ATLANTIC CITY - While the amusement-park sound of slot
machines filtered through Trump Plaza on Saturday, the men and women who staff
the casino put on their brave faces.
While they dealt cards, swept the gaming floor, or emptied
trash bins as usual, the crisis in this battered resort had deepened the night
before. Owners of Trump Plaza confirmed they plan to close the casino in
mid-September and will issue formal layoff notices Monday to about 1,600
employees.
"I'm not ready to believe it until I get that notice in
my hands, telling me it's time to look for another job," said slot
attendant Parimal Mehta, 57, of Egg Harbor Township, who has worked at Trump
Plaza for 22 years. "I can't even go there right now."
Mehta's hesitancy arises because he and his peers said they
had been told nothing by management. "We're completely in the dark,"
he said. "Nothing has officially come down to us."
On Friday, Trump Plaza joined Atlantic Club, Revel, and
Showboat as Atlantic City gambling halls that have either folded or are on the
brink. The closings and potential shutterings could leave just eight casinos
here by September, down from a dozen, and have occurred in such rapid
succession since January that even local politicians are struggling for words
to describe the shock.
"I can't even guarantee no one else will lose their
jobs, because I'd be lying," said a somber State Sen. Jim Whelan late
Friday, just hours after Trump Plaza notified him of the planned September
shutdown.
Just two days before, Aide Montero was at a rally to save
her job.
"Keep Showboat open! Keep Showboat open!" Montero,
dressed in a gold Showboat housekeeping uniform, chanted alongside hundreds of
fellow casino workers as they marched along the Boardwalk.
The event was organized by Unite Here Local 54, the union
that represents most casino employees, to protest the planned closing of the
Mardi Gras-themed Showboat on Aug. 31. At stake: 2,100 jobs.
With one casino already closed and three in danger of
closing, workers who helped build Atlantic City into a gaming powerhouse are
watching the place and their livelihoods sink.
The market shakeout, experts say, will have a crippling
impact on the local economy. The four gambling halls account for 8,900 jobs -
nearly a third of the current casino workforce. The trickle-down effect will be
devastating for Montero's family. Her 25-year-old daughter also works as a
Showboat housekeeper.
"I'm very scared," said Montero, 50, in her native
Spanish. She immigrated to Atlantic City from the Dominican Republic nine years
ago and makes $10 an hour plus tips, and cleans 16 rooms a day. "I wonder
how we're going to make it."
Montero lives in Pleasantville with her fiance, Curvis
Smith. Smith, 51, works in housekeeping for Bally's, delivering linen. Smith's
sister's twin sons handle security for Revel, which has filed for bankruptcy a
second time and could also close.
Chris Ireland, 55, of Northfield, has been a bartender at
Showboat for 27 years. He met his wife, Keisi, 33, a cocktail waitress there
for 14 years, on the job. They have a 9-year-old daughter, Cady.
"The prospect of me and my wife both losing our jobs is
horrible," Ireland said.
Experts say the city's transition from a gaming mecca to a
more diversified economy - while achievable - will take time and pose
difficulties in the process.
"It is rare that a monopoly can be sustained for an
extended period, and Atlantic City is no different than any other so-called
factory town," said Joel Naroff, of Naroff Economic Advisors Inc. in Bucks
County. "When the plant closes, so does the town."
Unlike most cities that depend largely on one industry,
Naroff said, Atlantic City has the beach to fall back on. "At least A.C.
has a chance to go forward," he said.
Parent company Caesars Entertainment Corp. confirmed last
week that it was receiving offers to purchase the Showboat, which could save it
from closure.
But that's a big maybe.
The Atlantic Club closed in mid-January, taking with it
1,700 jobs. Revel, which employs 3,500 full-time and part-time employees, has
threatened to close by Sept. 1 if it doesn't find a buyer.
"I've wondered whether I should go back" to the
Dominican Republic, Montero said. "There is not much money to make in
Atlantic City anymore."
Montero isn't the only one having second thoughts about the
resort.
New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Gov.
Christie confirmed last week that they were now "open to discussions"
to end Atlantic City's 36-year statewide gambling monopoly and allow casinos in
North Jersey.
Sweeney said a ballot question allowing state residents to
vote on the issue could happen as early as November 2015. A venture capitalist
announced last Wednesday that if the rules were changed, it wants to build a
$4.6 billion casino complex in Jersey City.
Gaming analysts predict that once the shakeout is complete,
the number of Atlantic City casinos will be seven or eight, with about 20,000
workers.
"Many workers have left the area and found jobs in the
newly opened casinos along the East Coast," said Michael Busler, a
professor of finance at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. "That may
be the best choice for these displaced workers."
It will be out of necessity if she leaves Atlantic City,
said Aracelly Mite, 52, who has dealt blackjack for half her life at Trump
Plaza.
"I have my kids here, and my home is here," said
Mite, of Pleasantville, as she stood behind an empty blackjack table just after
2 p.m. Saturday. As customers walked by, Mite smiled. "But to find a job,
I might have to move," she added.
The state is hoping to retrain and retain some. The New
Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development plans events from July 28
to Aug. 15 for displaced casino workers to match them with local employers.
Among the companies attending will be Comcast and Wawa.
During a conference call with reporters Thursday, Atlantic
City Mayor Don Guardian touted his city's efforts to be less dependent on
gambling revenue by going after midweek conventions and adding entertainment.
"The growing pains will diminish over time," he said.
Guardian declined to comment on Trump Plaza's closing until
there's an official statement, his spokesman said Saturday.
Unite Here Local 54 president Bob McDevitt also was putting
the best spin on an increasingly dire situation.
"The obituaries being written about A.C. are
overdramatic," he said in an interview earlier last week. By Saturday,
with Trump Plaza all over the news, McDevitt called the city's casino closures
an "impending catastrophe" and urged Trenton lawmakers to act
quickly.
"Atlantic City is the economic engine not only of South
Jersey, but also of the tourism industry for the entire state," McDevitt
said. "While this is a personal tragedy for every family involved, it is
also a crisis for the state."
There are now just under 32,000 Atlantic City casino
employees, down from a peak of 45,000 in 2006 - when the casinos had their best
year, generating $5.2 billion in gaming revenue.
The day after Caesars Entertainment announced Showboat's
closing, Showboat managers held a meeting in the casino's House of Blues Music
Hall and encouraged workers to attend job fairs for the new Harrah's Horseshoe
Casino in Baltimore and Harrah's Chester in Delaware County.
Ireland, the Showboat bartender, said management offered him
a job at the Baltimore property, but he wasn't interested.
"My roots are here," he said.
But Ireland knows that if he's laid off Sept. 1 he will have
to compete for whatever casino work is left, not just among former Showboat
workers - and now Trump Plaza refugees - but also with folks like Patty
Keefer-Davis, 57, a part-time stagehand.
Keefer-Davis, of Leeds Point, N.J., lost her job of 24 years
as a wardrobe stage technician at the Atlantic Club when it closed Jan. 13. The
property has sat dark ever since.
Regarding Showboat's impending close, and now Trump Plaza's,
Keefer-Davis said: "My first reaction [with each] was, where are all these
people going to go, because there's no jobs?"
To celebrate her 30 years at Trump Plaza, the place threw
Dorothy "Dot" Long, 60, a party on May 22. The casino had a big cake
for her and gave her a pin that said, "Thank you for your service."
On Saturday, Long, a cashier at the casino's restaurants,
felt hurt.
"I had to hear about it on the news like everyone
else," she said. "I really don't have a plan. At this point, I'm
ready to retire."
But Gloria Hoffmann of Egg Harbor Township, a Showboat
cocktail server for 23 of her 44 years, and a mother of three, said many aren't
that lucky.
After Labor Day, the casinos pare their seasonal workers and
hiring comes to a standstill.
"I think a lot of us will be homeless in six
months," Hoffmann said.
Source: Philly.com
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