Officials tackle Atlantic City's economic decline in summit

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (WPVI) -- Officials held another summit in Atlantic City to deal with the closing of four casinos this year.

"The first thing you do is stop the bleeding," said Gov. Chris Christie.

That was Gov. Christie's assessment after a second Atlantic City Summit with government, casino and labor leaders in order to formulate a plan to stop the city's financial decline.

Among the proposals: consolidating municipal services, public-private partnerships, school, pension and tax reforms, and an emergency manager to take over city operations.

"Some or all will be necessary if we are serious about fixing and bettering Atlantic City. The current model is completely and utterly remarkably unsustainable," said Gov. Christie.

With four casinos closing this year, over 8,000 people have lost their jobs. Tax revenues have plummeted while property taxes have skyrocketed over 50 percent in the last two years.

"Horrific effect on the everyday taxpayer and so this is what happens when you put all your eggs in one basket," said Linda Steele, property owner.

"It's easy for these politicians to get up there and say, 'I talk to this one, I talked to that one.' But you and I both know your bills are still coming in, you still got kids to feed," said Alma Johnson.

Gov. Christie says there's plenty of blame to go around for where Atlantic City finds itself today.

"Local authorities, county authorities, state authorities and the private sector all have made bad decisions over the course of time leading us to the situation we're in," he said.

Gov. Christie says it's time for everyone to come up with real solutions so as one official put it - Atlantic City doesn't turn into another Detroit.