Trying to catch up a bit on the casino issue. planphilly.com has been doing by far the best coverage of the issue since Hallwatch hasn’t been covering it. Here are some quotes from a July 21st article written by Boston journalist Scott Van Voorhis in Gambling Compliance magazine, which is only available to subscribers, unfortunately:
“Pennsylvania’s fast-growing gambling sector has run into a patch of heavy political turbulence, with an array of proposed slot and casino venues now in jeopardy amid rising criticism by elected officials and an tougher approach by regulators.” That’s the understatement of the decade. The papers are loaded every day with proof of the inadequacy of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) and it’s sophomoric processes- “A pair of proposed Philadelphia casinos is facing increasing political pressure to jettison their urban sites and look for new development tracts in the city’s outskirts. Meanwhile, plans for a Pittsburgh casino are endangered amid controversy over the transfer of the license to a new developer, while state gambling regulators have declined for now to give a temporary operating permit to a proposed racino in the Western part of the state.”
Later in the article: “Overall, observers see significant structural problems in the way Pennsylvania has immersed itself into the world of slot machine gambling, with political considerations appearing to have trumped sound business strategy and effective regulation. ‘I think it’s an example of how not to do it,’ said Clyde Barrow, a gaming industry expert and professor at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.’” I know from aggregating casino headlines every week that Clyde Barrow is often contacted for the pro-casino view on any given story (by the way, anyone can subscribe to my clips for free. If you’d like your name to be added, email me: mgmt(AT)greencityjournal.com). Barrows can put a shine on anything to do with gambling. So if he thinks things are bad, you can be quite sure they are.
The article continues: “In Philadelphia, plans for a pair of riverfront casinos have run into serious problems amid mounting opposition from neighborhood activists and city leaders. Critics say the big gambling venues don’t belong on the waterfront, which city officials have targeted for a sweeping overhaul that includes new streets, hiking trails and parks.
And this is an outsider’s take on our chances here: “Despite winning some legal battles, Connecticut’s Foxwoods and Chicago billionaire Neil Bluhm, whose proposed SugarHouse casino would take shape in a former sugar refinery, appear to be losing the political war. Ramping up the pressure, a pair of state senators has threatened to pull key tax breaks from the casino projects unless they agree to move to new locations away from the city’s waterfront. State Senator Vince Fumo went as far as to threaten to unleash the legislative equivalent of ‘atomic weapons’ should the casino developers balk, which, so far, they have. In a bid to salvage the situation, Gov. Ed Rendell has stepped in a bid to negotiate a deal, and the Philadelphia Inquirer, in an editorial, is urging the casinos to relocate to the area around the city’s airport.” I’ll skip the blather by Rendell’s spokesman.
“An equally heated battle has also broken out to the west in Pittsburgh, where casino developer Don Barden, struggling financially, has been forced to sell the majority of his project off to Bluhm, the Chicago developer behind the embattled SugarHouse casino plan in Philadelphia…”
Here’s an interesting point: “Pennsylvania’s gambling regulations limit casino and slot developers to control of one project and no more than one third of a second. Bluhm, the would-be Philadelphia casino owner, would control 75 percent of the Pittsburgh casino under the proposed deal.” It will be interesting to see how Bluhm deals with this potentially sticky situation. Will he give up some of his controlling interest in SH? The plot clots.
The article goes on to outline controversy over an attempt by a Western PA racino to get a temporary license to secure financing, but doesn’t even mention the DeNaples debacle, which is ongoing (will have to cover here another time). It concludes, “The turmoil has not gone unnoticed and stands in contrast to experienced casino jurisdictions like New Jersey, whose regulatory structure has been copied by several US states. However, Pennsylvania chose a different path, ignoring many of the hard-won lessons of its casino-rich neighbor, notes UMass Dartmouth’s Barrow.
“‘They reinvented the wheel and not very well,’ Barrow said. ‘They really didn’t learn from other jurisdictions.’”
Come out to the Seaport Museum, beginning at 5:30PM, festivities to begin at 6:30PM. There’s refreshments and free parking too. Harris Steinberg, executive director of PennPraxis, the group that’s been steering the community-driven plan for our Delaware Riverfront, will be handing over the results of the year long process to the City and to citizens. Michael Nutter will be there to let us know what he’s willing to do, and representatives of the Central Delaware Advocacy Group (full disclosure: I’m a NABR delegate) will be there to show that the citizens involved in this process intend to see it all the way through from the reform of Penn’s Landing Corporation to the set-aside of a 100 foot greenway along the water. NABR has long been dedicated to sensible planning for the riverfront and insisted on the rights of Philadelphians to have public access to their river. Tonight will mark the first of several practical steps that must be taken to reach this goal. Read the Inga Saffron’s take here: Call to Reform Penn’s Landing Corp.
I’ve been out of town, but when I returned I was sad to see that the state of Pennsylvania had signed a deal with the Army Corp of Engineers to dredge the river. The article noted that New Jersey is skeptical that the river will ever be able to actually be dredged, but PA just keeps ignoring all the reasons to proceed with caution if at all. Here’s the article: Agreement Signed to Deepen Delaware River. The General Accounting Office has twice referred to this project in congressional hearings as a taxpayer boondoggle, returning 42 cents for every dollar spent. The Delaware Riverkeeper has analyzed the project and found that it will only promote efficiencies for oil companies, and will in fact cost small business lighterboat jobs downriver. On top of that, the environmental damage has hardly been calculated not just from churning up god-knows-what toxins under the mud, but also from dumping the spoils somewhere. People drink the Delaware water. Humans need water to live, a fact that seems lost on our Governor and other leaders sometimes. Add also, the prediction that the sea level in the Delaware will actually rise 16 to 24 inches over the next 100 years due to natural sinking of our region as well as the effects of climate change. Finally, in their single iminded pursuit of channel dredging, the leadership of the Philadelphia Port has failed to pursue other promising avenues for growth, most particularly in the North-South trade. Trade has been growing in the Port for the last seven years despite this ineptitude, but in Camden and other ports, it’s been booming. It’s a source of constant irritation to me that operations there are not more transparent. But that’s par for the course in PA.
Nonetheless, I am still heartened by Nutter’s leadership in all areas. He recently put the public and the powers that be on notice that the Planning Commission will now be making planning decisions. No more “let’s make a deal” he said. No more parcel by parcel development. And he appointed Mark Alan Hughes to lead his Sustainability cabinet and effort. Read more at planphilly.com. Our Mayor has also initiated a series of public hearings to develop a policy about diversity hiring in the building trades.
This year’s National Media Reform Conference is in Minneapolis, Minnesota (an awesome town). All the bright lights in the fight for media reform are gathered here- Bill Moyers, Amy Goodman, Arianna Huffington, Bob McChesney- as well as Philadelphia’s righteous Prometheus Radio Project.
It seems strange to me to think there may still be people in this country unaware of the fact that 90+% of all national media outlets, including magazines, TV, cable and radio, are owned by six mega-corporations. Viacom, Disney, Time-Warner, News Corp., GE, and CBS program the nation’s airwaves, and therefore the nation’s agenda. Sadly this explains a lot of what’s wrong with our democracy, which relies on a free and independent press, and suggests a fix. The mission of these company’s is to increase profits. The government long ago mandated that in exchange for control of the public’s airwaves, they would act in certain proscribed ways to promote the public interest. And as Moyers put it on Friday night, that doesn’t necessarily mean what the public’s interested in! Internet freedom, a diversity of voices, access and an independent press are all vital issues for media and for this nation’s democracy. Check out freepress.net for more info. Will be debriefing on this blog over the next week.
“President Bush has resorted anew to the sleaziest fear-mongering and mass manipulation of an administration and public life dedicated to realizing the lowest of our expectations. And he has now applied these poisons to the 2008 presidential election, on behalf of the party at whose center he and John McCain lurk…
“Mr. Bush, at long last, has it not dawned on you that the America you have now created, includes “cold-blooded killers who will kill people to achieve their political objectives?” They are those in — or formerly in — your employ, who may yet be charged some day with war crimes.
“Through your haze of self-congratulation and self-pity, do you still have no earthly clue that this nation has laid waste to Iraq to achieve your political objectives? “This ideological struggle,” Mr. Bush, is taking place within this country.
“It is a struggle between Americans who cherish freedom, ours and everybody else’s, and Americans like you, sir, to whom freedom is just a brand name, just like “Patriot Act” is a brand name or “Protect America” is a brand name.
“But wait, there’s more: You also said “Iraq is the place where al-Qaida and other extremists have made their stand and they will be defeated.” They made no “stand” in Iraq, sir, you allowed them to assemble there!
“As certainly as if that were the plan, the borders were left wide open by your government’s farcical post-invasion strategy of “they’ll greet us as liberators.” And as certainly as if that were the plan, the inspiration for another generation of terrorists in another country was provided by your government’s farcical post-invasion strategy of letting the societal infra-structure of Iraq dissolve, to be replaced by an American viceroy, enforced by merciless mercenaries who shoot unarmed Iraqis and then evade prosecution in any country by hiding behind your skirts, sir.
“Terrorism inside Iraq is your creation, Mr. Bush!…
“You and the sycophants you dredged up and put behind the most important steering wheel in the world propagated palpable nonsense and shoved it down the throat of every intelligence community across the world and punished anybody who didn’t agree it was really chicken salad.
“And you, Mr. Bush, threw under the bus, all of the subsequent critics who bravely stepped forward later to point out just how much of a self-fulfilling prophecy you had embraced, and adopted as this country’s policy in lieu of, say, common sense.
“The fiasco of pre-war intelligence, sir, is your fiasco…
“Then came Mr. Bush’s final blow to our nation’s solar plexus, his last reopening of our common wounds, his last remark that makes the rest of us question not merely his leadership or his judgment but his very suitably to remain in office.
“Mr. President,” he was asked, “you haven’t been golfing in recent years. Is that related to Iraq?”
“‘Yes,” began perhaps the most startling reply of this nightmarish blight on our lives as Americans on our history. “It really is. I don’t want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the Commander in Chief playing golf. I feel I owe it to the families to be as — to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal.”
“Golf, sir? Golf sends the wrong signal to the grieving families of our men and women butchered in Iraq? Do you think these families, Mr. Bush, their lives blighted forever, care about you playing golf? Do you think, sir, they care about you?…
“The war in Iraq, your war, Mr. Bush, is about how you accomplished the derangement of two nations, and how you helped funnel billions of taxpayer dollars to lascivious and perennially thirsty corporations like Halliburton and Blackwater, and how you sent 4,000 Americans to their deaths for nothing.
“It is not, Mr. Bush, about your golf game! And, sir, if you have any hopes that next Jan. 20 will not be celebrated as a day of soul-wrenching, heart-felt thanksgiving, because your faithless stewardship of this presidency will have finally come to a merciful end, this last piece of advice:
“When somebody asks you, sir, about Democrats who must now pull this country back from the abyss you have placed us at …
“When somebody asks you, sir, about the cooked books and faked threats you foisted on a sincere and frightened nation …
“When somebody asks you, sir, about your gallant, noble, self-abnegating sacrifice of your golf game so as to soothe the families of the war dead.
According to Common Cause, Representative Don Young changed the 2005 Highway Act after it had been passed but before the President signed it, to “to redirect $10 million to a new transportation project favored by one of his wealthy campaign donors!”. Here’s an article on it. I’m pretty sure that’s still illegal! He claims they were just ‘fixing’ it, like dotting i’s and crossing t’s. Apparently, no one will file a complaint to get the ball rolling on an Ethics Committee investigation- afraid of political retribution. Tough, I say. Our government consists of checks and balances precisely to make sure this kind of behavior is stopped and wrongdoing is exposed. Our elected officials are obliged to do the right thing and we shouldn’t have to pressure them to do it. But if you do feel so inclined, complain about it to your electeds in DC via Common Cause’s email interface. My biggest question is why would a Rep. from Alaska add in earmarks for Florida? And why would a Florida businessman be such a big donor? It’s a long line connecting those cross-country dots, isn’t it.
Today, starting about a half hour ago, the State Supreme Court began listening to today’s cases, among them the City v. the State concerning who has what rights to issue building permits on Delaware River riparian lands. Of course, I believe strongly that the lands themselves belong to the citizens and that Philadelphians should have a say in how they’re developed and should not have to go begging for access which is rightfully theirs. I wrote a Citypaper Slant piece to that effect. Luckily, our State legislators Representative Mike O’Brien, Representative Bill Keller, and State Senator Fumo, among a few others, are making that argument as well: that riparian lands are public lands and that only an act of legislature can grant them (not the City). It turns out that as of last week, according to planphilly.com, the City now agrees with that assessment, leaving the only conflict to be resolved in this case that raised by the Intervenor, SugarHouse.
The State Supreme Court has given Foxwoods and SugarHouse reason to believe that they will find relief for their situation before it, despite the very bad results that have come from their decisions and from Act 71 itself, on which they presumably base their decisions.
As you may know, the State Supreme Court issued its opinion to compel Philadelphia to lay down zoning so that Foxwoods can be built. Despite this, City Council opted to continue its third out of five hearings into Foxwoods’ impacts on the City. Due diligence, baby! Today’s hearing started out with input from UniteHere, hospitality workers union, who, when asked about the status of their negotiations with Foxwoods felt they weren’t divulging details when they reported they were “nowhwere”. Next up was economist Robert Goodman talking about economic impacts that are often unconsidered when casinos are located in a municipality. One thing he mentioned was that casinos make top talent sign non-compete contracts that precludes them from appearing in other nearby venues for a number of years. That doesn’t sound good for Philly entertainment businesses. He also talked about how hotels, bars and eventually even truck stops will want to get slots licenses in order to compete for the business that’s now going to casinos.
Deputy Police Commissioner Fox spoke to, saying that the costs to start up a police unit to deal with the two casinos would cost $17 million, then approximately 12.5 million annually after that. That’s right, Mr. and Mrs. J.Q. Taxpayer. You know how much of that Foxwoods will pay? $1 million. Split it up however you like.
Then Mayor Nutter came to address Council. He was relatively brief and made four main points: 1. Though he has not stated opposition to casinos in Philly, he said, “it is CLEAR that the proposed Foxwoods site is the WRONG site for Philadelphia and for the Commonwealth.” he said there’s no logical way the traffic is going to work out at that location; 2. In response to the Supreme Court ruling he essentially said, oh no you didn’t!! He accused the Supreme Court of interrupting Council as it performed its political responsibility, which is representing the people and looking out for the city. He said the City is obligated to protect its rights and the Home Rule Charter; 3. The Planning Commission approved Foxwoods plans for Phase 1 only, though the plan presented to the Gaming Board has three phases. No one has been able to give the City straight answers about what will happen if’/when we get to Phase 2 and 3. and; 4. “If we are to have gaming in Philadelphia, there’s a way to do it right.” And we shouldn’t have to pay for it. He put forth the thought about using our knowledge and best practices to put them where they will go best. He didn’t outline a resiting process, but that’s the logical conclusion.
I am grateful every day that Nutter is our Mayor. After two years of this struggle and rude disregard by our Governor and other men of political and economic influence, to finally come to a day when our City Council and Mayor stand up and defend the people of Philadelphia is certainly some gratification.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. First, the absolutely stunningly fantastic news that Mayor Nutter revoked the license the City’s Commerce Department gave to SugarHouse to begin building on riparian lands!! Inky is first up with the story.
Unfortunately, Councilman DiCicco, through the proxy of Marion Tasco, introduced CED legislation for Foxwoods. In his press release he defended this action by saying he was preempting a negative ruling on the issue by the Supreme Court. So, hopefully, the Councilman has a winning gameplan to get these two casinos resited. PlanPhilly.com has the first news on that.
Compared to a year ago, after the licenses were first announced by the Gaming Control Board, we have so much support for resiting the casinos away from neighborhoods. Nutter began his press conference today by stating that he felt both sites were bad locations for these money-sucking behemoths. We (meaning Philadelphia residents; I should also mention that I’m a delegate to the Philadelphia Neighborhood Alliance whose stated goal is resiting) have the support of our Councilman, our State Representatives and even State Senator Fumo. The only one we’re having trouble winning over is Governor Rendell, but we won’t stop trying.
Been a while. I’ve been ridiculously busy fighting the Delaware riverfront casino sites- more on that later.
For now, I’d like to crank up the old Journal with an homage to our new Mayor, Michael Nutter. Mayor Nutter made a bold promise on the campaign trail that he wanted Philadelphia to become the greenest city in the country. How will he do this? To begin with, in addition to performance, quality and diversity goals, he will ask each department in his administration to also meet sustainability goals, chief among them reducing the total amount of energy consumed. Nutter is building sustainability right into his administration.
He proposes a Sustainability Cabinet to oversee sustainable use of the City’s resources and to identify economic development and employment opportunities from ‘green’ pursuits. I could go on and on about his great ideas (and he’s not afraid to borrow best practices from other cities around the world) but there’s no need for it’s all right here in a thorough policy guide on sustainability: policy summary and link to full report.
I stopped keeping up with this journal while I ran for office. I did not win, but did, by most accounts, a respectable job. I will write more in the next few weeks about that experience, it was most enlightening.
Since I last wrote, among other things, the State Supreme Court removed the referendum from the May ballot. To this day, not only have Philadelphians not been able to vote about gambling, their voice continues to be ignored. That is the official State strategy. Works for Bush, why not Rendell and Street?
Went to the Foxwoods hearing today in front of the PCPC, Janice Woodcock presiding. I had to leave before it was my turn to speak. I’ve spoken in dozens of venues on this issue over the last year, given public testimony, as have my fellow citizens. We’ve talked about the pathetic traffic plans, the lack of planning for emergency response, the social impacts, the environmental impacts, the economic impacts including the obstruction these casinos pose to the expansion of the Port. Thousands of Philadelphia residents have come out over the last year- in rallies, in the PennPraxis value sessions, to sign the petition to put a referendum on the May ballot for a casino buffer zone which was passed unanimously (twice) by our City Council, nearly 13,000 voters in Phillys Ballot Box, and countless polls. And yet the City and State continue to ignore us as if we will just go away.
Woodcock mentioned that objections had been “heard”. “Hearing us” is not good enough. “Hearing us” but not responding and adjusting the casino plans in response to a litany of legitimate concerns is completely irresponsible and unjust and is a farce of democracy. What do we have to say to get through to these people? We don’t want casinos in our neighborhoods. We don’t want to raise our children in the shadow of slot barns. We’re not going away because we’re fighting for our homes, our families and our neighborhoods. We demand a say in the development of our city, as we have the greatest stake.
The whole process is compromised, and by compromised, I mean corrupt.
Why does every public hearing have to play out like an eagles game, only whoever screams loudest and longest wins? And why in this city is it enough to say “X equals jobs” (especially when most people with jobs can’t make it to public hearings in the middle of the day to be heard) like that’s the last word in rationality? And since the city just approved 5000 new condo units, where do the building trades get off? They have plenty to keep them busy. Site the casinos responsibly, away from neighborhoods, and they can have those jobs too.
GCJ Blog 
