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Dear Commerce Director Naidoff:

The City of Philadelphia has no business giving publicly owned
riverfront land to SugarHouse for a fraction of its real value.
Please disapprove SugarHouse Casino's request for a license to
build its facility on state-owned riverfront lands.

Hallwatch estimates that the publicly owned land SugarHouse
seeks to use for its slots parlor would go for $30 million on
the open market while the Daily News estimates SugarHouse will
only pay slightly more than a quarter of a million if you
approve their application.

Don't do it! State Senator Vincent Fumo and other elected
officials have provided you with compelling evidence that the
City does not have the authority to give away state land for a
fraction of its real value. Please take their advice and say no
to the SugarHouse land grab.

Dear Commerce Director Naidoff:

The city has no business giving publicly owned riverfront land to
SugarHouse for a fraction of its real value. Please support the
interest of the city and its people instead of the interests of a
corporation's bottom line. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Julie Krug

Dear Commerce Director Naidoff:

It is an abomination that the city should be complicit in any
scheme to enrich a few investors at the expense of the taxpayers
of Philadelphia. It is a proven fact that casinos cost
municipalities more revenue, in the long run, than they collect
when weighed against the enormous social costs they generate.

I strongly urge you and the City to use your influence to re-site
these facilities away from neighborhoods, indeed, as far away
from at-risk populations as possible.

Steve Schatz

Dear Commerce Director Naidoff:

You dont have any business giving away state owned rivefront
land for a fraction of its cost to Sugarhouse. Live up the
position you hold, sir. Where is your honor? Where is the
justice in this situation? It is clearly not in this decision.
Please change your mind immediately, and do not "sell" this
land to Sugarhouse!

Jeremy Avellino

Dear Commerce Director Naidoff:
This whole casino deal, was a back room deal between Rendell, Sprague,
and Fumo, and if you grant this request to Sugar House, your as crooked
as Rendell, Sprague, and Fumo are, and you don't deserve to be a public
servant. Can't we have politicans that have some moral values? Why is
everything up for sale to the highest bidder? The profit motive in capitalism
is totally wacked out. Let honesty and integrity start with you. Please do not
sell out to big money.

Sincerely, Elizabeth Bhulem

Dear Commerce Director Naidoff:

The City of Philadelphia has no business giving publicly owned
riverfront land to SugarHouse for a fraction of its real value.
Please disapprove SugarHouse Casino's request for a license to
build its facility on state-owned riverfront lands.

Hallwatch estimates that the publicly owned land SugarHouse
seeks to use for its slots parlor would go for $30 million on
the open market while the Daily News estimates SugarHouse will
only pay slightly more than a quarter of a million if you
approve their application.

Don't do it! State Senator Vincent Fumo and other elected
officials have provided you with compelling evidence that the
City does not have the authority to give away state land for a
fraction of its real value. Please take their advice and say no
to the SugarHouse land grab.

Dear Commerce Director Naidoff:

It seems that the intention of the lawmakers who made the laws
regarding issuance of government owned land, was not to give it
away without regard to the environs or the citizens that would be
affected by that gift, or the control of the use of that land.

Justice is in the way that our laws are served, not in serving
those who wish to interpret the laws to suit their specific
needs. Our law makers create these laws for preservation and
protection of the correctness in serving the citizens and land
use of the voters that elected them.

When conflict of interest occurs, those in service must learn to
step aside and allow those with a clear vision of the law and
intention of said law to be practiced. Allowing a "quick fix" to
financial issues creates more problems.

I've often seen naughty children look for loopholes to cover for
their bad behavior or bad decision. Stretching for the
opportunity to "be right" doesn't mean that it is correct.

Stand the ground of correctness. Raise a voice to make the
intention of these laws be heard. Defend the law, don't
compromise it, and the right decision, the correct approach, to
this mess will be made to the benefit of all concerned.

Represent those whom you will have to face when your
responsibility is done. Make the decision that may be difficult
but correct. Support your government (it wrote the laws), support
your citizens, and support your city..... know that there has to
be a better answer than giving up and giving away what can't be
retrieved. Once it's gone, it cannot be retrieved. Once it's
committed, the sin cannot be retracted.

Step up. Step out. Be accountable.

Miriam Handorf
Queen Village Home Owner

Dear Commerce Director Naidoff:

The City of Philadelphia has no business giving publicly owned
riverfront land to SugarHouse for a fraction of its real value.
Please disapprove SugarHouse Casino's request for a license to
build its facility on state-owned riverfront lands.

Hallwatch estimates that the publicly owned land SugarHouse
seeks to use for its slots parlor would go for $30 million on
the open market while the Daily News estimates SugarHouse will
only pay slightly more than a quarter of a million if you
approve their application.

Don't do it! You have been provided with compelling evidence
that the City does not have the authority to give away state
land for a fraction of its real value. Please take their advice
and say no to the SugarHouse land grab.

Dear Commerce Director Naidoff:

The casinos will be a bad thing for the neighborhoods! Please
protect our quality of life by denying the land grab!

Sincerely,
Carol Haufler

Dear Commerce Director Naidoff:

Deny Sugarhouse's application for riparian rights for legal,
moral, ethical & environmental reasons.

Dear Commerce Director Naidoff:

The City of Philadelphia has no business giving publicly owned
riverfront land to SugarHouse for a fraction of its real value.
Please disapprove SugarHouse Casino's request for a license to
build its facility on state-owned riverfront lands.

Hallwatch estimates that the publicly owned land SugarHouse
seeks to use for its slots parlor would go for $30 million on
the open market while the Daily News estimates SugarHouse will
only pay slightly more than a quarter of a million if you
approve their application.

Don't do it! State Senator Vincent Fumo and other elected
officials have provided you with compelling evidence that the
City does not have the authority to give away state land for a
fraction of its real value. Please take their advice and say no
to the SugarHouse land grab.

Mary O. Reinhart
Philadelphia

Dear Commerce Director Naidoff:

Dear Commerce Director Naidoff:

In the short window of time I've had to research whether or not you can - and
should issue a license to occupy submerged lands belonging to the commonwealth
I've come across information asserting that the state is the sole authority in such
matters.

The following passage provides further evidence that the enactment of the 1978
Pennsylvania Dam Safety and Encroachments Act repealed the City's authroity to
convey submerged lands.

This passage was taken from a document on the DEP website regarding the Coastal
Zone Management Program. The full document can be viewed at
www.dep.state.pa.us/river/docs/05performance_report.doc

"CZM SERO staff has initiated a project that would transcribe all licenses previously
issued over the past 150+ years by the Warden’s Office, State Navigation
Commission, and the Philadelphia Department of Commerce into an Excel
spreadsheet. Each of these agencies was at one time or another responsible for
issuing permits and licenses that are required to construct structures in, and occupy
submerged lands in the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers. The current permitting and
licensing agency is DEP. SERO and CZM must first laboriously research these old
licenses to determine what activities are permitted and licensed and which activities
are not, prior to DEP issuing an encroachment permit and Submerged Lands License
Agreement. "

You are attempting to circumvent the established state riparian process because our
elected officials will not advance The SugarHouse Slot Parlor at this location. Even
if you believe you have the legal right to do so - you are violating the spirit of law
and trammpling on democracy.

Furthermore, the SugarHouse site has been identified as possibly containing ‘highly
significant artifacts’. It’s my understanding these artifacts could be as historically
significant as those found at the National Constitution and President’s House sites.

The area of the SugarHouse site is Arguably one of the most important historical
sites in Philadelphia and the Commonwealth. As the site of one of the most iconic
and often cited historical events, Penn’s Treaty with the Lenape Indians, this area is
sacred. The treaty was thought to have happened at "Shackamaxon," and today
Shackamaxon Street is on the SugarHouse site. In 1683 William Penn lived in a
house on Shackamaxon, therefore the potential for archeological evidence should
be given the highest priority. William Penn's place is history is as important as that
of Ben Franklin and George Washington. In fact it was Penn's ideas that inspired
these great men and formed of the basis of the American Constitution.

You can review the Phase I archeological survey and additional information about
the using the following links:

http://www.hallwatch.org/casinos/sugarhouse/legal/archaeological_survey

www.penntreatymuseum.org

Dear Commerce Director Naidoff:

Please, please, remember the CITIZENS of this city, who are standing up in great
numbers to tell you that they do not want their town dstroyed by these casinos.

Our quality of life, our air quality, our traffic flow, our health, all these will suffer.
And who will benefit? Fat cats and dirty politicians who will make money on this
deal. it is shameful.

Please do WHAT IS RIGHT.

Thank you,
Jessica Burns

Dear Commerce Director Naidoff:

Clearly, this process needs more time and more public input. It is obvious that the
city administration and Sugarhouse are citing an archaic act for a purpose different
than what the act was originally intended for. This legal acrobatics and the rest of
the process has been shrouded in secrecy, an undemocratic method that should be
repudiated in favor of the input-oriented planning process exhibited by PennPraxis
in their plan for the waterfront. Is this really the best vision the city has to offer for
the waterfront? What a shame? What about parks, theaters, shops and other mixed
use development beneficial for everyone?

Dear Director Naidoff,

The City of Philadelphia has no business giving publicly owned
riverfront land to SugarHouse for a fraction of its real value.
Please disapprove SugarHouse Casino's request for a license to
build its facility on state-owned riverfront lands.

Hallwatch estimates that the publicly owned land SugarHouse seeks
to use for its slots parlor would go for $30 million on the open
market while the Daily News estimates SugarHouse will only pay
slightly more than a quarter of a million if you approve their
application.

Don't do it! State Senator Vincent Fumo and other elected
officials have provided you with compelling evidence that the
City does not have the authority to give away state land for a
fraction of its real value. Please take their advice and say no
to the SugarHouse land grab.

Mayor Nutter said "I would certainly hope that they [Rendell and
Street] would extend the same courtesy and respect that either
one of them would have wanted upon their coming into office."
Nutter said, "There should not be any long-term impactful
decisions being made at this point by Mayor Street for which he
will not have to deal with the consequences. It's only two
months. What's the big rush at this point?"

Dear Commerce Director Naidoff:

Dear Commerce Director Naidoff:

The City of Philadelphia has no business giving publicly owned
riverfront land to SugarHouse for a fraction of its real value.
Please disapprove SugarHouse Casino's request for a license to
build its facility on state-owned riverfront lands.

Hallwatch estimates that the publicly owned land SugarHouse seeks
to use for its slots parlor would go for $30 million on the open
market while the Daily News estimates SugarHouse will only pay
slightly more than a quarter of a million if you approve their
application.

Don't do it! State Senator Vincent Fumo and other elected
officials have provided you with compelling evidence that the
City does not have the authority to give away state land for a
fraction of its real value. Please take their advice and say no
to the SugarHouse land grab.

Dear Commerce Director Naidoff:

I urge you to recognize that you, as an appointed Director of
the Commerce Department, in fact have no true authority to grant
a license for SugarHouse Casino to build on riparian lands, as
that land is held in trust by the state for the people. Only the
General Assembly has the right to convey public state lands to
private uses. Please do not subject the city to unnecessary and
expensive litigation while trying to appease one private
developer. This issue is much too important to be decided by one
appointee within a lame duck administration, and subverts the
legal and traditional authority of the State to transfer this
property, not to mention flies in the face of the stated will of
tens of thousands of Philadelphians who wish to have a say in
how their riverfront is developed.

Dear Commerce Director Naidoff: Does the City of Philadelphia have unlimited funds
to involve itself in issues in which it does not have legal standing? You cannot be
unaware that you - as Commerce Director - do not have the legal standing to
ignore and unilaterally rule on issues which can only be pursued through State
Government. All you are doing is running up legal bills for the residents of
Philadelphia, monies which could be utilized in ways which could better benefit
them. Many thousands of residents of Philadelphia do not want casinos anywhere
near the proposed sites. If you rule in favor of the casinos - against the will of many
thousands - you will be doing a disservice to all Philadelphians, as well as opening
up a lengthy, expensive, inevitable legal battle, which in the end will doubtless
result in your being shown that you do not have legal standing to make unilateral
decisions regarding sale or leasing of riparian lands, which are owned by the State
and State of Pennsylvania residents, not the City of Philadelphia. The Delaware River
is not the property of the City of Philadelphia, and the City of Philadelphia, through
your office, does not have the right to unilaterally enter into any contractual
agreements with any entity or person(s) to sell,lease or otherwise allow or convey
use of riparian lands that the City of Philadelphia does not own! Do the proper
thing! Tell the casino people that you do not have legal standing to grant them
anything and that they will have to go back to the State, where issues and decisions
of this nature belong and will be properly addressed and resolved. Thank you for
your attention to this important matter.

Sincerely,

Anthony A. P. Stuempfig

Dear Commerce Director Naidoff:

Please disapprove SugarHouse Casino's request for a license to
build its facility on state-owned riverfront lands. SugarHouse
has invoked a hundred year old state law in the hopes of
obtaining from the City that which it has thus been thus far been
unable to obtain from the Commonwealth.

State Senator Vincent Fumo and other elected officials have
provided you with compelling evidence that the City does not have
the authority to give away state land for a fraction of its real
value. Please take their advice and say no to the SugarHouse land
grab.

Thank you.

Dear Commerce Director Naidoff:
We recently visited Lyon and Paris, France, the walks along the
riverfront are so beautiful and filled with places to cool off
in the summer (shallow and olympic pools), playgrounds for
children, places to sit and enjoy the view, places to hold
events and concerts and memorials to remind us of thoes who have
gone before and given so much for us. Why can't we do it here?
Think about the impact of a big box building on the waterfront.
Is this the message we want to send to the world about
Philadelphia?
Do the right thing...

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