Climate change could shave off 3% of world growth over the next 30 years, according to a study from the Economist Intelligence Unit. Africa, South America and the Middle East are likely to be.
Is it really fair to the residents of Atlantic City to say their community is dying? After all, in the years leading up to the Great Recession and immediately following it, the city of Detroit’s future looked very bleak. Today, it seems to have a path forward.
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Atlantic City is facing entirely different problems. Detroit’s automobile industry simply evaporated through foreign investment and competition, while Atlantic City’s gambling industry was preyed upon by New Jersey’s neighboring states, New York and Pennsylvania.
Local gamblers were crossing state lines to gamble in Atlantic City, which only voted to compete with Las Vegas in the 1970s. Once big gambling proved its worth as an economic powerhouse, other states began opening up to the possibilities. Atlantic City’s revenues plummeted.
The Great Recession further deflated hopes for a revival of consumer travel to Absecon Island’s largest community.
For some people, that’s enough.
Atlantic City Is Unlike Las Vegas
Legend says that the mob built Las Vegas into a gambling mecca. But Atlantic City’s history has a reputation for organized crime, too. Neither city is proud of these connections, but where the mob is credited with success in Las Vegas, they don’t seem to have done much for Atlantic City.
On the other hand, Las Vegas benefited from several investment windfalls. When the federal government built Hoover Dam in the 1930s to create jobs and electricity, Lake Mead was formed as the country’s largest fresh water reservoir.
The impact of Lake Mead on Las Vegas’ growth cannot be overstated. Without a stable supply of water, there could be no large city in the Nevada desert. Although Lake Mead’s water levels have dropped in recent years, Las Vegas continues to thrive.
By contrast, Atlantic City didn’t lack for water. Water is the city’s biggest problem. The Absecon Island is a barrier island, made mostly of sand, and it’s gradually being washed away by rising sea levels.
The Army Corps of Engineers has built some infrastructure to protect high value property in Atlantic City from flooding but most of the city is vulnerable.
Las Vegas benefited from another round of federal investment in the 1950s and 1960s. When General Dwight D. Eisenhower saw how fast his armies moved across Germany’s Autobahn in the 1940s, he came back to America with a vision for a national civil defense highway system.
Congress began building the interstate highways in the 1950s and two of them (I-11 and I-15) meet in Las Vegas. Cross-country travelers flow through Las Vegas by the millions every year. Las Vegas is also surrounded by a few state and national parks, which attract many tourists.
To reach Atlantic City, visitors must leave the interstate highway system in Philadelphia and drive southeast toward the coast on a state highway. It’s the Atlantic City Expressway but it doesn’t act as a conduit for major traffic flow between other parts of the country.
Climate Change Threatens Both Cities but Las Vegas Has Better Chances
Solving the water supply problem for Las Vegas won’t be easy. It doesn’t help that the resorts in Las Vegas love to plant palm trees. Palm trees require an inordinate amount of water. But water reclamation technologies have come a long way over the past 30 years.
There’s low-cost technology available that literally sucks an endless supply of water out of the air. No matter how dry the desert may be, there is always a lot of water in the air above it. Condensing that water will one day be very simple and cost effective. And that’s just one proposed solution for cities in deserts around the world.
Atlantic City, on the other hand, is sinking into the ocean. And at the same time, the ocean is rising around it. Like New Orleans, Atlantic City’s soft foundation is absorbing more water and the island is sinking.
Sea walls won’t be enough to protect coastal cities. Wealthy cities may be able to build large dykes and powerful pumping stations. About one-third of the Netherlands consists of reclaimed land and the Dutch have been taking land back from the sea for centuries.
It’s not a question of whether we can save our coastal cities. It’s a question of whether it’s the most economic choice available. Climate scientists predict that hundreds of millions of people will move out of coastal cities around the world in the next 50 years.
Atlantic City’s Economy Reveals All That Is Wrong With Capitalism
If there’s one city anywhere on the planet that can serve as a poster child for the failures of both socialism and capitalism, it’s Atlantic City.
Few American cities have been forced to turn their economies over to the town government but that’s exactly what happened in Atlantic City. The area still has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. It has the highest mortgage default rate, and the city had to take ownership of failed casinos.
Now, while city fathers and state politicians argue about what will work best, Atlantic City has adopted a new plan to turn some of its abandoned properties into laboratories for climate science and server farms for high technology.
The majority of the city’s residents are low income workers like restaurant employees, casino employees, small business workers, etc. They don’t have a lot of money to spend. Many of their families fled to Atlantic City to escape the high rents of Philadelphia and New York City.
The billions of dollars that private industry invested in the casino economy didn’t pay off. Government-led initiatives have yet to prove themselves. Atlantic City’s residents don’t have the savings or wealth to rebuild their communities by themselves either.
The only truly successful casino in Atlantic City is the Borgata. It is often compared favorably to Las Vegas-style resorts. Pundits suggest that maybe other Atlantic City Casinos should build out their non-gambling assets to compete better with other regional casinos.
Atlantic City’s Competition Is Much Stronger
How Will Climate Change Affect The Economy
There is literally nothing else to compete with Las Vegas for tourism dollars in the desert. Yes, there is Reno, Nevada, but Reno stands in Las Vegas’ shadow.
Atlantic City’s woes began when neighboring states decided they wanted a piece of the action. What can Atlantic City possibly offer as a tourist destination that cannot be outdone in New York and Pennsylvania? Atlantic City’s boardwalk is the lesser of the two most famous boardwalks in the country.
It would be no joke for people to say, “I’ve been to Coney Island and Atlantic City is no Coney Island.”
Atlantic City’s one big asset is its beachfront. Philadelphia doesn’t sit on the ocean. The state of New York has dozens of beach resorts, so Atlantic City can’t stake its future on creating an oceanfront resort experience.
They’ll have to find another way to leverage their oceanfront view. What they have going for them is the fact that so much of New York’s waterfront has been built up that the state would find it hard to compete with a new, innovative industry.
Another option for Atlantic City to consider is developing a technology hub. Every major city in America is now trying to replicate what happened in Silicon Valley. Most people don’t realize that Silicon Valley was not the first major technology hub in America.
That honor goes to Dayton, Ohio, where much of the early aviation industry was born. And there was a time when the hottest jobs in the country could be found along the Miami River.
Detroit had its heyday, too, obviously. The automobile industry elevated the city into a major metropolis. Atlantic City could still find a budding industry that needs a home.
Conclusion
For the time being, Atlantic City isn’t going anywhere. Literally, the city is almost at a standstill. While new initiatives are developed, older parts of the economy are dying.
The city’s infrastructure isn’t adequately protected, but new investment by the state and federal government could change that. They could take a lesson from Disney World in Florida.
When Walt Disney wanted to build an underground complex for the 65,000-acre theme park, he had to settle for building a ground-level plant then building the theme park on top of that. You simply cannot dig too deep in most parts of Florida because of the high water table.
Climate Change Impact On Economy
The infrastructure of the future has already been designed. It just needs to be paid for. If Atlantic City can find the right industry, it has a good chance of becoming a true “city in the Atlantic” but a viable one.
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