The art of the deal
Turning tables in Atlantic City
Dear John: If you want to save Atlantic City, we have an easy, flawless solution. We offered it to the government and chamber of commerce, but they never got back to us.
There is no way to save AC via gambling. It’s gone global, and many other states have now legalized casinos.
Our solution: Turn over many of the broke hotels to artists and musicians trying to escape New York City but who have nowhere to go, for use as artist housing and exhibition/performance space. Artists and musicians always fix blighted areas easily, because we are hip and everyone wants to go where we go.
Gentrification is always created by us making blighted areas “cool.”
And let the artists decorate and paint the Boardwalk, etc.
And now tell the world your nickname is “ARTlantic City” — or call it “ART CITY” for short. U.G.
Dear U.G.: I like it. We’ll put all the poets on the 20th floor of the closed Taj Mahal and the country songwriters on the 12th.
Painters could have the sixth floor of the old Atlantic Club. And the Showboat could be the home of the rockers. But we’d want to keep them separate from the rappers, who’ll get the old Trump Plaza.
But I’m not sure there are enough artists and musicians in the world to fill all the empty space created by casino failures in Atlantic City.
Besides, the sort of gentrification of which you speak has to come organically. The second New Jersey tries to orchestrate something like this, it’s bound to fail.
Maybe Springsteen can do for Art City what he did for Asbury Park. But the guy is pretty busy.
Dear John: You missed an opportunity in your column about repairing cars.
The negative pole of a battery is under a cover because we are not supposed to use it to jump a car.
We use the frame of the car for the negative contact.
Batteries that are too weak to start a car can explode (like a small grenade) if sparks are near the battery due to explosive gas buildup. The trick is to move the negative contact away from the battery.
Google how to jump-start a car, and any reputable article will tell you the negative contact for the dead car is the bare frame or engine block or some other bare metal surface.
Go to dummies.com/homegarden/car-repair/how-tojump-start-a-car/
The cover is a significant safety feature. Removing it to jump-start the car is dangerous ... that’s why it was there. W.H.
Dear W.H.: Thanks. I’ve seen that done. But the reader was just complaining about car designs in general and wasn’t asking me how to fix problems.
And that’s good. Because what I don’t know about fixing autos would fill Yankee Stadium to standing room.
What I do know is how to handle auto dealers. Like I said, complain in front of prospective customers. And when your car breaks down on the road or doesn’t start, call AAA.