Arrawanna Allen, 85, of La Quinta, CA, passed away peacefully and gracefully on October 15, 2022, after a lengthy illness, surrounded by her loving family. Arrawanna Allen Arrawanna was born in Rochester, NY, to Charles A. & Eunice (nee Simpson) Lawson, on August 16, 1937. Arrawanna was raised, along with her two siblings by her beloved paternal aunt (adoptive mother) Sarah Gohagen (nee Lawson) in Chicago, IL, Pittsburgh, PA, and Louisville, KY. Arrawanna relocated to Atlantic City, NJ, with her children in 1974, and retired to sunny La Quinta, CA in 2016. While residing in Louisville, Arr ..read more

This article was written by Michael Suleiman, chairman of the Atlantic County Democratic Committee. To this day, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 stands as one of the most significant legislative achievements in American history. After a century of Jim Crow, and decades of Southern Democrats blocking civil rights legislation in the Senate, people of color finally had equal access to the ballot. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court’s ill-thought-out Shelby decision significantly weakened the Act, giving states like Georgia and Wisconsin the ability to purge voter rolls and enact abominable voter suppr ..read more

This article was written by Atlantic City’s Second Ward Councilwoman LaToya Dunston, Sixth Ward Councilman Jesse Kurtz and At-Large Councilman Bruce Weekes. Kurtz was elected as a Republican, while Dunston and Weekes were elected as Democrats. The three are supporters of a “Yes” vote on an upcoming ballot question that proposes removing political party labels from candidates on the ballot. Thousands of Atlantic City voters signed a petition earlier this year that successfully places a referendum question on the ballot this November, which asks voters if we want to hold regular non-partisan mun ..read more

Atlantic City’s Bangladeshi community is one of the largest minority groups in the city with a significant voice in local politics. Since former Mayor Don Guardian in 2013 attributed his surprise election in part to a door-to-door strategy that connected him with the Bangladeshi community, other politicians have made an effort to attend the group’s events and meet with community leaders. Abdul Rafique, working at the Bangladesh Community Center on Fairmount Avenue during one of the center’s weekly food distributions, said that voting matters to him and his family. He arrived in New York in 199 ..read more

Baltic Ave Canal. The city is seeking bidders for the second phase of the Baltic Avenue drainage canal project. This phase will see the pump station built out at Atlantis Ave. Bids are due on Sept. 20. Hmmm, Bader Field activity… Speaking of the Baltic Ave canal — the engineers that did the work on phase one of that project, Remington & Vernick, just recently won a contract to prepare a remedial action workplan for Bader Field. Donut Update. The Lower Chelsea “coming soon” Drip N Scoop project finally got some good news: $380,000 in loans from the city, backed by HUD, to put toward the tot ..read more

Hundreds of Atlantic City kids this year got their first ever taste of city-run summer camps. Now the city is looking to make sure it can replicate the experience next year as well as expand its recreation services to seniors and other underserved residents. Years of financial difficulties and, more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic meant that Atlantic City was unable to staff a recreation department. This spring, however, the city began hiring to build out its youth services, senior services and multicultural offices. Mayor Marty Small said this had been a passion of his and he had been determi ..read more

Three new retail cannabis dispensaries and one 125,000-foot cannabis growing facility are seeking permission to open in Atlantic City. The dispensaries are looking to occupy existing buildings that were previously a soup kitchen, a check-cashing location and a video rental store, while the growing facility would be a newly-constructed building covering most of a city block. The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, the state body that oversees planning in Atlantic City’s tourism and business districts, will hold a public hearing on Sept. 15 to discuss the plans (an earlier hearing on Aug ..read more

Endicott Emergency. Atlantic City issued a “repair, occupy and/or demolish” notice to 209 S Tennessee Ave, an unoccupied former rooming house on the beach block. A hearing on the property was scheduled for July 20, but the outcome was unknown and officials at City Hall did not respond to questions about the property. Wind Power. The city granted final site plan approval to Orsted Wind Power North America to build its Atlantic City operations and maintenance facility at 600-700 N Delaware Ave, in the Inlet. There’s a housing crisis. A city-owned property at 618 Caspian Ave was transferred to a ..read more

The vacant commercial-plus-residential space at 4400 Ventnor Ave, between Bartram and Aberdeen Aves has been tempting us for several years with its “coming soon” signs for a Drip ‘n’ Scoop location. But perhaps it will become less vacant some time soon? The owner, under the business name 4400 Investments, is Robert Idell and family, which owns Drip ‘n’ Scoop and other Ocean City restaurants. When we last checked in with them two years ago this summer, they were getting started on construction for the Somers Point Drip ‘n’ Scoop location but said they were battling funding issues and COVID-19-r ..read more

Work to replace the bulkhead along Sunset Ave in Lower Chelsea may start soon, Councilman Jesse Kurtz said in a recent email. The bulkhead replacement project has been “coming soon” since funding was secured at the end of 2019, only for it to  become mired in COVID-19-related supply-chain problems.  Two weeks ago fencing was installed suddenly on Sunset Avenue between Kingston and Richmond Aves, impeding traffic flow and surprising residents. Kurtz, in an email to residents, said the fencing was to prepare for the new bulkhead construction. Partial materials for the project arrived e ..read more