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This Just In

Atlantic City Convention Center to Reopen

HIL ANDERSON, SENIOR EDITOR

Atlantic City, NJ – The Atlantic City Convention Center will reopen the weekend of November 3-4 after the seaside city took the brunt of Hurricane Sandy.

Gary Musich, vice president of sales for the Atlantic City Convention and Visitors Authority (ACCVA), confirmed in an e-mail to Trade Show Executive that the center would be open and ACCVA employees would be back at their desks Monday.

The extent of any damage to the center was not known; however much of the city suffered storm damage and lost power.

The situation was dire enough that the New Jersey Education Association announced it was cancelling its November 7-8 NJEA Annual Convention for the first time in 158 years. Barbara Keshishian, president of the association, said the decision was made after considering the situation in the entire state rather than just Atlantic City.

“Because we are a statewide organization, and public schools across the state have been grappling with the impact of Sandy all week long, we have to consider the feasibility of holding this event in a broader context,” Keshishian said in the announcement. “Like Atlantic City, New Jersey’s school districts need time to recover and regroup from the devastation.”

“We concluded it was simply not advisable to try to have that many people on the roads and using public transportation while so many communities are struggling to restore power and basic services to their residents – including NJEA members,” Keshishian said, adding the event would return to Atlantic City in 2013.

The NJEA Annual Convention was expected to draw approximately 45,000 attendees. It was to be co-located with the New Jersey Retirees’ Education Association Annual Convention, which was also scrubbed.

The New Jersey State League of Municipalities (NJSLOM) said it would decide on November 5 if it would go ahead with its 97th Annual League Annual Conference at the convention center November 13-16. The event was expected to draw about 20,000 attendees.

“Based on our first-hand reports from Atlantic City, the recovery of the city and its hospitality industry is proceeding,” Executive Director William Dressel said in an October 31 letter to Mayor Lorenzo Langford.

Reach Gary Musich at (609) 449-7110 or gmusich@accva.com; Barbara Keshishian at 609-599-4561 or bkeshishian@njea.org; NJEA Convention Coordinator Janet Royal at 609-599-4561, x232 or jroyal@njea.org; William Dressel at (609) 695-3481, x122 or bdressel@njslom.com

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