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Gaming Board policy silences dissident Philadelphians
By Ed Goppelt (webmaster@hallwatch.org)
Thursday, 05/18/06
(1147964879248)
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board continues to make life difficult for Philadelphians who question the wisdom of placing large Las Vegas sized casinos in their residential neighborhoods. Although two of the Philly casino applicants--Foxwoods and Pinnacle--have yet to provide neighbors with detailed traffic studies, the Gaming Board has shown no willingness to postpone its June 2 deadline for public comment.
Now the Gaming Board is refusing to accept faxes from residents into its official record. This means that the Gaming Board will not consider the views of the 201 people who have used Hallwatch's Faxbank facility to contact the Gaming Board over the past few weeks.
Hallwatch wrote the following letter to Gaming Board Executive Director Anne LaCour Neeb asking for an explanation. When and if Neeb responds, Hallwatch will post her letter as well.
May 16, 2006
Ms. Anne LaCour Neeb
Executive Director
Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board
303 Walnut Street
Harrisburg, PA 17101
Re: Including citizen faxes into the PGCB’s evidentiary record
VIA FAX 717-346-8350
Dear Ms. Neeb:
To date Philadelphia residents have used Hallwatch to send the Gaming Board 197 faxes concerning the casinos proposed for their neighborhoods. You informed me recently that “faxes cannot be submitted because the document has to be signed and the original needs to be entered into the record.” PGCB’s focus on what cannot be done—its “can’t-do-ism”—is not the standard of public service I would like to see my government officials aspire to.
Faxes and email are commonly used in both the business and legal worlds to communicate binding contracts, orders and tax returns. As a concerned citizen, I could send my written comments on draft temporary regulations that would establish procedures for the administration and distribution of all net slot machine revenue under the Gaming Act via fax or email.
If the Pennsylvania Dept. of Revenue can accept public comment via fax, what is preventing you from accepting public testimony the same way? Would you please identify the law or regulation which prohibits the Gaming Board from accepting anything other than signed original documents into the record?
“The Gaming Control Board is committed to ensuring that people across Pennsylvania have an opportunity for their views to become part of the permanent record…” –Those are your words from a December 31 press release. I suggest that accepting all public comments into the official written record, whether faxed or emailed, would be a good way to demonstrate your commitment to a robust public debate on the casinos.
Sincerely, Edmund Goppelt
Cc: Thomas A. Decker, Esq., Chairman