\nATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) \u2013 Workers from the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort marched to Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian\u2019s office Monday to ask him to reconsider granting concessions that the struggling casino says are necessary to keep it open.<\/p>\n
\tBut the mayor said the city has already given Trump Entertainment Resorts two previous rounds of tax cuts in recent years and simply cannot afford a third. While promising to advocate on the casino\u2019s behalf with state officials \u2013 from whom the company is also seeking aid \u2013 Guardian warned the employees against letting themselves be \u201cused as pawns in this game.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIt shouldn\u2019t be a game,\u201d the mayor told a group of 10 representatives of the 100 workers who had marched to City Hall to deliver him a petition asking for help in keeping the Taj Mahal open. \u201cIt\u2019s your lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tAbout 1,200 employees signed the petition calling on the mayor and other elected officials \u201cto do everything possible\u201d to keep the casino open. Trump Entertainment has threatened to close the Taj Mahal \u2013 its lone remaining casino- in December if it doesn\u2019t get a $175 million package of aid from the Atlantic City and state governments. The company has asked the city to drastically reduce its property tax assessments.<\/p>\n
\tGuardian noted the city had already given the company tax breaks, lowering its assessments to $175 million and $40 million.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cAnd then they stopped paying their taxes,\u201d he said. \u201cThey owe us $20 million. They came for tax (help). We gave them what they wanted, and they\u2019re back at the trough again. I told the Trump people I can\u2019t do anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tCharlie Rando, the casino\u2019s vice president of operations, said 3,000 jobs hang in the balance.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cNo one wants to see another property close in Atlantic City, he told Guardian. \u201cWe need some help. We don\u2019t have time on our side.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tSo far this year, four of Atlantic City\u2019s 12 casinos have closed, putting 8,000 people out of work.<\/p>\n
\tTrump Entertainment Resorts will only commit to keeping the Taj Mahal open through the end of November.<\/p>\n
\tIt is pursuing a complicated plan to save the casino by transferring ownership to billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who would pump $100 million into it. But that investment is contingent on ending the union contract, which a bankruptcy court judge did on Oct. 17, as well as getting state officials to sign off on $175 million in assistance. New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney has already rejected that request.<\/p>\n
\tMichael McSweeney, a chef at the casino, told Guardian the Taj Mahal needs to be able to make a public proclamation that it will stay open for at least three months while it sorts out its finances in order to encourage customers not to abandon what they perceive as a dying casino.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWe will have lost an opportunity if we don\u2019t speak up now,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to be here six months from now saying we didn\u2019t speak up loudly enough to save the Taj.\u201d<\/p>\n
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ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) \u2013 Workers from the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort marched to Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian\u2019s office Monday to ask him to reconsider granting concessions that the struggling casino says are necessary to keep it open….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-casino-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8245\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}