Union workers pack City Council meeting to support proposal for city-owned casino
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Union workers pack City Council meeting to support proposal for city-owned casino
Members of three municipal unions flooded City Council today to show support for U.S. Rep. Bob Brady's proposal that the city should apply for a casino license.
"We're here in support of a new casino...and having some of the funds for our alleged underfunded pension fund," said AFSCME District Council 33 President Pete Matthews, who represents the city's blue collar workers.
Police officers were also there to show support, with members holding up signs that said: "bet on cops, not millionares."
In Brady's plan, the city would bring in an experienced operator to run the casino and use the profits to fund the Philadelphia School District and the underfunded municipal pension plan.
Mayor Nutter has said the proposal violates the state constitution, but he has taken no position on the plan.
The city's firefighters were also in Council today to protest a plan from Mayor Nutter to annually transfer senior firefighters. Their president, Bill Gault, also said his union supports Brady's casino proposal. Gault said is for any proposal that supports the pension plan.
Lets look at the stupidity of this idea. The unions want to pin the outcome of pensions, school funding on a business that is very cyclical, run by the city(People we know cannot manage money) and with union labor in Philly. The city cannot get the Convention Center business model right and now another even riskier venture. I see nothing but red ink and bailouts.— Wildman Bill- Yes, just another scheme for you and I to pay Union salaries.— Bede19025
- We're finally starting to loosen unreasonable grip unions have on this city. Oh joy, it'll give them jobs. But, I'm guessing we'll have MORE union members working at the casino. What happens when they decide to strike, holding the city hostage for their demands. I swear we're watching some poorly written sitcom. I can't believe this is even being considered! If it's even remotely legal (and something tells me it's not), it needs to be put to a vote by people of Philadelphia.
This idea is only worse than putting a casino at Broad and Callowhill.— PotteryPete - @Wildman Bill: Your lips, god's ears...— PotteryPete
- What a great idea! Let's put a Casino in a run-down, decayed industrial, inaccessable, Mafia-run area of the City that people are scared to go into. It will have so much business!— CD75
- I am Union, now gimme.— CD75
- The unions want to build it, they don't care if people come to it or not after it is built.— TheGuyfromPhilly
- If an outside, reputable firm will run the casino, I honestly see nothing wrong with trying this. I for one am tired of seeing the mayor raising my property taxes year after year and now with the AVI who knows how high they will go now. Anything that takes the burdon away from the tax payers is a good idea on paper.— PhillyTaz
- Yeah, Fat Bob Brady is realy concerned about the schools. LOL!!— LouDiamondPhillipsheadScrewdriver
- @PhillyTaz: As a Philadelphian, I agree with you - I'm tired of the mayor raising my property taxes too. But, a city that; can barely manage the convention center, is already rife with corruption among its ranks and is a government entity, has no business running businesses. Another consideration, I would imagine, would be the conflict of interest of a business being run by the city and regulated and policed by the city.— PotteryPete
- It's too late you dopes. The application deadline is today.
- Why am I not surprised at this fiasco!!! Didn't they pull the same stunt to build the Convention Center!!! Look how well that turned out!!— Dadair1
- Not a smart idea and here is why. First, giving corrupt politicians access to more of our tax dollars, which they will misuse, misspend, misplace. Then add the overcharging/overpriced Unions doing the work and what we have is a bloated financially doomed public works program that will end up raising our taxes to cover the above mentioned problems. Then the city will go and sell the property to a private, politically connected wealthy person for pennies on the dollars and this will allow the connected rich person to get even richer. Dumb idea all around. Let a private company make a proposal, let them spend the private money to fund the program (no tax breaks, etc) and let the unions bid on work like the rest of us.— dcn
- What?— Getinline
- Factoid of the Day: The phrase "reeks of desparation" was first uttered in 1953, when a similar proposal was floated in NYC.— teardownthisfishwrap
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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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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. E-mail tips to ransomj@phillynews.com
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Sean Collins Walsh is from Bucks County and went to Northwestern University. He joined the Daily News copy desk in 2012 and now covers the Nutter administration. Before that, he interned at papers including The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Seattle Times. E-mail tips to walshSE@phillynews.com
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