Currents
July 2016
3
Lady Luck
A retired New York City sludge
tanker Tuesday got a new name
and a date to sink to its watery
fate as Pompano Beach's newest
undersea attraction.
With the crack of a champagne bottle, the “Newtown
Creek”, recently decommissioned
from serving New Yorkers,
became "Lady Luck" on Tuesday.
It will be a first-of-its-kind artificial reef staged as an underwater casino, complete with casinothemed sculptures such as a lifesized shark serving as a card
dealer.
It's all going down at 2 p.m.,
July 23, about a mile east of Hillsboro Inlet.
Right now, the 324-foot-long,
2,557-ton tanker is undergoing
preparations for its new life that
Pompano Beach hopes will lure
sea life and big-spending divers
interested in exploring its 16
staterooms. The city contributed
$312,000 that Isle Casino
matched for the cost of refurbishing, cleaning and transporting
the tanker for its next chapter.
An octopus dealing craps and
a card table with seats for divers
will be among the backdrops
that will invite divers to snap an
underwater selfie aboard Lady
Luck.
Public/Private
Partnership
Florida's tourist industry is
rebounding now that the economy is moving again. Hotels and
attractions are full and Pompano
Beach is making moves to participate in the rebound.
The fishing pier has partially
reopened and the city has a contractor to complete the repairs
and a redesign of the pier's shape
to reflect the outline of a fish.
Next, the city has teamed up
with the Isle Casino to bring
more people and more marine
life to the area with a new artificial reef. Broward County has
some 118 artificial reefs already
but studies show that more is
better.
History
The City Commission heard a
presentation from Tom DiGiorgio
Jr. and Dr. Bob Leeworthy, Chief
Economist, National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Association pertaining to the economic benefits of
an Artificial Reef. The Commission approved:
1. A public/private partnership
with PPI, Inc., parent entity for
the Pompano Beach Isle Casino
and Racetrack.
2. An agreement with a concontinued on page 4 >
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