“Tonight is proof that the modern Democratic Party has lost its mind,” Ciattarelli said on X shortly after Mamdani locked up the Democratic line, making him a clear favorite heading into November’s general election.
“To all the residents and business owners of New York City who don’t want a socialist, defund the police, antisemitic mayor representing them, I encourage you to move to New Jersey,” he added.
“When I win the governorship in 4+ months, we’re going to transform NJ into a beacon of commonsense, affordability, economic opportunity, and law and order,” boasted Ciatterelli, who is running to replace term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy.
Republican New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli is using socialist Zohran Mamdani’s upset in the Big Apple’s Democratic mayoral primary to convince New Yorkers to cross the Hudson River and move to the Garden State.Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Post The President Trump-endorsed pol continued Wednesday to use Mamdani’s far-left agenda as a means to score points with Garden State voters, writing on X that if elected governor he’ll “be proactive in protecting our state from the lawlessness and chaos that will ensue if @ZohranKMamdani becomes NYC’s next Mayor.”
Ciattarelli wasted little time after Mamdani locked up the Democratic primary Tuesday to rip the Democratic Party for supporting a socialist.Jack Ciattarelli/ X
New Jersey saw its population increase by 2.3% to 9.5 million from April 2020 through last December, according to the U.S. Census Bureau — with more than 75,000 New Yorkers moving to Jersey post-pandemic from 2021 to 2022.
That’s evident as retail vacancies in West Palm Beach are virtually nonexistent this year, with occupancy rates approaching record highs, a trajectory nearly a decade in the making, according to Ken Himmel, the president of Related Ross.
Himmel attributed this demand to the “deliberate and sustained migration of high-net-worth individuals, financial executives, and tech leaders to South Florida” since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
“With nearly 90,000 new residents added to Palm Beach County in a few years, the city’s evolution from seasonal resort town to year-round city has been swift and strategic,” Himmel said.
The state’s dynamic economy, growing population and favorable tax environment make investing in commercial real estate in the Sunshine State highly profitable, according to commercial and industrial real estate brokerage Steinbauer Associates, Inc.
Retailers are flocking to Florida, as indicated by retail vacancies in West Palm Beach being virtually nonexistent this year. Solarisys – stock.adobe.com
Florida is a state with a dynamic economy, growing population and favorable tax environment.Thomas Barrat – stock.adobe.com
CityPlace, a neighborhood in West Palm Beach, is expanding by over 125,000 square feet with new retail brands such as Equinox, clothing brands such as Alo and Reformation, high-end makeup retailers like Bluemercury and home retail shops like Crate & Barrel.
“As top investment firms and institutions open offices nearby, they bring with them a highly educated and well-compensated population seeking elevated lifestyle experiences,” Himmel said. “That demand is being met by integrated, mixed-use developments like CityPlace, which combines office, residential, and commercial in a highly walkable district that has created built-in foot traffic and a steady flow of demand helping push vacancy rates below 3%, even as new square footage comes online.”
Home retail shops like Crate & Barrel will be added to CityPlace as well.jetcityimage – stock.adobe.com
Himmel said developers are rapidly working to meet demand.
“As financial services and innovation hubs take root in the city, retail is rising in parallel and fueling a self-sustaining cycle of growth and demand that continues to accelerate,” he said.
According to Ken Himmel, the president of Related Ross, “as financial services and innovation hubs take root in the city, retail is rising in parallel and fueling a self-sustaining cycle of growth and demand that continues to accelerate.”JHVEPhoto – stock.adobe.com
Kelly Lyles of KL International Realty has also witnessed an uptick in retailers relocating to Florida.
“With companies like Foot Locker relocating from NYC to St. Petersburg, many retailers are looking to increase their footprint throughout the Sunshine State,” Lyles said, adding that some companies that already have a significant Florida presence in the state are also looking to expand. Publix, for instance, is planning to open 50,000 square-foot supermarket in Panama City Beach.
“Florida is a diverse state with a growing population and has always been a place where people looked to relocate. However, nowadays, low taxes and lower cost of living are driving both consumers and retailers here,” Lyles said.
Broadway was singing a different showtune this week.
Luck be a lady… somewhere else!
Many of the theater’s powerful unions, landlords, trade organizations and ally businesses a-five-six-seven-hate Jay-Z, Caesars Entertainment and SL Green Realty’s bad, bad, bad bid to plop a casino in Times Square.
Broadway workers protested the bid for a casino to be built right in the middle of Times Square.Billy Tompkins/ZUMA / SplashNews.com
In the very same building that’s home to family-friendly “The Lion King,” 1515 Broadway, blackjack beckons.
One block away from “Hamilton,” drunk tourists losing all of their Benjamins.
Broadway feels such intense loathing toward Beyonce’s husband’s plan for Caesars Palace Times Square that, like the hippies of “Hair,” the pros staged a rally Thursday by the red steps ahead of Friday’s deadline for proposals.
They were practically singing “One Day More” out there.
“This casino’s developers don’t care about improving this neighborhood,” Broadway League prez Jean Valjean, I mean, Jason Laks said. “A casino in the heart of Times Square would only set this area back.”
Do you hear the people sing?
Eight bids are competing for three gambling licenses around the metro area — from near the UN (just what foreign dignitaries need!) all the way up to Yonkers.
Caesars Palace Times Square would make its home at 1515 Broadway.A Better Times Square
I’m not much of a protester.
What do I want? A chair! When do I want it? Now!
But I sit in solidarity with Broadway. They’re dead right. The last thing the Crossroads of the World needs is poker tables, slot machines and the inevitable filth and riffraff that cling to them like saran wrap.
The theater industry’s chief beef, however, is a financial one.
“A casino can go anywhere,” Laks said. “Broadway can only be here.”
Show people insist that a shiny new gambling den would dangerously compete with their productions, which are only just getting back to some semblance of pre-pandemic normalcy.
Jay-Z is one of the forces behind the Times Square casino bid.Getty Images
Gaming establishments are designed to keep customers inside them so they can spend all their money on the premises — at proprietary hotels, bars, restaurants and entertainments.
Not at Joe Allen. Not at Hurley’s. Not at Un Deux Trois. Only at Caesars.
Once inside, the buildings tend to be labyrinthine and challenging to make your way out of.
Intentionally.
Those sneaks use psychological tricks such as dim lighting and windowless rooms to make you lose track of time.
In short, the people who run casinos don’t really want you to scurry off to see “Aladdin.”
Caesars says: Au contraire. Our business will be a boon to Broadway. We’ll buy up thousands of tickets.
That’s funny as “The Book of Mormon.” How does it benefit Caesars to send customers to a 2 ½-hour musical at 8 p.m.?
It doesn’t. That’s just lip service to get the heavyweight Broadway League and Shubert Organization onboard.
What of Las Vegas? They have shows, too, you say? Yes, Sin City does.
But it’s a different animal. You enter them from the casino floor. And they are nearly all 90 minutes long — purpose-built to get you back to the cards and chips ASAP.
Twenty Broadway musicals currently are more than two hours and have an intermission.
By the way, Broadway shows not called “Mamma Mia!,” almost always flop hard in Vegas.
While Las Vegas has shows, most are 90 minutes and entered from the casino floor.A Better Times Square
Here’s my issue. Times Square is already a Circus, Circus. The area has been especially disgusting and unruly since 2020, even if stronger policing has helped in recent months.
The city’s imbecilic moves over the years to turn much of it into a car-free pedestrian plaza has already provided ample opportunity for the homeless to sleep on the ground and drug dealers with a constant supply impaired loiterers.
So, let’s add gambling to that toxic mix.
Nobody with a brain really believes that a casino would improve Times Square.
Just like no one really believed that legalizing pot would be a consequence-free moneymaker for the state.
