Borgata Messenger

Borgata is the gem of Atlantic City, it's style and boutiques-esque shops and restaurants make it the number one month after month. Jobs there are highly sought after, and the turn around is fast for those not willing to be apart of this "little village". In Italian "Borgata" actually means "little village", and everywhere in their practice and policies you see employee only events that attempt to boost morale, like Christmas parties, 10 minutes on a slot machine for the 5 year reunion with prizes, and now their growth of the water club only helps.
However they are rated worst by Union 54 with treatment of employees in it's sector, and recently made one of the greener options of getting to work impossible. Recently they have blocked off the area that was once available for families, children, wives, girlfriends, and even just cabs to drop off employees before they punch the clock. While there are two adequate parking garages, a NJ transit bus stop, and a Jitney stop, there is no place for cars to drop off employees safely. Before the new ORANGE cones that take up one lane, and a shoulder of available drop off area. While cabs are aloud to sit on a shoulder a little further up on the opposite side, and run their engines polluting the air until it's their turn to pick up some tourists, people like me can't even say goodbye to my husband when I drop him off, and sit and wait for him for 3 minutes when I pick him up.
Last night I was asked to move, while my husband was just 100 feet away from my car, I pulled up to the security guard and asked, "What do they plan to do about this?"
"Don't Shoot the messenger." The security guard told me.
"Well is there a number I can call or a letter I can write?" I asked.
"Write a letter to Larry Mullen." He said with a laugh.
"Does Larry Mullen read letters?" I asked, and he said yes.

When my husband finally got in the car, he was threatened with a write up, for getting picked up, and said they would report us to the police.

I inquired “for what”, and he gave a little speech about traffic violations for stopping in the middle of the road. Normally there’s a shoulder, and 4 lanes across, but because of the cones, there’s now only 3 lanes, and no shoulder.

I thought this was a letter that the press should get first, and maybe something can be done.

Sunday's hurry

It’s the driving that gets me the most. It’s like I know they have 5 things to do at home before Monday morning, and they’re all in such a hurry to relax. In a hurry to get back to the hurry, and I’m just stuck in the traffic in between. It’s hard to avoid it, when there’s one road in and out of town.

That race to the bridge is always dotted with speeders getting invited to come back and visit Brigantine’s Municipal Court where there’s a mandatory donation according to how fast you were going. Some learn from the mistakes of
others, while everyone else goes to see the angry fish. Directly behind the judge are two very angry huge fish depicted in a beautiful glass tax-dollar-municipal-art. It’s an expensive donation they accept for your desire to go faster than everyone else, 200+.

When ever I give directions to the few and the proud that are invited to my helping farm oasis, I always add a few extra warnings against the desire to hurry up and relax. I never understand that if you have the money, and want to live in paradise, why not forsake the money, and just live in paradise, not drive back and forth every weekend for 3 months. The mentality of those that got, is they need “BOTH”.

I initially hadn’t intended this blog to be about tourist complaints, but it may be quite the sand covered soap box for all my adventures and complaints. Especially when turtles are the innocent harmed by this hurry up and relax.

This turtle was found on the south end 4x4 entrance going into the cove, an area where the speed limit is 15mph for a reason. This week alone I counted 3 on bayshore and Brigantine blvd. I saved one and nearly crashed my car on Brigantine BLVD. The traffic piled up behind me, and no one honked, which was pretty impressive. My counterpart saved on from behind Borgata the next evening.

I'm in the process of creating a petition to get more signs regarding turtles, and foxes. I will update with that as soon as it's available. However currently I'm working on a top secret government project concerning Atlantic City. Top secret stuff.

Recession hits the barrier island.

One of the many symptoms of high gas prices, is people not being able to visit their vacation homes as often as previous years. Recession hits paradise.
The signs are clear, they are tall uncut grasses and landscape lacking. They are houses for sale, and garbage cans over flowing, with trash blowing in the breeze. In the back bays I can see dilapidated docks falling apart, and bulkheads eaten away green with algae. We see this here just as everywhere.
However there are also some things I've been noticing that surprise me, it seems to me that there are more people down here for the day, than there was before. There seems to be more people on the beach, and there are more people living down here year round than I noticed last year.

I'll keep an eye out.