ATLANTIC CITY — Mayoral candidate Jimmy Whitehead unveiled an ambitious post-coronavirus economic recovery plan Monday, saying the seaside resort needs to shift from a reliance on casino gaming and start creating high-paying tech jobs for residents.
Whitehead’s $5 billion “Phoenix” plan is centered on transforming Atlantic City into a national cyber hub, with an emphasis on training and security. The plan also includes lofty projects such as a cruise ship terminal in the South Inlet, a Legoland resort at Bader Field, a multischool university district in the Chelsea neighborhood and a Baltimore Harbor-style mixed-use waterfront development along Fairmount Avenue.
“We are exposing our economic plan for Atlantic City that would have a positive impact on all Atlantic County and New Jersey in general,” Whitehead said Monday from his campaign headquarters on Atlantic Avenue.
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The Phoenix plan relies on private investment. Whitehead said interest in Atlantic City’s federal Opportunity Zones will entice developers and large-scale projects. A Washington, D.C. native and Navy veteran, Whitehead said he would leverage his experience and relationships in the nation’s capital to enhance Atlantic City’s attractiveness to potential investors.
“Attributes such as integrity, honesty, loyalty, accountability and transparency are the needed virtues that attract sophisticated private investment, and it does not exist today in City Hall,” he said. “Atlantic City unequivocally needs a post-COVID-19 thorough cleansing of City Hall. Period.”
Additionally, Whitehead called on Gov. Phil Murphy to remove Atlantic City from state control and allow the city to serve as a recreational cannabis pilot with a portion of the proceeds from sales going toward reducing property taxes, public safety, education, youth recreation and foreclosure/eviction prevention.
“The goal is to offer Atlantic City homeowners a four-year, zero-property-tax holiday,” Whitehead said of the cannabis pilot proposal.
Whitehead is challenging incumbent Mayor Marty Small Sr. and Pamela Thomas-Fields in the July 7 vote-by-mail primary for the Democratic nomination. In addition to Republican Thomas Forkin, the candidates are vying for a one-year unexpired term as mayor.
The 63-year-old Whitehead unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for mayor in 2017, when both he and Small lost to former Mayor Frank Gilliam Jr.
The Atlantic County Democratic Committee has awarded the party line to Small, while the Atlantic City Democratic Committee has endorsed Thomas-Fields.
The four declared mayoral candidates are seeking to serve the final year remaining on Gilliam’s original four-year term. Gilliam resigned in October after pleading guilty in federal court to wire fraud.
