Atlantic City's Boardwalk Improvement group also known as big is taking additional steps to prevent homeless individuals from taking shelter underneath the boardwalk the announcement comes after a homeless individual died in a fire that started Under the Boardwalk back in April our T Goldberg got a tour of the preventive measures being taken in what's considered a homeless hotspot in the city in between the ocean Casino Resort and the ocean itself people experiencing homelessness in Atlantic City have looked for shelter Under the Boardwalk a new program called the boardwalk Improvement group or big is looking at ways to dissuade homeless people from staying there and enforce other laws affecting quality of life we know we have a problem the problems didn't happen overnight they're not going to be solved overnight but it's my job as mayor of the great city of Atlantic City to give them the necessary tools to succeed and we're doing that in a big way the city has already completed the physical rebuilding of the boardwalk in the inlet area as you can see around you as was announced this spring the state has now awarded an additional $6 million for the next phase of reconstruction the repairs include fencing but some areas Under the Boardwalk are still accessible including this spot near Central Pier arcade where a fire killed a homeless man earlier this year as part of big the boardwalk will have more police officers to patrol the area this summer we were proud to introduce our new tourism District unit deployment consisting of 45 full-time officers six sergeants and a captain in addition to this formidable team we have allocated another 12 to 14 full-time officers and two sergeants per day on overtime these officers are tasked with diligently enforcing a range of regulations another part of enforcement could be an ordinance that effectively bans homeless people from sleeping outside in public according to a recent Supreme Court ruling municipalities can have these kinds of laws on the books and it would be considered constitutional Atlantic City does not have an ordinance like this yet but Mayor Marty small says we could see one over the next few months let's just say arguably we put it on in August it passed the city council first reading we put it a second reading on in September and then at that passes then 20 days after I sign the ordinance which I'll sign right away um it becomes law we definitely try to get them before they get to that point Jared barns leads AC's Department of Health and Human Services he says the job of his team is to try and take care of people experiencing homelessness before police have to get involved we actually go out and we see hey look we see the the cops out the cops actually out here to do their job as far as enforce the laws we try to get we try to get to those individuals before they actually get to that point and get them the services that they need and if homeless people say they don't want help we'll come back to that same spot cuz no more than likely they're in the same uh spot every single day we'll keep going back to them like like the mayor State we we keep we stay on top of them we ask them every single day do you need assistance do you need do you need assistance and eventually a lot of times they break down and say hey look I do need assistance and they we'll start the process going the city estimates that 39 residents of AC are homeless but leaders say there's no estimate for the homeless people sent here via buses you don't see who's sending them you don't know who's sending them they just come and when we find out where they are you got people as far as California you had people from Canada like we can't control that all I can ask is my fellow leaders municipalities Nar stop using the great city of Atlantic City as your Dumping Ground Advocates have warned that ordinances Banning sleeping outside would essentially criminalize homelessness while leaders say laws are needed to protect locals tourists and people experiencing homelessness in Atlantic City I'm Ted Goldberg Goldberg NJ Spotlight News [Music]