There are a lot of people in this city who are not giving up the fight against casinos.
I’m one of them.
But our political officials have given up. After kneeling by our side during the 2007 election (you can’t call what they did standing), City Council members and our Mayor have thrown in the towel. Badgered by a Governor intent on securing the most dubious part of his legacy, and a state legislature that wants to suck every possible dollar out of our fellow citizens—and hampered by the need for legislative approval for the tax increases we need to survive the recession—Mayor Nutter and City Council have given up the fight.
We’ll fight on without them.
But here is one thing I just don’t understand. If they won’t fight to keep the casinos out of Center City and the Delaware Waterfront, why won’t they at the very least fight to keep the parking lots and garages away from the river?
Two and a half years ago, at a public meeting on September 16, 2006 to be exact, Scott Maits and I proposed that a new trolley operating on Columbus Boulevard and on an abandoned track that runs behind some of the big box stores south of pier 70 be used to take people to the casino from parking lots located in South Philadelphia near the Sports Arenas. Indeed the Arena parking lots could be used for the casinos when they were not being used for sporting events, as could other parking lots in the area.
In the intervening years, the Delaware River Port Authority has released some preliminary proposals for such a trolley. It is clear that a trolley similar to the one Scott and I proposed is feasible. And since the biggest cost of new trolley lines is in building track, it is affordable as well. And, of course, new money for transit has been provided in President Obama’s stimulus package.
So where are we with the new trolley? Where is the political support for it from our Mayor and Council? Where is the push to get it built and thus save up to 24 acres of parking along the riverfront as well as the prospect of a ten story garage next to the Sugarhouse casino?