Atlantic City mayor faces big job in short term

Lorenzo Langford, a former casino dealer who served as mayor from 2002 to 2005, is back in City Hall for at least the next year.

He took office this week amid a painful financial climate that has already seen hundreds of casino workers laid off, gamblers flee to slots parlors in Pennsylvania and New York, and revenues shrink in a city that had grown accustomed to boom times.

During a swearing-in ceremony Thursday, Langford promised the city's 11 casinos that City Hall is ready to work with them, not against them.

"Our role is to convey the message that we are open for business, and to remove whatever governmental obstacles there might have been in place," he said in an interview after the ceremony. "The market conditions will determine the future of the casino industry."

In his speech, Langford acknowledged the current hard times but urged residents to have faith in the city's resiliency.

"As bleak as it may look on the local economy with the gaming industry, I know we're going to be all right. Atlantic City is going to soar," he said.

So far this year, MGM Mirage Inc. indefinitely shelved its $5 billion casino-hotel project in the marina district that would have become Atlantic City's largest resort, and Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. has done likewise with its $2 billion casino-hotel plan for the Boardwalk where the Sands Casino Hotel once stood.

Casino revenues are down 6.6 percent over the first 10 months of the year, and this will be the second year in a row that revenues have declined in Atlantic City, after 28 years of consecutive increases.

Joe Corbo, president of the Casino Association of New Jersey, the industry's trade group, said the city's 11 casinos need a steady hand now more than ever.