Nice, so C-FP proved to be shrill racist NIMBYs we knew them to be. Instead of a relatively out of the way site, we get a site in THE MIDDLE OF A NEIGHBORHOOD, in a high traffic area trying to revitalize. How many conventions are the City going to lose with a Casino right there?

It's ok though, because there's no white people there right?

"One backroom deal cannot lead to another one." Amen. The entire process that has brought casinos to Philadelphia has been a backroom deal soup to nuts. The decision to move the Foxwoods site to Center City misses the point -- WE STILL HAVE NO IMPUT ON WHERE THEY GO. Did I miss something or is our government still no longer beholding to the PEOPLE? Are we still a sovereign government of the people? Or does this casino mess demonstrate who what we have really become beholden to the likes of Ed Rendell and Mayor Nutter and few wealthy non-Philadelphians who hold stakes in the casinos? This is the logical conclusion of a one party system in Philadelphia as well.

Wally Zimolong
Maverick Republican for State Representative
182nd Legislative District of PA
www.walllyzimolong.com

Over a month ago we set up four resiting principles:

1) place them in nobody's neighborhood -- the only thing (according to the Gambling Industry) that people want less than a casino next to their home is a landfill;
2) keep no casino an option;
3) transparent, transparent, transparent -- we don't need more backdoor deals, we need community input into the process; and
4) no government money should be used to move these casinos -- it's a right, not a privilege to build in the city.

Well, it's appearing all principles are being violated here. Casinos in a neighborhood -- Chinatown, no less, which keeps getting the short end of the stick. Neither the Governor nor the Mayor are remembering that no casinos are na option. And we keep hearing rumors of them using money as an enticement for Foxwoods' move.

But for me this morning, I'm just struck once again at how government uses backdoor deals to pit neighborhoods against each other. I've been talking with folks from Chinatown especially the last couple of days. They're pissed. And they have every right to be, like you, Chris. But the blame falls not on one neighborhood or another, but the people who keep making these decisions -- Rendell, our state legislators, etc.

Divide and conquer? Not this time. We get the bigger picture. Without public input, without principles, without planning processes to be held accountable, our government officials keep betraying us.

[You can sign up for Casino-Free Philadelphia's e-mail alerts here. We'll be creating next steps, likely a strategy workshop to start mapping out where to go from here, in the next couple of days.]

I am sympathetic to anyone who doesn't want casinos in Philadelphia anywhere, on any terms.

I am sympathetic to anyone who doesn't want casinos in or near Chinatown or Midtown East / Washington Square or the part of Philadelphia I sometimes call "Jeffersonia."

But:

I have never heard the Gallery Mall or even Market Street invoked as an integral part of Chinatown.

A neighborhood whose businesses rely primarily on tourism, entertainment, and foot traffic might react to the prospect of a Casino differently from a neighborhood with a much smaller commitment to those things.

A casino located in a neighborhood that already is accustomed and has mechanisms in place to deal with a large amount of foot traffic and commerical shoppers is better than a casino in a neighborhood with none of those things.

A casino accessible to hotels and mass transit is better than a casino accessible mostly by car.

A casino located between City Hall and the Convention Center and Independence Mall is better than a casino located in a neighborhood where tourists rarely go.

A casino self-contained in an existing large commercial structure is better than a casino in a structure that needs to be built.

All of these things, I think, need to be weighed here.

--Tim (aka Short Schrift)

Just terrible. This is exactly the kind of decision-making that will prevent Philly from making progress from a city-planning standpoint. Take an area that is already going to be negatively impacted from a "walkability" standpoint by the Convention Center project, and add make it even worse? There is no "master plan" here. There is no accountability here. Who is looking at the city as a whole and getting input from affected constituencies? There are municipalities all over the country who are making collaborative planning processes the backbone of development. There is absolutely no excuse for Philly government officials to continue with antiquated, and proven ineffective, planning processes.

The movement of leaders that fought the stadiums, as Helen describes them in her post above this one, combined with the principled process that CFP is bringing to any casino location in our neighborhoods, is poised to defeat this plan. But we have to not fight amongst ourselves -- and hold the city, these companies, and the state accountable to a transparent process to site casinos, IF they are to be sited anywhere.

I trust groups like AAU and CFP to bring neighbors from different areas of the city, different races, and backgrounds together to share a common struggle. Rather than saying "this is fine because it's in someone else's backyard", we can all stand firm together to make Foxwoods' process as transparent and accountable as possible.

Wish I could be at the press conference today to make that clear as a bell -- but I know many others will be, and I'll be there for the next steps.

--
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hannah sassaman
267 970 4007

Ed, listen, "not in neighborhoods" means NOT IN NEIGHBORHOODS. What is unclear about that. In terms of "vibrancy" to the Market East corridor - any informed approach to planning will tell you the Gallery and Market East's woes are due to a lack of a vibrant residential mix in the most immediate area. All the business is office workers blowing out at 5:00 and SEPTA shoppers. Limited residential development along Chestnut and Market means it has a feel of a ghost town after dark.

Everything that made Foxwoods wrong for South Philly is doubly wrong for Market East. It will kill anything that could bring "neighborhoodness" back to Market East.

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

for what it's worth, having a casino nearby is actually a *plus* for conventions, just as having a range of good restaurants is. more options for unwinding after a full day of professional exchange. heck, there are folks who travel to otherwise boring locations just to gamble; surely they would be more likely to go to their field's conference if gaming were nearby?

count me among the no-casino dreamers, but this one argument, at least, is going nowhere.
acm

Edit: this was meant as a reply to Chrissman at the top. no idea why it ended up way down here. sigh.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
— Margaret Mead

Again Market East doesn't have the walkable mixed use of neighborhoods to its south or the vibrancy of Chinatown to its north because it does not have full time residential neighbors just upstairs. A casino is exactly the wrong move for neighborhood planning. Its like everyone forgot the basics of Jane Jacobs suddenly.

A casino at the Gallery is close enough to negatively effect both Wash West and Chinatown and won't bring the lasting diverse economic development a more residential development on the Market East corridor would.
-Sean
MrLuigi, my cat, actually only types half as badly as I do.

[I am re-posting as this ended up in the wrong thread all by itself. I had meant to post to this thread.]

I am writing as a concerned citizen and former resident of Chinatown, where I lived for 9 years and continue to have many personal and business connections.

The re-siting of Foxwoods at the Gallery/Market East is a major violation of good urban planning principles and social policy, and a betrayal of the citizens of Philadelphia.

The politicians who control decision-making in our State and City have learned nothing from the citizen work that has been done in the past two years with the Penn Praxis City Planning forums http://www.planphilly.com/node/2317 , nothing from the solid research presented by casino opponents. We believed that a new city administration would do more than just talk about good city planning. We thought they would actually do good city planning. We stood and cheered when Mayor Nutter publicly endorsed the Delaware Waterfront Plan http://www.phillyalliance.org/node/59 , so imagine the betrayal I and many others felt seeing Nutter at the podium announcing the stealth decision to re-site the casino adjacent to Chinatown, one of the most dense and vibrant neighborhoods in the City.

The last big battle my family and neighbors fought in Chinatown was the baseball stadium that was to be located in the Chinatown North/Callowhill District, and I assure you that Chinatown residents and other concerned Center City residents will rally to fight this new threat too. My goal today as a Northern Liberties resident fighting the casinos is NOT to see the casino forced into another neighborhood, as some of the posters on this site have stated. I am also very upset to see casino opponents labeled as racist. I have a bi-racial family, with a Chinese spouse, and I oppose casinos in or near any neighborhood. People using this forum should refrain from bigotry and name-calling and instead stand together to build better communities.

Setting aside issues of gambling addiction, crime, and other negative social consequences of casino operations that will surely be factors here, and looking at this decision simply from a planning perspective, it is my opinion that this will be a detriment to Center City. Market East is not an island--it is a transportation/shopping district that is connected to and serves many neighborhoods.

But in spite of its role as a major transportation hub and shopping area, Market East today is a dismal, dysfunctional place because of big box developments like the Gallery complex, which conceals most of its retail/human activity behind windowless walls, creating an uninviting atmosphere at street level. The lack of residential housing is the other significant factor that contributes to a ghost town atmosphere after 6 PM when the shoppers/ office workers go home. Taken as a whole, the Gallery is an anti-urban design that removes pedestrian activity from the street, contributing to a dead zone between the vibrancy of a re-born Broad Street/Chestnut Street district, Washington West, Chinatown and Old City.

Despite the hulking, anti-urban presence of the Gallery complex, the surrounding neighborhoods have been moving in the right direction with a return of hotel, retail and residential development. A block-sized slots barn that literally plies its customers with free food and drink to keep them at the slot machines, will be detrimental to the surrounding hospitality/retail/restaurant businesses. Rendell's remarks that this will revive the neighborhood is not based on any sound urban planning principles, and is an extension of his out-of-touch slots policy.

The decision to move Foxwood's slots barn to the Gallery/Market East district is bad urban planning. Good urban planning would a)invite community participation in decision-making, and b)guide development toward a mixed use, residential/commercial/retail mix that creates vibrant, livable neighborhoods.

by all stakeholders affected (which, obviously would be much better than what's being rammed down our throats now), will be inherently flawed if it is not tied to a larger, more comprehensive city-wide plan based on short and long-term considerations. This city needs a collaborative master plan process where the location of a casino may or may not be just one element of an integrated plan for center city and the surrounding neighborhoods. The whole concept of a casino being built is just one more example of a short-term mentality, driven by vested interests, that looks at projects in isolation. I am thoroughly disgusted that just when it seemed that our municipal government had shown an investment in creating just such a planning process, our mayor has taken a major step backwards.

Although, looking again at Dan's post about the synergies, maybe more thought has gone into the idea of putting the casino at Market East than first meets the eye.