Sent. Anyone else?

I'm in. Not as articulate as I would like for a letter to the Governor. But, he has never been accused of being overly inteligent.

In my experience, during two long group discussions about transit, I found Governor Rendell to be exremely sharp and very well informed about public policy. Everyone I know who has had much more interaction than I have had--including some of the people in his adminstration and some people who would never work for him--says the same thing.

I'm often critical of him. But if he has a problem it is not with brain power.

Anastasio Calls for Six-Month Delay on Issuance of Casino Licenses

I thought folks might be interested in know that Vern Anastasio is also taking on the casinos. I know he has sent a fax and will be attending the rally on December 11th.

I should disclose that I am working closely with Vern and hope that he runs for city council.

---
With Foxwoods Facing a $200,000 Fine for Illegal Campaign
Contributions, How Do We Know that this Process Isn't Tainted?

For Immediate Release
December 6, 2006
Contact: Hannah Miller
267-979-7899

PHILADELPHIA - Today, long-time Philadelphia neighborhood advocate
Vern Anastasio called on the State Gaming Board to postpone the
issuance of two Philadelphia gaming licenses for six months.

"Given the controversy surrounding the entire slot parlor process, and
the newfound improprieties with the Foxwoods applicant, the only
responsible thing to do is wait six months before issuing these
licenses," said Anastasio, "so concerned residents can have questions
answered, additional input submitted and concerns addressed."

Two licenses are scheduled to be awarded on December 20, just two
weeks away. As reported in today's Inquirer, casino investors Peter
DePaul and his partners gave out $31,750 in illegal campaign
contributions this year, and are facing stiff penalties.

Anastasio, who served on the Site Selection Committee of the Mayor's
Gaming Task Force, said there were three major reasons why the State
Gaming Board should postpone their decisions.

1. Proper urban planning should be done before massive casino
development begins, Anastasio says. "You don't build first and plan
later. Now that Penn Praxis has been given a mandate to develop an
urban plan for our Delaware Waterfront, the responsible approach would
be to allow them to devise a plan for the waterfront first. Only then
should we consider casino sites on our riverfront."

2 . Additional information provided by casino operators demands
additional public input. Public input was solicited months before
these casino developers submitted all required information about the
size, scope and impact of these casinos. Now that more information is
available, the taxpayers should have ample time to digest this new
information, provide more input and offer alternate sites.

3. More time is needed for the interests of Philadelphia
neighborhoods, small businesses and homeowners to be protected. "For
eight months, no one in City Hall stood up against the State or
against the casino developers and demanded a fair, open and honest
site selection process. Therefore, the taxpayers opposed to these
casino sites need more time to defend themselves against politics as
usual," Anastasio said.

Vern Anastasio is a member of Neighbors Allied for the Best Riverfront
(NABR), a vocal supporter of Casino Free Philadelphia and the first
organizer of civic groups to deal with the neighborhood impacts of
casinos. Anastasio is also a founding board member of Bella Vista
United Civic Association, a community whose boundaries start just six
short blocks from the Delaware River.

For more information and more in-depth discussion of the issues
surrounding slots in Philadelphia, please visit www.vernanastasio.com.

----30----
http://benwaxman.com

I think the nexus is clear. Did city council members lead a high profile effort to prevent the state from enacting the legislation? Why not? Why didn't you?

City council members are expected to be leaders in our community.

The state legislature has taken over control from the City of Philadelphia the school district, the parking authority, the commercial port and have been contemplating an airport takeover. When have they listened to us in the past?

I will and do work hard on lots of things, but some things I cannot prevent due to a lack of statutory authority. District councilmembers did testify at the gaming commission hearings and did send letters and statements of opposition. It is unfair, in my opinion, to lead people to believe that you can do something when you know very well you do not have the authority.

So, when someone claims to be "Taking on the Casinos" it is a sham and done to create a personal, self promoting profile that is just not true. To denegrate the very person in city government (DiCicco)who has actually introduced and passed meaningful legislation to mitigate the negative effects of gaming on neighborhoods, is equally unfair and I think that most people have already seen through this.

I will take a large share of credit for turning Vince Fumo's position around regarding zoning preemption. What "high profile effort", that would have been successful, would you suggest?

"having a public profile and being effective do not always go hand in hand."

Certainly, you're right. And all too often, they are negatively correlated. And your point about the state reps is well taken. On the other hand, when deals are quietly being made, and up-front vocal opposition is lacking, and no organizing is apparent, then I think you're likely to get your "nexus."

I will look at politicians that put themselves out front on issues like this with a skeptical eye, no doubt. But have you really used your networks to their full capacity to fight what's going on with respect to the casinos? If so, then great; perhaps you could be more explicit about how you've used your representative power to organize Philadelphians against being railroaded. If not, then explanations that the casino legislation is not part of your pervue, or that realistic compromises need to be made (as Wilson Goode suggested in his posts on the subject), will ring a bit out of tune for me.

Penn Praxis is a good thing. But it’s not accurate to say it was the work of one councilman alone. It was also influenced by many other community driven efforts - including the Riverfront 2015 symposium and the good government moves being made by the likes of Vern, Anne Dicker, Ray Murphy, Ed Kirlin, Rene Goodwin and others.

They HAVE been able to make politicians respond at a level that has real influence where, as Councilman Kenney said, City Council cannot. For example, Riverfront 2015 symposium had three state reps on the panel. And they took the findings from the symposium right back to Harrisburg.

And, may I add, other places where city council does have influence – the Penn’s Landing Board for instance – didn’t offer much input to this process. I don't think providing low interest loans to development firms like Vitetta helps the critical issues facing the waterfront...

Also, trashing Vern because he is taking a position on the future of Philly's waterfront stinks of negative grandstanding and is off subject. His press release didn’t mention DiCicco once. And it was someone else – Ben Waxman - who posted it in this thread as a useful contribution. It's not a campaign piece.