Construction equipment at SugarHouse site vandalized

Vandals damaged several pieces of heavy equipment on the construction site for the SugarHouse casino, just hours after the project's investors held their groundbreaking ceremony.

Construction workers arrived at 6:30 a.m. yesterday and found hydraulic lines slashed on a bulldozer, crane, back hoe and dump truck. That delayed work at the site at Delaware Avenue and Shackamaxon Street for a few hours, said SugarHouse spokeswoman Leigh Whitaker.

"Construction didn't stop," Whitaker added. "We were back in business in a couple of hours."

Whitaker said the repairs cost "a couple thousand dollars."

Casino-Free Philadelphia held a loud rally with about 50 protesters during Thursday's groundbreaking, using bull horns to try to drown out remarks by the investors and guests such as Mayor Nutter and City Councilman Frank DiCicco.

The group said in a statement yesterday that it learned about the vandalism from the media.

"We were not involved with this incident in any way," the group's statement said. "While we have always advocated for the voice of the people to be heard through legal, democratic means of expression, we are a group that practices nonviolence and we have never, nor will we ever, damage property and we condemn anyone who does."