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Did Rendell renege on his promise to help move the casinos?
By Ed Goppelt
Wednesday, 10/10/07
(1192042169710)
Governor Ed Rendell has given up on a two month long effort to find new locations for the two Philadelphia casinos according to a letter the Governor wrote yesterday. Both Foxwoods and SugarHouse Casinos politely declined Rendell’s offer to consider moving elsewhere about a month ago.
“As I explained when we met, the commonwealth has no authority to require [the casinos] to accept alternate sites," Rendell wrote in an October 9 letter to Bella Vista resident Gaetano Piccirilli. "Therefore, I must reluctantly inform you that the issue of re-siting is over."
Rendell had promised at an August 3 meeting with the DRNA, a coalition of community groups, to help relocate the casinos at least 1500 ft. from residential neighborhoods. In his letter to Piccirilli, however, Rendell makes no mention of the DRNA.
“As we discussed, I remain willing to meet with you again to discuss the status of other issues related to casino development including traffic and parking concerns, fears of increased crime, etc,” Rendell wrote Piccirilli who is one of Bella Vista’s delegate to the DRNA.
Piccirilli received the letter from Nina Tinari, a "special assistant to the Governor" based in Philadelphia. Tinari, who said her job was to "handle special projects the Governor assigns me" referred questions about the letter to press secretary Chuck Ardo.
Ardo said that while the letter was intended to be shared with residents, he wouldn’t confirm that the Governor’s invitation to discuss mitigating the bad effects of the casinos included the DRNA as well as Piccirilli. “I would have to see the letter,” said Ardo who was not in his office.
Rendell said at the August 3 meeting that he would help with resiting only if somebody came to him with a list of alternative sites. Councilman Frank DiCicco, whose district includes both casino sites, quickly took the Governor up on his offer on August 9, eventually sending him a total of nine alternative sites to consider.
Three weeks later on August 30 Rendell asked the casinos to consider moving to alternative locations proposed by DiCicco and the community groups, but told them they didn’t have to.
Although both casinos declined the Governor’s request on September 11, 2007, he did not inform Piccirilli, other residents or Councilman DiCicco of his failure to persuade the casinos to relocate for another four weeks.
Did the Governor keep his promise to help persuade the casinos to relocate? Other than writing the casinos a letter asking them to move, it’s unclear what, if anything, the Governor has done to advance the cause of resiting.
Ardo defended his boss' efforts. “I think the Governor did what he said he would do,” said Ardo. “He contacted the casino operators to offer them alternatives to the sites that are in dispute.”
However, the DRNA made clear that it wanted more from Rendell than just a letter to the casinos asking them to move. “We do not believe it would be a useful procedure to simply forward these lists to the casino operators with an inquiry about whether they want to move. Instead, we believe that further research, and a substantive process that includes your personal and active participation, will be necessary to ensure that this process is productive,” the coalition wrote the Governor on September 4, 2007.
In addition, community leaders said they heard the Governor commit to a more ambitious agenda than simply writing the casinos a letter. According to the Inquirer report on the August meeting the Governor agreed to:
Ardo said he didn’t know whether the Governor offered financial incentives the way state Senator Vincent Fumo. Fumo offered Foxwoods $30 million and free land to move, but said the casino company turned him down flat.
The current sites for Foxwoods and SugarHouse Casinos are located right next to residential neighborhoods of Pennsport, Northern Liberties and Fishtown. 5,855 people live within 1,500 ft. of the Foxwoods site; 3,808 people within 1500 ft. of SugarHouse.
This past week Philadelphians wrote Rendell 456 letters asking for a detailed report on his efforts to locate the two Philadelphia casinos away from their current sites right to next to neighborhoods.
Disclaimer: The author of this story is a delegate to the DRNA. Contact the author, Ed Goppelt, at webmaster @ hallwatch.org.