New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Christie interrupted his presidential campaigning in New Hampshire and returned to his home state on Jan. 26 to announce a solution for keeping Atlantic City out of bankruptcy: a state takeover, according to a Bloomberg News analysis today. The Christie plan, which the Democratic-controlled legislature must approve, sets a five-year horizon for restructuring the city’s $240 million in debts. “Bankruptcy is always a last resort,” Christie said. “That would not be good for the city of Atlantic City and not something we would want to engage in.” For Atlantic City’s 38,000 residents, the plan is almost certain to bring more pain. Closing the city’s $100 million budget gap will likely mean service cuts for residents and layoffs and benefit reductions for municipal workers. In addition to its fiscal woes, Atlantic City faces an existential question: how to reinvent a town whose main attraction, gambling, is no longer enough to sustain it.
