By Marc Stier and Daniel Hunter
It’s time to find a creative solution to the logjam over casinos at the waterfront.
The charter change referendum blocking casinos from the Delaware River sites and any other sites within 1500 feet of a residential area is going to pass on May 15. Having led the campaign to restore the city’s zoning control over the casino sites, I am quite certain that the General Assembly will not reverse direction and take that control away from us again. And all those lawyers and public relations people who say that the charter change will be overturned in the courts are just blowing smoke. If there is any justice in Pennsylvania, then the result of the referendum will hold up in court. And, even if justice is lacking, casino opponents have the capacity to use the legal process to block casinos on the water front for years.
Yesterday, as I poured over a map in the Inquirer that showed where casinos could be built that are 1500 feet from any residential area, the solution came to me: Let’s put the casinos near the Airport.
In a moment, I’ll explain why a site near the airport makes sense. But first, let me give some background to this proposal.
What’s Wrong With Casinos On the Riverfront
It is evident by now that the people of this city do not want casinos on the waterfront.
The idea of placing two casinos on the waterfront is a misbegotten experiment in urban planning that is likely to lead to increased traffic, crime, prostitution; a nightly parade of thousands of people leaving the casinos after they have lost a great deal of money and had their fill of free unlimited drinks; and a rash of bankruptcy cases and home foreclosures.
But the anti-casino movement is not just a NIMBY movement. People all over the city are concerned about losing access to the waterfront, especially now that a good planning process could help us make the waterfront into an attractive place for us to live and play as well as work. People concerned about the economy of Philadelphia are also worried the casinos will block the expansion of our port and stand in the way of up to 175,000 new jobs. And we Philadelphians instinctively understand that in this city of neighborhoods, all of us have to stand together to protect any neighborhood threatened by unwise development.
That is why a recent poll shows that 76% of Philadelphians intend to vote yes on the charter change referendum to keep casinos 1500 feet from residential neighborhoods. (I’m proud to say that I came up with the idea for the charter change referendum and the petition drive that so many activists in Casino Free Philadelphia worked so hard to bring to fruition.)
The Case for Casinos
I have been against casinos coming to Philadelphia since they were first proposed. I’m not a gambler. And I worry because gambling is a regressive way of funding our government. Slots parlors are not an answer to our financial worries and do not replace smart economic development policies. Greed has led some people to believe that casinos would result in easy money. But any careful weighing of the pros and cons will show that the economic advantages of casinos are not as great as many people expect.
However, while casino jobs paying $10 an hour without benefits are inferior to longshoreman jobs paying $30 to $40 an hour with benefits, we do need to bring as many new jobs to Philadelphia as possible. The construction jobs brought to the city by casinos will be high paying unionized jobs. In addition, casinos near Philadelphia will help bring in the money the state can use to provide us with wage tax relief.
So the question is, how do we get the benefits of casinos will minimizing the costs?
A Solution: Move The Casinos to the Airport
Moving the two waterfront casinos to sites near the airport offers a solution that will satisfy nearly all our concerns.
First, moving both slot parlors to an airport site will overcome most opposition to casinos in the city. We can approve the May 15 referendum and still have casinos in the city because the airport sites are more than 1500 from a residential area. We can get the construction jobs we badly need and the revenue from gambling that is already built into city and state budgets.
Second, by moving casinos from our residential neighborhoods, we avoid many of the extreme social problems that would be created by slots parlors on the waterfront. The airport would most reduce those negative effects.
We could have our neighborhoods, and our casinos, too.
The airport is ideal because it has the space to hold two casinos (without affecting the nearby wilderness preserve). It is dotted with hotels which would be supported by a casino. And sites at the airport will threaten the small restaurants and taverns in center city that will be unable to compete with a 3,000 slots parlor and unlimited free drinks.
Sites near the airport are accessible by road and commuter rail from the suburbs, New Jersey, and Delaware. And, of course they will be easy to get to from all around the country. These are much more likely than the Delaware River sites to insure that the customers of the casinos mostly come from outside the city to casinos, which is vital if we really want the maximum positive economic impact of gambling.
What We Have to Do to Make It Happen
Putting casinos in this location will require an amendment to Act 71 to allow class 2—stand alone—casinos within ten miles of a racetrack. Those who want the riverfront sites will tell you that the ten mile ban is a “done deal.” But we have heard the done deal line again and again and have seen many of those deals come undone. And, having lead the lobbying effort to give the city zoning control over the casino sites, I am confident that there will be far more support to amend Act 71 to allow casinos near the airport than to overturn the charter change amendment by taking zoning control over the casino sites from us once again..
Some people who dislike gambling entirely will still not be happy. But moving casinos to airport sites will satisfy most of the growing number of anti-casino activists. And it would give Foxwoods and Sugarhouse—which face a referendum that will block the riverfront sites and months and months of legal delays—a place to build and build soon.
My next step is reach out to our politicians, political candidates, labor leaders, and the casino operators for their support of this proposal. Already a few key players have said they are tentatively supportive of the idea.
It is the broken politics of Philadelphia that brought us casinos. It is going to take a creative and innovative solution to fix what our broken politics have given us.
Such as solution is available: Casinos at the airport will enable us to have our neighborhoods, and our casinos, too.