By now everyone knows the shocking news: the PGCB chose to license pretty much the two worst sites of all five proposals. The only two that need riparian rights, far from certainly secured, to complete their original designs, and two that will severely overburden our infrastructure.

I was at the hearings on the day Foxwoods presented and there was not one mention of public transportation the whole day- not by Foxwoods, whose designers have figured out a way to reengineer our entire city to serve their facility, and not in the questions asked of Foxwoods or Trump by the PGCB. It’s all about parking garages and widening the streets. The number one value that folks in the river wards said they valued where they lived was neigbhorliness. Well we can kiss that all goodbye if “the powers that be” get their way.

Luckily, there is much that a regular Citizen Joe or Jane can do to impress upon their elected officials that their will must be respected. Sign up for email alerts from Casino Free Philadelphia to plug into citizen opposition to the idea of Las Vegas on the Delaware. Sign up for emails from Neighbors Allied for the Best Riverfront (NABR), whose mission is exactly what it sounds like: building the best riverfront, not desperate, short sighted development. Educate yourself about the issues- you can start by reading Inga Saffron’s great columns about growth in the city. Here’s one about the two proposed casinos that oddly was stuck in the real estate classifieds section of the paper yesterday, and here’s one from today about the “River City” development proposal. Also read Marc Stier’s article on PhillyIMC about how broken our political system is. Finally, read about how, yet again, plans objected to by residents got pushed through zoning. Get angry, Philadelphia, and remember that the election season is upon us. Start formulating your tough questions and replace the batteries on your BS detectors. “A nation of sheep begets a government of wolves,” said Edward R. Murrow. Time for all of us to get up off the mat.

It’s been a busy week on the casino front, starting with the Casino Free Philadelphia-sponsored Citizen Search and Seizure trip to Harrisburg on Monday. Over 100 Philadelphians traveled to Harrisburg to demand the release of essential information regarding casinos planned for Philadelphia. 14 very brave citizens were arrested, their requests refused. One of those 14 was Bruce Schimmel, of the Citypaper. Check out his account. And also check out Hallwatch’s photo essay of the day, PhillyIMC’s account , Chris Meck’s photos and this Inquirer article.

Who does the Gaming Board think it serves? After all, it is a state agency. Oh, wait a second, I forgot. None of them were elected. They don’t live in Philly. They haven’t cared what citizens have to say about casinos since June 2nd, when they closed the public comment period, though they’ve allowed all five casino applicants to continue to revise their proposals. An analysis shows that 98% of the public comments submitted before June opposed casinos, but it hasn’t slowed down their pace a jot. The conclusion is inescapable: they don’t care. Money makes their world go around, and sadly it looks as if that’s all Rendell cares about too. Be sure to send him a fax via Hallwatch asking for a years delay in licensing. Maybe if we keep screaming, it’ll finally sink into his monkey skull that we don’t want the casinos near neighborhoods. It’s just a really really really bad idea. Philadelphia should pick appropriate sites and then we’ll have the operators compete for those sites. That’s the intelligent way to proceed, obviously. And it’s still not too late to be intelligent. We must make them care.

What’s the difference between a casino and a Dunkin Donuts?Listen to this excellent podcast on the casino issue and find out. Philly for Change’s Hannah Miller interviews NABR co-founder Jethro Heiko and South Philly community activist Vern Anastasio on the whole casino situation in Philadelphia.

OK. Councilman DiCicco is at it again. While appearing to support a transparent planning process, heavily informed by community input, he continues to shepherd pet projects through the system.

Examples abound along the waterfront, and also in my own South Philly neighborhood, in the historic Italian Market on 9th Street. DiCicco is seeking condemnation of the old Ice House building on 9th Street, south of Washington. Fine. Nothing wrong with that, if it’s been abandoned. It is prime real estate. The stupid part is that he wants to turn it into subsidized senior housing- right there in the middle of the Italian Market!

The Italian Market is a commercial corridor and always has been. The smart way to grow it for the future of South Philadelphia is to clear the site and then let developers present their ideas about what could go there to the citizens who live and work near the Market, and decide what will most benefit and enhance the area. I wish DiCicco would leave the planning of the city to other people more qualified to make those decisions. He really stinks at it.

Rosemary Daley writes in:
Everyone complains about I-95 access to Penns Landing, my question is why didn’t we take the offer from the Atlantis project. This was a fully funded project that would have covered I-95. Mr. Ing was willing to work with all neighborhoods prior to each phase. This was a fully funded project with only the tax abatements allowed by the city being asked.

They would even adjust the plan for Penn’s Landing to fit. This city has tunnel vision and pay to play, that is why we are not a world-class city. A waterfront that since the 80s nothing has been done, even the maintenance is lacking. Just look at the way the fountain tiles on Penns Landing have been replaced in sections, not with tile, but concrete. Is this maintenance?

Penns Landing is shabby and tourists ask how we can let our waterfront be so poorly planned and maintained. Not everyone wants to go to the Parkway.

Today members of Casino Free Philadelphia will go to Harrisburg to perform a Citizen Search for documents the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is using to guide its decision about licensing, but which have not been made available to the public. Send a fax to Governor Rendell and your other elected officials urging them to delay licensing for at least a year, so the public can at last give meaningful comment on the proposals, and the city has the chance to prepare itself for whatever changes might be coming.

Today on WHYY, community activists Matt Ruben, Reverend Jesse Brown and Rene Goodwin. They outlined the whole fiasco from stem to stern. Listen here.