Green City Journal

At a planning meeting held in Center City at the Liberty Resources offices on Wednesday night, Casino-Free Philadelphia (CFP) leaders were in good spirits as they announced a new six-month campaign to stop casinos from opening in the city. “I’ve been relaxed,” said founding member Jethro Heiko, “because I know we can win.”

Refusing to buy the oft-used line that slot parlor development is a “done deal,” the members of CFP’s leadership explained how through grassroots organizing, “we will declare independence from casinos.” The official campaign launch is scheduled for January 26, when CFP will read its own independence declaration near the site of the original signing of the Declaration and will end on July 4. The date has obvious associations of freedom and self-government, but just as important, it also falls on the 5-year anniversary of the maligned legislation of Act 71, which set in motion the SugarHouse and Foxwoods building projects.

CFP leaders stressed that the campaign’s timing is optimal. They have generated considerable momentum over the past two years through awareness campaigns like Operation Transparency, Philly’s Ballot Box, and Operation Hidden Costs. And, perhaps just as critical, all eyes now seem to be on Philadelphia in the long struggle against state-sponsored predatory gambling.

As a Wall Street Journal op-ed published on January 2 explained, across the country “there is formidable resistance to the [casino] industry’s future growth.” SugarHouse and Foxwoods are not the only corporations who stand to lose here, and this particular showdown in Philly may figure to be “the American casino industry’s Waterloo.” On the local level, the latest City Paper issue featured a cover story on the addiction-creating designs of slot machines and the parlors that house them (“Meet Your New Neighbor” ).

Earlier this week Temple University Health System announced a reorganization plan to employees that will go into effect in January. Called "Bold Ideas for a Brighter Tomorrow", it's really the same Old Ideas as yesterday. The plan includes severe cuts in services at Northeastern Hospital. The health provider claims that too many beds, relentless pressure from private insurers and Medicare to cut costs, difficulty of fair reimbursements and a decreasing population in its service area makes this reorganization necessary. 

According to the plan, Northeastern Hospital will essentially become a facility designated for outpatient use and to take on emergency outflow from Temple University Hospital. One casualty in the plan is the maternity care unit at Northeastern, bringing to 17 the number of maternity units Philadelphia has lost in the last 11 years.

In the last decade, Temple University Health System acquired Episcopal, Newman and Northeastern Hospitals, all the hospitals to its east. It decided to close Episcopal and Newman but promised Northeastern would stay open to serve the community. More recently, Temple University Hospital spent millions to acquire property adjacent to the hospital, encouraging the surrounding community to defeat a proposal in City Council for a Walmart at that location. Temple profits last year were $53 million.

The Pennsylvania Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals union along with other effected healthcare worker unions will be holding a candlelight vigil in front of Northeastern Hospital, at Tulip and Allegheny, Monday, December 22nd at 6:15PM. All concerned about the erosion of healthcare services in Philadelphia and especially in the Northeast should come out to call for reconsideration.