Rendell, gambling, and the politics of fear - Part Deux

Submitted by HelenGym on Tue, 03/10/2009 - 10:06am.

Harrisburg is losing patience. Rendell yesterday said that he was "disappointed" that the city's two casinos are not open. Rendell added that he would have to "weigh very heavily" any legislation proposed to strip Philadelphia of gaming-tax benefits.

Or in case you didn’t hear him clearly enough:

Even though the casino industry has tanked globally (mostly because people need to spend their money on food and small things like that), it never hurts to repeat a threat that reminds us that gambling has never been about the best interests of the citizens of the City.

Who can blame him because a bankrupt economy has apparently given way to a bankruptcy of ideas about how to fix it. And there’s little worse than the fast and easy cash of a gamble – especially when you ignore costs like these:

Associated Press reports one million problem gamblers in New York, some as young as 12;

New Jersey adds its 1,000th name to the list of most serious compulsive gamblers, the ones who voluntarily name themselves for a "do not gamble" prohibition.

An Albuquerque Journal report finds people withdrawing welfare money from the ATMs conveniently placed on casino floors

Foxwoods and CT casinos add ½ and ¼ cent slot machines to attract those real high end gamblers

And for the record, those are just a sampling of news stories that have appeared just in the past month.

So what if Philly doesn’t get its share of the gambling money if the trade-off is that we don’t get slots barns on our waterfront and in the heart of our City? The accountants in City Hall will have a fit with the ledger books, but other than that, could we be better off?

Because even the limited stats we have seem to indicate that we would. Case in point:

The Gaming Control Board last week announced that gross revenue at six casinos across the state grew by 14 percent in February, compared with February 2008. A seventh casino, opened last month, was not included in those calculations.

Harrah's Chester saw revenue decline by 1.89 percent last month, compared with February 2008. Philadelphia Park in Bensalem saw revenue climb by 6.45 percent in the same period.

So if the areas around Philly are stagnating relative to the rest of the state, what are we gaining by saturating the market even more with this losers' enterprise?

Wouldn’t it be better for City Planners to spend their hours and staff resources on serious planning and investment in sustainable development for Philly’s future rather than shilling for the casino industry? Wouldn’t it be better to know that a central transit line isn’t Ground Zero for exposure to a predatory industry like slots and gambling? Wouldn’t it be better to re-vive two local treasures like the waterfront and Market East with development responsive to and reflective of a new economy rather than the old?

HelenGym's blog

Welcome to your 21st Century waterfront

Submitted by HelenGym on Tue, 03/10/2009 - 10:15am.

Didn't want to forget this tidbit:

Indiana Downs' temporary casino facility

Nutter said that he met with SugarHouse a month ago to talk about a potential temporary casino that could be erected by the end of this year.

And since the goal is speed over anything else, can we now drop the debate over the attractiveness of what these monstrosities will bring?

Mayor Nutter turns his back on Candidate Nutter

Submitted by Jethro H on Wed, 03/11/2009 - 8:05am.

Mayor Nutter promised (see "Nutter's Campaign Promises on Casinos") a number of things when he was running for Mayor. Instead we have gotten more back room deals which have led to the investors behind Foxwoods proposing two Market Street locations for their slots parlor and the investors behind Sugarhouse hinting at a redesign (rather than a resiting out of residential neighborhoods and off the river) or a temporary casino.

Before Ed Rendell and the casinos took over this process the Mayor was standing on the resiting principles he laid out as Mayor and went so far as to fully embrace the citizen-created vision for the Delaware waterfront without casinos including commissioning a report determining that casinos don't fit with the vision no matter how they are redesigned. So not only could we get a tent or box on the riverfront we now have this from last night's Channel 6 News:

"The city is not an obstacle or a barrier we've been working with the Foxwoods' folks we're working with the Sugar House folks we'd like to see those entities get up as quickly as possible," said Mayor Nutter.

Rather than a discussion about what is best for Philadelphia, rather than a solid accounting for the costs and benefits of casinos we have the Mayor making public statements that are 180 degrees from his campaign promises on casinos, transparency, and sound economic development. Casinos are as far as you can get from what our city city needs and the Mayor should return to the principles that got him his job and make smart decisions for the long term health and viability of our city and its citizens.

nyuk nyuk nyuk

Submitted by Dan U-A on Tue, 03/10/2009 - 8:40pm.

Oh Ed! I can't wait until he threatens to take away Montgomery County's tax breaks.

i heard that slob yesterday..

Submitted by brendan on Wed, 03/11/2009 - 2:00pm.

... on my car radio and started yelling at the top of my lungs.

who does that fat piece of crap think he is?

I'm switching over to a unlimited minutes plan after work today, and i intend to carry out the exercise marc stier suggested yesterday: i am going to call every single legilsator in harrisburg, D and R, and ask if they have "demand[ed] more state aid from Harrisburg?" or if they have tried "to create a coalition with legislators from other parts of the state for more state aid for our old cities?"

i am sure the answers will be as entertaining as they are evasive.

Atlantic City casinos reported a 19% drop in revenue

Submitted by D.E. II on Wed, 03/11/2009 - 9:09am.

in February. Let's get us some of those.

And the casino "scratch you back" from Rendell

Submitted by MrLuigi on Fri, 03/20/2009 - 3:55pm.

From an article about the uphill fight Nutter's 1% increase in sales tax faces in Harrisburg - not from D's because its a regressive form of tax but from R's because its a tax increase at all.

Gov. Rendell, speaking to reporters in Philadelphia yesterday, supported the idea of a sales-tax increase in the city and said Nutter was "absolutely right to call for sacrifice."

"Everybody's got to pitch in," said Rendell, who was mayor of Philadelphia from 1992 to 2000. He added that he didn't think the sales tax would necessarily drive people away from the city.

-Sean
MrLuigi, my cat, actually only types half as badly as I do.

The irony being the GOP wants to raise sales taxes to replace...

Submitted by Joshua911 on Fri, 03/20/2009 - 4:42pm.

...school property taxes in the rest of the Commonwealth.

Not included in the list are lots of crazy ideas from DelCo and and Chester County GOP delgations. Oy!

Joshua Vincent
www.urbantools.org
www.ourcommonwealth.org
Phree Philly

Don't older people have to buy stuff, also?

Submitted by MrLuigi on Sat, 03/21/2009 - 11:58am.

I mean it seems plainly counterintuitive to claim to be addressing your concern for older Pennsylvanians on fixed incomes facing rising property taxes in the burbs by shifting the burden to sales taxes which would also especially impact older people on fixed incomes. Oh those wacky Republicans.

-Sean
MrLuigi, my cat, actually only types half as badly as I do.

Does he get to be considered part of the "screaming masses"?

Submitted by HelenGym on Wed, 03/25/2009 - 3:30pm.

A potential legislative proposal:

A Pennsylvania lawmaker plans to introduce legislation as early as Monday to strip Philadelphia of up to $64 million annually in economic development funds for failing to have its two casinos up and running.

Twenty-seven months of delays on the city's proposed SugarHouse and Foxwoods casinos have left some lawmakers across the state upset that Philadelphia is benefiting unfairly from slots revenue without contributing to the pot.

"The two casinos and Mayor Nutter have to reach agreements and have permits in place and have these casinos built and up and operational," said the bill's sponsor, Rep. Jim Wansacz, a Northeastern Pa. Democrat and member of the House Gaming Oversight Committee. "If no progress is made, then the rest of the state could use that $64 million to create jobs and stimulate the economy."

For $64 million for the Convention Center, it's worth considering the Representative's deal if it allows us to remove ourselves from Act 71. For one thing, that would allow us to tinker with the wage tax rather than the more regressive tax proposals on the table. It also means that considering PICA once cited costs as high as $200 million a year, and the Nutter administration put in $125 million in casino and casino related development for the stimulus package, that $64 million might not be such a bad trade-off - especially if it frees us up to pursue real, viable, and long-term development options.