From the late 19th century through the Eisenhower administration, “A.C.” was the Northeast’s summer playground of choice. But by the ’60s, the once-vibrant beachfront became an impoverished urban wasteland where only the elderly visited in search of a little sun and nostalgia, but instead found hypodermic needles in the sand and a hopefully-not-too-violent mugging. Then by the mid-’70s the adult entertainment of gambling came to town and helped revitalize the beachfront. New casinos were built - with accompanying restaurants and T-shirt shops, and the employment they provide coming along for the ride - and the mess that urban planning forgot steadily crept further and further away from the boardwalk. Like any gaming Mecca, the AARP was well-represented, but members of the less-wrinkly set are also found. It seemed like A.C. was doing alright.

But now, I fear, the City on the Atlantic might have fallen in with a bad crowd. The jerk crowd. The crowd that knows cigarettes are bad, therefore no one in a zillion-foot radius should be able to burn any tobacco leaves of any kind. Recently, the Atlantic City council passed a resolution banning smoking on all gaming room floors. This is not just the tobacco apartheid we’ve all learned to live with - and, in some instances, thrive in - but outright banishment. So, in their wisdom, the A.C. authorities will still distribute alcoholic beverages with abandon to elderly widows as they shake hands with the brightly-colored one-armed robots that feed on social security checks, but they will not allow those same adults to smoke a cigarette or cigar while they donate their grandkids’ inheritance to the mafia. This seemingly random discrimination of vice is an all-too common refrain we hear sung throughout the nation. And in these days of increased gaming competition from Indian reservations and others, should A.C. really be toying with alienating cigar-smoking adults who have a plethora of easily-accessible gaming destinations at hand? I just hope Atlantic City knows what it’s getting itself into.