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Friday, August 28, 2009

Philly Legislators Angered By Foxwoods Ruling

State Sen. Larry Farnese and State Rep. Mike O'Brien just put out this news release about today's ruling by the state Gaming Control Board about the Foxwoods casino:

HARRISBURG, Aug. 28 – State Rep. Mike O'Brien and Sen. Larry Farnese today chided the state gaming control board for granting the Foxwoods casino developers a two-year extension on their slots license and insisting they get the casino up and running at its originally proposed location on Columbus Boulevard in South Philadelphia.

The board approved the extension at a public hearing in Harrisburg today.

“It is improbable that Foxwoods will be up and running within 21 months at the Columbus Boulevard site,” O’Brien said. “By granting this extension the board has failed in its fiduciary obligation to the people.”

The lawmakers said the board stepped beyond its role by interfering with an agreement forged among Foxwoods developers, Gov. Ed Rendell, Mayor Michael Nutter and other lawmakers last year to have the casino move to another location in the city.

“Foxwoods agreed to move to a new location because the owners knew they had failed to alleviate the land use, infrastructure, transportation and safety concerns chronicled by lawmakers, including Mayor Nutter, local residents and businesses,” Farnese said. “We were working toward a real plan that could provide sustainable revenues for the property tax and wage tax relief promised by casino gaming,” added O’Brien.

Farnese and O'Brien said they also were troubled by the lack of public input at the hearing.

"This is a complete departure from what Foxwoods has been telling the public for the last year," Farnese said. "The gaming board should have held this hearing in Philadelphia and allowed the public to speak."

The proposed casino site is within the lawmakers’ legislative districts. They said that while they appreciate the board’s intent to see the original plan developed, they will continue to oppose this site and will stand with their constituents.
Posted by Chris Brennan @ 3:46 PM  Permalink | 19 comments
Comments   
  • Comment removed.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 4:31 PM, 08/28/2009
    These two elected officials have not brought one new job to Philadelphia and yet they encourage the City to continue to spend ce taxpayor dollars to fight this development that will bring good jobs and enhance our tourism industry. Are we evr going to get elected officials with real leadership abilities?
    — equalityman
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 4:36 PM, 08/28/2009
    FishtownYo obviously has know idea who FishtownMom is. Your comment is laughably out of touch. (That sort of comforts me). O'Brien's days as a state rep are numbered. He speaks for a small block of nubies who he hopes will win the day. Farnese? Take one look at him. That's all you need to do. Foxwoods: Back to the River where u belong.
    — PhillyS1980
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 5:17 PM, 08/28/2009
    equalityman, it is not the city's responsibility to bring new jobs. It IS their responsible to provide us with a stable environment than encourages proper growth. Jobs are not guaranteed by the casinos. I'd wish you'd stop spreading that lie. They are more likely to take jobs away from local bars and restaurants who have to shut down because of the casinos. How can one compete with free drinks and buffet?
    — testedpatience
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 5:18 PM, 08/28/2009
    The wolves are all out and looking for their share of the loot. We can't complaint. We have the best politicians money can buy.
    — DonQ
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:08 PM, 08/28/2009
    Too bad this is going to be in your district again, but a casino has no place in Chinatown or Center City. What traffic will be in the neighborhoods surrounding this site? 95 south exits a block north of the site and 95 north is about a mile north. Unless the strip clubs, ikea, and fast food joints don't want more people passing by their businesses who is going to be effected? These politicians should instead push Foxwoods to move the SS US to their site and use it as part of their plan.
    — flavious27
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:13 PM, 08/28/2009
    The General Assembly wrote the law creating this process and Governor Rendell signed it. O'Brien and Farnese should either get the votes to change the law or quit crying about it.
    — anodyne
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:47 PM, 08/28/2009
    This is ALL BECAUSE of the politicians playing games with this issue. no pun intended. they can't imagine the investors pulling the plug on a 160 million dollar investment? how about not expecting ANY OTHER BUSINESS making that type of investment ever again in the city of Bankruptdelphia! Maybe if the politicos would stop thinking about their jobs and the few screaming NIMBYS and grow a pair and actually do there jobs for the GOOD OF THE PEOPLE, we wouldn't have this mess. When they do close the libraries and the pools and the rec centers and charge you to pick up trash and no potholes get fixed or any number of things people love to complain about, you can thank the no casino rhetoric.
    — bingo
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:53 PM, 08/28/2009
    I would build a casino on EVERY corner in every neighborhood if it would give money to the city...if it means keeping libraries open, if it means books in the class room, and banning the words doomsday budget ever again...i would do it... last I looked there are casinos everywhere and slots gambling is LEGAL HERE! Ever person who is protesting casinos, should not have there trash picked up and have to pay twice the taxes. really sick of selfish people.
    — bingo
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:55 PM, 08/28/2009
    Mike O'Brien is all about "best land use" - he's not anti-casino. O'Brien advocates developing the waterfront by expanding the street grid and with mixed uses: business, green space, new housing. This would be "best land use". The PA legislature has already changed the original gaming law. O'Brien and Farnese have suggested more changes to the law - so casinos could be located at the old airport overseas terminal. This way, casinos would be far away from people's homes, there's built-in infrastructure (parking & highway access), and you could still develop the waterfront in a world-class way. It's called a win-win. Their legislation never gets passed because Rendell and his cronies (Decker etc) have the legislature in their back pocket. FINALLY, all this talk of box stores, strip clubs, and abandoned lots is an intellectually dishonest argument for casinos on the waterfront. It says: since there has been awful development in the past - I can now justify more bad development. Truly moronic. Even worse, it's typical of the low expectations many Phila residents have.
    — rbpeeple
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 7:04 PM, 08/28/2009
    Also, remember, of the $26MM total that Foxwoods/SugarHouse tell Philadelphia they will be getting in taxes each year - $10-14MM of that will be need to bankroll the 100-140 new police officers that need to be hired. Yep. Then, subtract the tax revenue that casinos will be siphoning off existing businesses (people only have so much discretionary income). A night at the casino means less nights the local pub/restaurant. Then you have cost of traffic delays when you add 40-60K cars. How do you calculate the cost of people avoiding the city altogether because of traffic? Then you have the costs of drunk driving, property crime, bankruptcy that casinos bring. That's just the start. Casinos are not the cure, people. The positive, as I see it, is that Rendell's cronies get super-rich. Later, after we all forget, Rendell will get the favor returned to him.
    — rbpeeple
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 7:11 PM, 08/28/2009
    p.s. - has anyone noticed that the Cozen O'Connor law firm now represents 3 of the 6 stand-alone PA casinos? Yep...Foxwoods, SugarHouse, and Mount Airy. Cozen's CEO is Tad Decker - who was the PGCB head when casino licenses were issued. And we wondered why a guy like Decker would leave his million-dollar Cozen O'Connor job for a $150K PGCB job. Then, he said he did it to help out his old UPenn roommate Ed Rendell. WHAT A GUY!!
    — rbpeeple
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 7:35 PM, 08/28/2009
    Rbpeeple the General Assembly willingly wrote a law that provided decisions on siting and ownership group to the Gaming Board so that facilities would be built in a minimum of time and with a minimum of lawsuits and obfuscation from elected officials. That process worked everywhere else in the state but Philadelphia - the place it was MOST intended to address. And if Rendell has the legislature in his back pocket then why are we the laughingstock of the country with a budget two months overdue. More like the rest of the legislators are sick and tired of giving Philadelphia gaming money for tax reduction and convention center expansion while nothing is running here because local politicians posture and defy the law.
    — anodyne
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 7:45 PM, 08/28/2009
    casinos don't siphon tax revenues off existing businesses. If Joe Schmoe spends $100 at the casino versus at a local restaurant, the city still collects the tax revenue.
    — Valley Twin
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 10:23 PM, 08/28/2009
    True Valley Twin, but the original Foxwoods deal involved a lot of tax breaks and in some cases no taxes for several years. Couple that with the tab on infrastructure improvements just to make it work in the crowded Pennsport area (the only ways to get to that part of Columbus Blvd is via I-95 or I-76/676 in the most crowded 4-mile stretch of traffic on either road in the city) and it would be a lot of upfront investment by the city before we'd net one dime in tax revenues from it. And jobs? Beyond the initial construction jobs (assuming that is local union labor) we're talking minimum wage service industry jobs in most cases. Yeah, those jobs are better than no jobs. But when you start depending on those new jobs as key job creation, your city is close to becoming New Orleans.
    — J E


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Chris Brennan, a native Philadelphian and graduate of Temple University, joined the Daily News in 1999. He has written about SEPTA, the Philadelphia School District, the legalization of casino gambling, state government, the mayor, the governor, City Council and political campaigns.
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David Gambacorta spent a small eternity writing about cops, drug dealers and serial killers. Now he’s writing about power and politics ­– which sometimes reminds him of the old crime beat. He joined the Daily News in 2005. And yes, he knows you’re not quite sure how to pronounce his last name. E-mail tips to gambacd@phillynews.com
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Catherine Lucey joined the Daily News in 2002 and has written about murderous drug gangs, political protesters and Harry Potter. After covering the 2007 mayoral election, she moved over to the City Hall bureau where she has been reporting on the Nutter administration.
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Jan Ransom, a native New Yorker, joined the Daily News in 2010 after graduating from Howard University. She has since written about the difficulty of filing police complaints, tax deadbeats and life after violent home invasions. She joined the Daily News City Hall Bureau in 2011 and has plunged headfirst into reporting on administration budget battles and City Council shenanigans.
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