Two weeks after unveiling a “vision plan” for the Meadowlands sport complex – including two new hotels, four casino spaces, a convention center, and a monorail “people mover” – the Meadowlands Regional Chamber hosted a meeting with local businesspeople and town adminstrators to discuss the impact of the plan on the region.
Speaking at the meeting were New Jersey State Sen. Paul Sarlo, Assemblywoman Marlene Caride, Assemblyman Gary Schaer, and Meadowlands Regional Chamber President and CEO Jim Kirkos.
All the speakers stressed that the time to act is now, with other areas both within New Jersey and in the surrounding states gearing up for the possibility of bringing additional gambling facilities to the region.
This is all the result of a possible early end to Gov. Christopher Christie’s five-year revitalization plan for Atlantic City, established in 2011, which effectively banned any discussion of allowing gambling elsewhere in the state until 2016.
“The five-year hold for Atlantic City kind of threw us behind and we need to play catch-up at this point,” said Caride.
“We made a political decision five years ago that unfortunately has had results,” agreed Schaer. “We should have recognized back then what would occur. That an area which is so geographically far away from a population concentration probably is not going to make it. We were right to give the resources to Atlantic City. Where we were wrong, I would suggest, is that we did not look at this area and say that we could do both at the same time.”
The players
Ron Simoncini, president of Axiom Communications, introduced the event and presented attendees with a summary of the vision plan. “One of the reasons Atlantic City is failing is because there aren’t enough people close enough by to support it as a convenience gaming destination,” he said. “New York City is eight miles from this site. We have 6.4 million people in the adjoining counties plus Middlesex. Atlantic City by comparison, within 20 miles there are not even a million.”
Newark airport brings an additional 33 million visitors to the New York Metropolitan area.
“We need to make sure our community, our residents, our surrounding business owners are protected when you build large-scale developments like this.” – Sen. Paul Sarlo
____________
The vision plan as it currently exists was created by the Meadowlands Chamber with no input from the businesses currently operating in the complex – something that the speakers all strongly insisted had to change, especially in light of the back-and-forth lawsuits between the NY Giants and Jets football teams (who operate out of MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands) and Triple Five, the developers of the American Dream megamall complex nearby.
The football teams had objected to the builders’ plans to expand the site, fearing that it would cause traffic issues. The lawsuits were settled earlier this year, clearing the way for the developers to move forward with a plan to spend almost $2 billion on the project, which will include an amusement park and an indoor ski slope and water park.
“The Jets and Giants put real money into the game: $1.6 billion of private dollars,” said Sarlo, describing the investment in the stadium. “They need to be consulted. We cannot allow what happened with Triple Five, where we end up in this lawsuit that drags projects out. We cannot allow that to happen. The Giants and the Jets need to be at the table, they need to have a say in the matter as we develop the sports complex.”
Also critical to the conversation is Meadowlands Racetrack Chairman Jeff Gural, who built the ractrack with the ability to add gambling within six months if it is approved in the region. That would likely be the first site for legal gambling in the Meadowlands while other casinos and facilities were being built.
The neighbors
Also integral to the discussion are the local businesses throughout the Meadowlands region, according to the speakers.
“There are many successful businesses and residents who live in this area, who spend money in this area. Those are the people we need to make sure have a say in what goes on here,” said Sarlo. “We need to make sure our community, our residents, our surrounding business owners are protected when you build large-scale developments like this.”
Caride agreed. “We have to make sure that when we open up the Meadowlands, when we start moving forward, we don’t forget the surrounding towns. Because they are vital. They’re going to provide the extra hotel rooms that we’re going to need, they’re going to provide the restaurants, the shopping areas.”
Noting that the vision plan includes a large new convention center and that Secaucus already has a thriving convention center, she said, “We have to look and see how [this plan is] going to impact our surrounding neighbors and to make sure it’s not going to have a negative impact on them.”
Meadowlands Chamber CEO Kirkos pointed out that the Secaucus convention center was very busy, but lost business every year as shows outgrew the 70,000 square foot facility.
“The components that we’re adding were meant to complement each other,” he said. “I don’t just want a convention center. I want the gaming with the convention center with the people mover with the parking, and add that to the existing infrastructure and you have potentially the world’s finest multi-venue sports entertainment complex. That was the theory.”
Moving forward
The Meadowlands is the not the only area up for consideration as a possible site for legal gambling in North Jersey – which raised some discussion among the speakers. The designers of the vision plan insisted that the Meadowlands region, with its 18 lanes of vehicular traffic, is ideal for development and should be the sole gaming destination in the region.
Sarlo and Caride disagreed, suggesting that the state should consider approving two casino licenses: one for the Meadowlands and the other for the Jersey City waterfront.
Also debated were the next steps in getting gambling approved. “We could make this happen with the right amount of support from legislators across the state of New Jersey,” said Sarlo.
Schaer, on the other hand, stated that “We are a state known as a strong governor state. There is more power in the executive office than there is in the 120 member legislature.”
“The legislature will come together on this issue, I believe,” he continued. “But we need the governor to come on board as well. Whereas we can contemplate and legislate and do everything else in the world over months and months and months, with just his red pen he can squash the plans. And indeed and unfortunately that’s essentially what’s happened so far.”
“Before politics must come policy. And the opportunity to develop this area in terms of job creation, in terms of tax revenue, in terms of propelling this region further is fundamental and necessary,” Schaer concluded. “Capitalism is a wonderful form of government, a wonderful economic system. We need to let capitalism do what it does very best and not hold it back but rather let it use its market forces to develop.”
Art Schwartz may be reached at arts@hudsonreporter.com.