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Residents protest casinos, lack of time
By Ed Goppelt (webmaster @ hallwatch.org)
Thursday, 04/13/06
(1144960023754)
In an unsual display of citizen concern and anger, about 25-30 young Fishtowners engaged in call and response with a succession of speakers and waved signs to protest the what they say is the inadequate time they have recieved to consider the casinos' plans for their neighborhood.
The demonstration took place outside during yesterday's lunch break in hearings held by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. Apart from some chanting by union members just prior to the lunch break, it was the only whiff of civil disobedience during the three days of public hearings.
At the demonstration, about half a dozen speakers questioned whether casinos would make their community a better place and demanded that Gaming Board give the public more time to consider the different casino proposals.
According to Hannah Miller the demonstration "came together in an instant" the night before at Johnny Brenda's, a popular watering hole for younger Fishtowners. Miller is the Communications Director for Anne Dicker, who is running for the 175th state house district which includes Fishtown.
"People at the gaming hearing were saying 'how can they do this to our neighbors without us doing anything?' said Miller.
While knocking on the district's 4,000 doors Miller said she and Dicker discovered how poorly informed residents were about the casinos proposed for their neighborhoods. "We were shocked and disgusted," said Miller. "When people found out about the casinos they were furious. Nothing like this should happen without neighbors having a say."
Demonstration participant Sarah Thorp said a group of twenty-five of Fishtown's 30-something residents met last week to brainstorm ideas for casino testimony.
"We want another round of hearings," said Thorp. "We didn't have enough time to review everything."
Thorp's group wants the Gaming Board to postpone licensing the Philadelphia casinos for a year. Also calling on the Gaming Board for more time: Northern Liberties Neighbors, New Kensington CDC and Port Richmond.
Thorp argued that Fishtown residents in particular need more time because Fishtown falls within the impact zone of three of the casinos.
"We need time, too," said Thorp, noting that the Gaming Board took three months to screen the local impact reports lest sensitive casino information be inadvertently released to the public.
"Our full time job is not to work on the casinos," pointed out Thorp. Under the Board's current timetable Pennsylvanians will have until June 2, 2006 to submit written comments, after which the record for the Board's "public input hearings" will be closed.
How receptive the Gaming Board will be to delaying licensure of slots applicants for a year remains to be seen. The proceeds from legalized gambling are expected to fund a host of governmental activities including a reduction in the City wage tax and property tax rates in the rest of the state.
The Gaming Board's hearings inside Drexel University's Main Auditorium were largely a decorous affair. Occasionally, the proceedings were enlivened by flashes of passion such as when one casino operator took a thinly veiled shot at their competitor's proposal or residents expressed outrage at the way the casinos had portrayed their neighborhood.
For the most part, however, people played by the rules laid down by the Gaming Board. Casino executives earnestly explained how their proposals would add and not subtract from the city while residents politely expressed positions for, but mainly against the five casinos proposed for Philadelphia.
View photos of the demonstration.