Atlantic City Weekly

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The 2nd Annual Atlantic City Air Show, an event that could bring the biggest crowd Atlantic City has ever had, will be held on Wednesday, August 18, from 10am-4:30pm, on Atlantic City's beachfront. The focal point of the show will be at Florida Avenue and the Boardwalk, in front of the Peter Max mural. The feature of the show will be the U.S Air Force Thunderbirds, who will be the closing act, flying around 2:30pm. It is an all-military air show with a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter showing how they pick up someone in the ocean who is in distress. The variety of the aircraft and the skill of their pilots and crews is something to behold.

Last year's show drew nearly 250,000 and with word of the show's quality spreading throughout New Jersey and surrounding states, the show is expected to bring close to a half-million spectators to Atlantic City. The show may be seen from Brigantine to Ocean City. The main action will be in front of the Boardwalk Hall. With the wide beach that has just been installed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, there is ample room to hold one million people on our beaches.

The Atlantic City Regional Chamber of Commerce is the primary sponsor of the air show with the Borgata Casino Hotel Spa providing rooms for the pilots, crew and the maintenance staff. Borgata was the primary sponsor last year and is responsible for bringing the first air show to Atlantic City's beach front, even though they are located in the marina section of the city. The cost of putting on the show is over $150,000 which was raised by the Atlantic City Regional Chamber of Commerce's members and staff, under the guidance and direction of their president Joe Kelly. They are to be commended for doing whatever is necessary to put on this marvelous event.

WOND-AM 1400 will once again be broadcasting the Atlantic City Air Show with commentary by Howdy McCann and yours truly about the planes, the direction to look for them, what they will do and other interesting facts about the show. You are invited to bring your transistor radios to the beach with you to listen as we give local insight to the air show, interview various noted people in attendance and those involved with putting on the show, including the pilots flying the planes. This proved to be a helpful way for the spectators to better enjoy the air show, last year.

Future Air Shows

In order to make this an annual event in the future, it is my humble opinion that this event should be sponsored by the Atlantic City Convention and Visitor's Authority in concert with the Atlantic City Regional Chamber of Commerce. It is my understanding that the ACCVA's responsibility is the promotion of various types of shows and events in Atlantic City that will bring visitors to stay in our hotels, dine in our restaurants, enjoy the entertainment venues and shop in our retail establishments. The ACCVA spends money to do so. They bring many shows that have far fewer attendees than what this air show will bring to the city and could bring if it was properly promoted and enhanced.

It must also be noted that this event is held mid week, when everyone seeks out more business, even in the summer. The Atlantic City Air Show, with the proper production folks operating it, could be - at the minimum - a two-day event and possibly spread to three days. It could bring in allied industries into our Convention Center. It could bring in top-flight entertainment to take advantage of the crowds drawn during the day and keep 10 to 13,000 for a major star performing in the Boardwalk Hall. Alternatively, the city's retail units could be brought together to sponsor a major star presentation on the beach that would keep hundreds of thousands in town for a free beach concert on the night before or the evening of the air show. These folks would bring a tremendous number of dollars to the city. It would be much more than our merchants would have believed possible for a mid-week summer night.

Last year's air show brought the equivalent of a Saturday night of business, on a Wednesday night, to the Boardwalk merchants. This was without any planning or anyone being aware of the number of people who would turn out for a free air show on the Atlantic City beachfront. Just think of the excitement and magnitude of having a free air show during the day and a beach concert during the evening. Just think of the media coverage on television, radio, newspapers and magazines that would result and bring future visitors to be a part of this swinging community. Gov. McGreevey, this is the type of event that would let the world know that the Jersey Shore is alive with lots of activity for everyone.

AC's Two New Ordinances

Atlantic City's City Council introduced two new ordinances on first reading yesterday that are sure to be controversial. The first, sponsored by 5th Ward Councilman Dennis Mason, reads as follows: An ordinance establishing Pacific Avenue as a one-way street from Albany Avenue to New Hampshire Avenue, flowing eastbound, and amending the traffic pattern on Atlantic Avenue to allow three lanes westbound and two lands eastbound. According to Director of Public Works Michael Scott, the city's administration has made an agreement with the Churchill Organization to do a study on items that could immediately affect Pacific Avenue's traffic flow. A long-range study is being done by the Shore DePaloma Organization. The New Jersey Department of Transportation had studied the Pacific Avenue situation and came up with six alternative plans. They were introduced to the community, but none of them garnered the favor of the public or the city's council or administration. There seemed to be little interest in this situation over the past year.

Since this is being written before Wednesday's meeting, I can't report on how city council voted on the first reading of Ordinance 14-J, the one-way street ordinance. If approved, it will be up for public opinion and a final vote in two weeks. I can tell you that the jitney drivers, taxi operators, Pacific Avenue retail merchants and members of the police department do not favor a one-way Pacific Avenue and they will battle against it.

The second is an ordinance to re-establish horses/ponies on the beaches of the City of Atlantic City." Years ago, there were horses and ponies on the beach. But they were eliminated because of the horse droppings. Today horses are fitted with diapers and those who want to bring horses back to the beach say this eliminates that problem. The horses and ponies would only be permitted to use the beach from October 1 through May 30. There are still those who do not want to see these animals on the beach. It will be interesting to see how the vote in city council goes on this issue. What do you think about these two ordinances?

Pinky's Corner airs Monday through Friday from 4 to 6pm on News Talk WOND-AM 1400. His TV show, WMGM Presents Pinky, airs Saturday at 7:30pm on TV40. Pinky's e-mail address is: pinkyscrnr@aol.com.