♪♪

>> Atlantic City of my youth was

a very interesting town.

We didn't have gambling at that

time, but we had a bustling

tourism trade.

The boardwalk was filled.

Kentucky Avenue was in its

height, which was the mecca of

African-American entertainment.

And I didn't realize that I was

poor until I went to college.

>> In the '60s and '70s, if you

were fortunate enough to have a

government-related job --

police officer, schoolteacher,

something like that -- you were

okay.

You had year-round work.

But everybody else was in a

seasonal work.

People would work from May until

October and then live on

unemployment and whatever they

could scrape together during the

wintertime.

It was a very, very grim

existence for the average person

that worked in the city.

♪♪

>> Atlantic City had been a

really vibrant tourist community

at the turn of the century.

It really drew the emerging

middle class from urban areas up

and down the East Coast to come

to these marvelous, old hotels.

We had the first boardwalk in

the country.

So, this new idea of the middle

class having enough money to go

on vacation?

Atlantic City was really a part

of this new idea.

>> But in the 1950s, with the

popularization of air flight,

Americans began to go farther

and farther away on their summer

vacations.

So, taking a train or a short

drive to Atlantic City became

less and less popular.

In the 1970s, Atlantic City was

in decline, and it had been in a

steady, secular, long-term

decline for quite some time.

So, that was the economic era

where Atlantic City was looking

for something new, something to

bring the city back, something

exciting.

And the thought of casino gaming

came on the table.

>> The whole thought here was

that we have the ability to

bring millions more people into

the city if we had an

attraction, and gaming seemed to

be the easiest way to do that,

since it was only in Las Vegas

at the time.

The underlying reason was to

provide jobs that were

year-round, that had some

medical benefits, some

retirement, and a future.

The talk started when I was in

about fifth grade.

At the dinner table, the signs

in people's windows -- I think

it was the only time in my life

the entire community was focused

on one objective.

And it didn't matter who you

were.

Didn't matter whether you were

black on the north side or

Jewish from Margate or Italian

from Ducktown.

None of that mattered.

This area was absolutely

consumed with getting gaming to

Atlantic City.

>> If they would have a

referendum in Atlantic City now

for the poor people -- the

minorities, the elderly -- to

vote for gambling, they would

vote gambling down.

I remember taking a very active

position against casino gambling

because my belief was that

gambling was a corrosive social

activity, that it preyed

disproportionately upon poor

people.

And if everything continues the

same way as it is now, a year

from now, there's a significant

amount of people won't even be

here.

They will be moved out by the

rapid development of commercial

interests.

>> Atlantic City really

pioneered this idea of taking

a depressed, urban community and

trying to turn it around with

casino gaming.

There were four promises made to

the people of Atlantic City and

the people of New Jersey.

The first was tax revenue.

The second was good jobs.

The third was economic

development for the city as a

whole.

And the fourth was to lower

crime rates.

>> The night that the election

happened, I remember people

screaming in the streets, horns

beeping.

It was a huge celebration.

>> School was recessed.

City workers got time off.

And New Jersey's governor,

Brendan Byrne, signed the new

state law permitting the

gambling to go ahead.

>> The good feeling went on for

years after that.

>> Once, this was one of the

most famous resorts in the

world.

In recent years, it became a

slum of resorts.

But now the old place has been

rescued, and its future success

would seem to be guaranteed.