The stunt planes flew fast and furious over the boardwalk last week, but official Atlantic City ought to pick up speed while eliminating some of the twists and turns.
Last month, we kind of trashed Revel Hotel and Casino owner Glenn Straub for blaming government red tape for his failure to reopen the $2.5 billion white elephant -- more accurately, glass-and-steel elephant -- at the northern end of the Atlantic City boardwalk.
We found out that, in several cases, Straub hadn't even applied for approvals he needed to take the site out of its virtual mothballs.
While Straub still doesn't inspire confidence as the most well-prepared or grounded owner for Revel, it sure looks like he's being yanked around by the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority.
On Thursday, a CRDA panel delayed a decision on granting the Florida developer's company, Polo North Country Club, approval for an amended site plan it had required. Since the 6.2-million-square-foot complex is less than five years old, approval should have been a minor event (once Straub got around to filing his paperwork) involving a traffic-pattern change for a rope-climbing venue that Straub wants to add.
Not enough information, the CRDA said Thursday, and now at least another month will go by before Revel can get its full OK from the body. Its land-use panel next meets on Sept. 8; the full board not until Sept. 20.
The CRDA isn't obligated to OK anything it doesn't understand or thinks will be harmful. At the same time, its failure to see this as emergent situation should annoy not only Straub, but anybody who wants to see Atlantic City come back from the brink.
Is it impossible for the CRDA, with 17 voting directors, to find at least nine who might get off their rear ends for a special meeting or two? With the impending closure of the Trump Taj Mahal, no casinos will be operating north of Resorts -- in effect, cutting the boardwalk casino district in half and further stressing small businesses that depend on the pedestrian traffic.
Straub is still to blame for frittering away most of the 2016 summer season by failing to get his act together. Nonetheless, it's not a sign of vitality for the Revel to reopen in October or November, after the shore's walking crowds have ebbed. With no set date for when it will open, the Revel can't even reliably book rooms for conventions or meetings.
Slow-motion official responses to crises are nothing new for Atlantic City, of course, but they've been limited mostly to the local government. In the past week, the solons of the cash-strapped city declared the latest round of bids to sell off Bader Field to be insufficient, and again balked at selling off the city water utility, another possible source of a revenue infusion.
Contrary to Straub's protests, the overall regulatory climate for casinos in New Jersey is not half bad compared with other states. But the CRDA, which includes movers and shakers from both inside and outside Atlantic City, ought to realize when it needs to shake a leg in terms of responsiveness.
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