A.C.'s future is anyone's guess. And I mean anyone's. On Monday, the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority launched a weird website - www.revitalizeAC.com - asking for random suggestions on what to put in the master plan for America's rusty playground.
"There is a widely held perception that Atlantic City is distressed," read one survey question. "Do you agree?"
Selling sex, but stumbling
I've read almost everything written about the identity crisis but still have no clue what A.C. or its minders want the town to be. Selling sex - or stumbling while trying - is about the only thing that lands the resort headlines now that Pennsylvania is crawling with convenience casinos and the feds are warming to legalized Internet gambling.
The Borgata still draws pro athletes and Jersey Shore cast members, but it had to settle a lawsuit from "Babes" outraged by its on-the-job weigh-ins and obsession with skin.
Last summer, celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred flew into town to join a case representing veteran cocktail servers Resorts had fired for looking flabby in flapper dresses. Nothing says desperation quite like a business relaunching in the image of a TV show, as Resorts did with HBO's Boardwalk Empire.
So what to make of the arrival of Scores, home of Howard Stern's favorite eye candy?
The gentleman's club chain pledges a $3 million "richly furnished, first-class" facility, albeit one peddling less of a show, not more. Only Atlantic City could botch a formula as proven as stripping.
By law, these casino "entertainers" can't offer lucrative lap dances. "Performances" end not in full nudity, but with pasties. Customers may drink but not eat, gawk but not grope.
