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.