The Delaware riverfront is the wrong location for the proposed SugarHouse and Foxwoods casinos.
That's the conclusion of PennPraxis design experts who prepared a site plan review for Mayor Nutter. It said the proposed big-box slots parlors and their mammoth parking garages wouldn't be compatible with the kind of waterfront most Philadelphians want - walkable, relatively green, connected to the rest of the city.
Among the few people who don't seem to recognize this planning dilemma are the casino developers, the state gaming board and Gov. Rendell, who will convene a meeting today of interested parties.
Unfortunately, the governor is approaching this meeting as if the riverfront casino sites are a done deal. Rendell has said repeatedly that the developers were awarded the rights to build on the riverfront, and the law is the law.
But the gaming law has mocked the public from the start. The legislature passed it virtually without public input, then denied the city the right to have a say on where casinos could be built. It's hard to respect a law that doesn't respect citizens.
And the state gaming board's questionable handling of licenses has undermined public confidence in the entire process.
There's a suspicion that Rendell is holding this meeting as a courtesy to opponents, in light of the PennPraxis report. Instead, the governor and House Appropriations Chairman Dwight Evans (D., Phila.) should use this meeting to persuade the casino developers to locate elsewhere. Opposition to the riverfront sites now includes the mayor, who could conceivably fight these projects for the next seven years.
The city has legitimate concerns about traffic congestion that can't be resolved adequately at the proposed locations. And although the PennPraxis report showed it's conceivable to scale back these projects to fit in with the greener "civic vision" for the waterfront, there's doubt that smaller casinos could satisfy the developers' profit goals.
The proposed building footprints for the 5,000-machine slots parlors are similar in size to the U.S. Mint or to the Gallery shopping mall at Market East. The parking garages would rival the structures at Philadelphia International Airport.
Comprehensive urban planning has never been Rendell's strong suit. But as governor, he has promoted sustainability and vigilant environmental stewardship. His nominee to take over the Department of Environmental Protection, John Hanger, has been one of the most vigorous supporters of Rendell's laudable environmental initiatives. Why then would the governor support projects in the city that are among the least sustainable, most car-dependent proposals, located on the Delaware River?
Nutter and other opponents of putting these casinos on the river are not simply being obstructionist. They have valid issues that haven't been addressed.
Everyone understands the wage-tax relief expected to flow from the slots parlors. But tax relief doesn't need to flow from the waterfront.