- Pennsylvania Among 'Terrible 10' Most Regressive Tax States
- February 4 Non-Partisan Training: HOW TO RUN FOR ELECTION BOARD IN 2013: HOW TO RUN FOR COMMITTEEPERSON IN 2014
- Republican Governors Opt-In to Medicaid Expansion
- The Reports of Unions' Death Are Greatly Exaggerated
- Ask Allyson Schwartz to run for Governor
- Mind the gap: Opting Out of Medicaid Expansion Leaves Low-income Families Behind
- Jan. 14 Workshop:HOW TO RUN FOR ELECTION BOARD IN 2013; HOW TO RUN FOR COMMITTEEPERSON IN 2014
- Seth Williams on Guns, Jasmine Rivera on School Closures @PFC Meetup Wednesday
- PA Revenue Strong Midway Through Year; Tax Cut Could Have Big Impact
- What to Make of the Fiscal Cliff Deal?
Inga Saffron Makes Her Recommendations on Casinos in Today's Inky
Submitted by mdcphilly on Fri, 09/22/2006 - 11:32am.
Generally speaking, I’m aghast that our political leaders consider building casinos appropriate economic development. If we have to have casinos in Pennsylvania, I’d rather have them in the Poconos or Lancaster County where jobs are needed too and where tax revenues could still assist Philly. In the city, to the extent that we must have them, what would be the best way to have our cake and eat it too? Is it too late to sell the right to licenses for local casinos upstate? I don't see why not?
At any rate, Inga Saffron made her recommendation in the inky today. She thinks Pinnacle, located on Delaware Avenue is the best planned design and she argued that Trump Street, in the Northwest, is an improvement over the other options. I would have liked to see an argument for putting two casinos on Delaware Avenue. I would prefer to keep the Donald in A.C. rather than give the local media an excuse to cover him to death.
Assist Philly???
You seem to be confused. You must have the state government mistaken for people who give a darn - about Philly that is. Why would they want to assist Philly any more than they already do? They assist SEPTA and the Schools to some tune I'd have to look up to know the total for but it can't be small. Gambling revenue is geared not to helping the municipality. The local share of the taxes is tiny compared to the State's take (53% of gross revenue of the casinos - way more than in NJ).
The whole point is property tax reduction. In Philadelphia however the property tax reduction has been tranformed into wage tax reduction - only not so much wage tax reduction that it will really make a difference.
And speaking of jobs: certain neighborhoods of Philly are so desperate for jobs they'll take anything just about.
As far as putting both casinos on Delaware Avenue: traffic armageddon. At least the Pinnacle one will have its own I-95 exit eventually. All of them alone are way too big and together two of them would be worse than twice as bad.
Center City is where the tourists are
I'm skipping the point on taxes for now.
There is no reason why people in Nicetown can't get jobs on Delaware Avenue. I'm sure many already commute.
I think there is a very good argument for putting two casinos on Delaware Avenue: tourists. As far as I can see, people worry about traffic no matter where the casinos would be--and sorry but I think it's kind of a phantom bogeyman argument. Even still, I'd take the traffic in return for extracting a little more revenue from tourists rather than from locals.
All that said, I could live with Ms. Saffron's picks. The fact that the Pinncle doesn't have any politicians connected to its development would just be icing on the cake.
Tourists and Gambling
Those who come for Philadelphia's history and art and theater and restaurants are not the same as those who come for gambling. I think if you look at the demographics and tastes of the slot using public you will find out there is a difference between the family tourists of Independence Hall and the museums (not convenient to Delaware Ave btw) and the public who go to slot barns. The estimates I've seen from the impact statements the casinos filed is that 50% of the customers will be drawn from the Philadelphia area. I don't think they did any studies to establish that number scientifically however. Some of the stuff in those impact statements is basically winging it or promotional pseudo-studies provided by a gaming industry consulting company.
Also the Delaware/Columbus Avenue sites are not Center City. I've done a good bit of informational culling of the details at http://www.hallwatch.org/casinos. If you look at the fact sheets there specifically on the traffic issue you see volumes that exceed or rival major roadways like the Vine Street expressway but transferred to Delaware Avenue and its surrounding narrow side streets. Think King of Prussia Mall sized traffic. Think major amusement park traffic and then think about the size of the roads we are talking about. I forgot to mention that the TrumpStreet location (East Falls/Tioga) would exert major pressure on Roosevelt Boulevard where it is a limited access expressway at the Fox street area. I guess it's inevitable that traffic will be bad but I'm not sure people understand how truly awful it can get. Pinnacle is the least objectionable again on those grounds, in addition to being the only project that is a publicly traded company as opposed to a collection of politically connected insiders like Croce or a Chicago billionaire or Trump.
Also TrumpStreet would take away better jobs that are already there at Tastykake and replace them with jobs that are likely to be reduced in number with the next wave of slot machine technology innovation. Most of the sites are bad places unlike the Navy Yard or somewhere in the Northeast like Franklin Mills. But those are off the table.
There is however an argument to be made for the point that some of the Atlantic City gambling business that comes from Philly would now not travel so far and would instead leave their money with the Commonwealth in the form of taxes. That's a net plus for the public good at least somewhere.
Concluding my Casino thoughts on this post
From a letter I wrote to Ms. Saffron two weeks ago, To wit: "In my mind, it’s not that the cost of problems gambling may spawn are unbearable. It’s just that any potential benefit is offset by the negative impact that Philadelphia’s brand image would suffer. One of Philadelphia’s greatest assets is it’s reputation as a center of American History that families can visit with their children. Why would we want to be Vegadelphia?" But our politicians don't see it that way.
I also mentioned my concern that politicians aren't admitting that casinos will eventually be more than just slots and as a result, longterm planning is insufficent. More critically in my opinion, Philadelphia isn't extracting enough dough for these licenses today.
Still, I stand by my conviction on traffic...if it's really that bad, people will just start driving at other times of the day, figure out how to use Septa or use side streets. Center City traffic is terrible 80% of the time but everyone still goes to Center City. Should the ballparks have been built in Center City or nearby? Absolutely. Does it make more sense to put Casinos close to Center City as as opposed to the middle of nowhere that any tourist will go to? Generally speaking, yes. Will it increase traffic to nearby restaurants and sights in Center City? At least the chances would be better.
The Casinos locations will have zero impact on Tastykake's decisions to invest in production facilities within Citylimits compared with the company's internal studies. Tastykake management will figure out in the near future whether it's cheaper and provides a competitive advantage to build and operate in Philadelphia or in the suburbs longterm. History indicates Philadelphia is probably at a disadvantage--with or without Casinos in that contest.
All of that said, can I think of a better alternative for relatively quick economic devlepment in Nicetown than Casinos? Perhaps, but I can't think of anything that would draw external resources to the neighborhood in a way that approaches the scale that TrumpStreet offers. But let's be clear, an awful lot of that cash is going to Trump, his allies, investors and places that are far from Nicetown. Do I think that the Nicetown would be better off foregoing that short term cash infusion for the opportunity to work towards a longterm vision of a livable integrated and economically dynamic neighborhood? Probably.