent rightly points out, it’s hard to understand how they can continue to use state employees to work on behalf of a private nonprofit entity,” she said.
Attorney CJ Griffin filed a supporting brief in the case on behalf of Libertarians for Transparent Government and the Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jersey. Griffin also has represented the New Jersey Monitor in unrelated matters.
“This decision raises some red flags about how the ethics laws might be implicated and whether or not a private organization like this should be using government resources and government attorneys to defend it in court,” Griffin said.
Still, she and LoCicero said anyone looking to learn county prosecutors’ doings can still seek answers directly from the 21 prosecutors themselves.
“It requires more work. It’s going to take 21 requests and tracking it down and one agency saying: ‘I don’t have it,’ and the other one saying they don’t either, maybe lawsuits because they’re going to claim it’s a CPANJ record versus a county prosecutor record,” Griffin said. “I just have some worries there, especially in light of everything that just happened with the Warren County prosecutor.”
The state Attorney General’s Office took over the Warren County Prosecutor’s Office earlier this month and ousted prosecutor James Pfeiffer after state investigators found the office misused state funds meant for insurance fraud investigations.
The bigger picture
The ruling comes as state legislators are considering changes to the state public records law that critics warn would drastically restrict records access, making it much tougher for the public, press, and others to find out what public officials are doing.
Protests by community activists and transparency advocates derailed votes on the bill in the past month, and its fate remains uncertain, although legislators have said they are working on amendments.
Wednesday’s ruling, in the broader context of that legislative brouhaha, is “concerning,” Griffin said.
“The state is trending towards more systems that allow for secrecy and that make more records off limits, that allow government to operate more in darkness. And now, here’s an organization that’s really just the prosecutors calling themselves an organization sometimes when they meet and sometimes not,” she said. “So allowing that to remain in darkness is just concerning.”
This story first appeared on the New Jersey Monitor.
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