Wednesday, February 9, 2005

Levinson Calls on CRDA to Rescind Funding for Camden Project

Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson called upon the Board of the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA) to rescind the $24 million grant it approved for a civic center project in Camden County. The original project is no longer considered viable.

According to Levinson, this project has been tainted in politics from its inception and was of dubious financial viability. "Given the fact that the original proposal for a minor league hockey team is no longer considered feasible, I urge the Board of the CRDA to rethink how these funds could be best used to benefit the citizens of New Jersey. These funds should not be just automatically reallocated to Camden County out of a sense of entitlement," Levinson said.

Levinson stated that he urged the CRDA to let responsibility and common sense supersede political concerns so that funding is used in a manner that ensures the long term health and competitiveness of our casino industry.

"Gaming and tourism generate billions of dollars in revenues to the state's economy," Levinson said. "But as the gaming industry continues to grow, it has a substantial impact on our roads and bridges which are seeing increasing levels of traffic and congestion. No one who lives and works in Atlantic County can deny that it is becoming difficult and inconvenient to travel around because of this growth. This is particularly true in our growth communities - Galloway, Egg Harbor and Hamilton Townships," Levinson noted. "Because of casino related growth combined with Pineland regulations, these communities are the most impacted. They are the ones that have had to contend with the consequences of this development through increased school taxes."

In lieu of maintaining a funding commitment to Camden County for a currently unspecified purpose, Levinson proposed that the funds be allocated to Atlantic County to address development related challenges. Levinson stated that Atlantic County has identified approximately $77 million dollars in transportation infrastructure needs.
"Our ability to have adequate funds for this purpose has been made more challenging due to the projected shortfall in the State Transportation Trust Fund," he added.

"Rather than frittering away scarce CRDA funds on projects of questionable merit, I would strongly urge that these funds be used to alleviate development related pressures by funding transportation related improvements and acquiring open space in our growth communities," Levinson said. "This way we all win - our residents, visitors and our tourism and gaming industry."

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