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
Chris Brennan, Catherine Lucey and Jan Ransom
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.
Comments (37)
@Dadair and dcn: This article is in reference to DC 33 and 47 supporting Bob Brady's casino proposal. They understand that they will have to pay more for penson and benefit costs in their upcoming contract. Pat Gillespie and his cronies already know that no one in the city has the guts to propose an open shop casino option.— Mezike23- What is wrong with this proposal...The naysayers that hate union workers that fight for a decent pay and living are citizens of philadelphia too.Yes your tax dollars pay them but they provide you a service.if you take your car for service do you pay for it ? If someone comes up with a way to provide better service and it cost you nothing why wouldnt you be for it?So you want everything to be run like a wallmart store on how they make millions of dollars and only take care of the ceo's who by the way dont even live in this town and pay there workers min wage with no benifits, less that 40 hrs a week ,no lunch,work holidays ?Do you hate unions that much that you except this treatment of a human being.This could be your daughter or son how would that make you feel then.Everyone should have a opportunity to live the american dream not only a chosen few.If you hate unions that much move to a right to work state down south we dont want you here anymore.You have no morals you anti union people and oh i forgot to mention do you think if the unions that fight for thier right to a decent living didnt set the standard for non union you would be making a decent living? You would be making wallmart wages you idiot..Now wallmart workers are fighting back.kudos to them!!— REALCITYSLICKER
- the whole thing is unreal. please don't let this happen. As an aside, how much more money is out there that people are going to pump into a slot machine or lay down at a betting table? Must be lots with all these casinos.— Lil Bobby
- It is absolutely DISINGENUOUS of these reporters to suggest that the 100-plus firefighters of Local 22 were in Council today to support Brady's half-baked plan for a city-owned casino. they were NOT. Thyey were there to protest Nutter's plan to transfer the city's most firefighters to new locations around the city. Council agreed that it's a terrible idea and has called for public hearings on 11/27.— Dupes1
- Brady's minions packed City hall, what a surprise. Brady is exhibit A in what's wrong with this city, along with Uncle Vince, the Street boys, Jannie Blackwell, Jim Kenney, and the rest of the city council bozos.— jcc1960
- being involved in politics at the local level is not wrong. go ahead, you can take your group and go down there too. nothing is stopping you. — Ryan
- Great...incompetent city officials and incompetent union members united as one....there's a recipe for disaster (and stupidity)— true123
- Between Council and all the Union members I understand combined IQ hit triple digits in chambers today!— Earl J
- They do such a good job with the PGW and the Convention Center...what could possibly go wrong? LMAO.— jimmymack
Since this casino is the MOST STUPID idea in the last 20 years coming out of Bloated Brady (which is saying alot). I'm not surprised the re-treads in UNIONS think it's a great idea. If you told the union re-treads we were turning the river into a swimming pool they'd want a free summer membership for their families as part of their contract.- City officials and City Council will never stand up to the union's, for the majority of them receive political contributions through the union PAC groups!!!
I've heard a number of elected officials say they take money from political action committees, but it doesn't mean they will vote the way the PAC groups want them to vote!! That sounds good, but in practice is it?? An old English axiom states: "If you take the King's bread, you follow the King's order." So, when a elected official takes money from a PAC, no matter what they say, they're bound to lose some independence!!!— Dadair1 - "alleged underfunded pension fund." Yes there are also rumors that Pete Matthews and Bob Brady aren't morons but an actuarial study has been done and it turns out it's true.— bullrun
- what an outrageous idea! you mean to tell me they want to have the profits of the casino go towards something good like pensions and education , instead of going to the bank accounts of billionaires like god intended?! I can't believe it. that's crazy!— Ryan
- Does fat Bob Brady work? How about his union sheep?— Nipsey Russell
What a novel idea for rescuing the works who'll get laid off when the State goes out of the liquor business.
On top of that a city-owned casino would probably qualify as the largest and deepest cesspool for providing patronage jobs.
This is the most sensible political solution to building anymore casinos so an outside corporation can export Philadelphia's money to some foreign bank account. It is sensible to siphon off the illegal gambling rackets, operates with impunity, until very recently. Unless you are a paid lobbyist for the black and italian mafia bookie cartels, or an unwitting fool, a city built, city owned casino will keep our money with ourselves. Why we should we give any corporation in this day and age a license to steal our money by granting them a casino license is unexplainable. By stopping the export of money outside of the regional economy and giving the public something they can spend their money on with their own free will, we achieve 2 wins for freedom and liberty. We can fund, build, own and profit from this activity, just like the state store system. Why should be needlessly enrich people who spit on us, even here in these comments. We are not the 47%, we are Americans and we can do whatever we want. We should do what ever is good policy, in this case denying criminal organizations gambling revenue and denying corporate America a chance to export our dollars outside of our regional economy to our everlasting detriment.- "We can fund, build, own and profit from this activity, just like the state store system..."
Wait, what!?!? The State Store system is terrible! The stores are awful, prices are insane and the customer service is nonexistent. I watched 20+ people wait in line at ONE OPEN REGISTER last year around Christmas...while at least 5 state store workers STOOD THERE AND WATCHED. What is this "profit" you speak of?— Strongbow - like it or not, the state stores make the state a TON of money on a year in year out basis. that's why it hasn't been sold off, because they can't figure out how to replace the money it makes. — Ryan
- Not true. They actually consume most of what they make just operating and PA gets less and less each year:
http://paindependent.com/2012/07/financials-show-liquor-board-not-as-profitable-as-state-claims/— Strongbow - This is a wildly stupid idea. We already are the in the liquor business and the PA State Stores aren't exactly the model of good prices, efficiency or customer service. Will the gov't-run casino also be closed on gov't holidays...like the State Stores are, LOL?— Strongbow
- Great, soon we will all work for the city. Happy days are here again.— harbc
- There are so many egregious problems with this plan that it's difficult even to know where to start. I'll just mention that Nutter "not having a position" on a plan that violates our constitution is so typical of the liberal mindset. We are living in a madhouse, literally. How can an elected official do anything BUT BE AGAINST something which violates the constitution??? Good lord!!!!!!!!!!— hotelguy
- If it is put to a vote it will pass. In elections majority rules, not necessarily common sense.— towman
- Factoid of the Day: The phrase "reeks of desparation" was first uttered in 1953, when a similar proposal was floated in NYC.— teardownthisfishwrap
- What?— Getinline
- 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
- 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
- It's too late you dopes. The application deadline is today.
- @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
- Yeah, Fat Bob Brady is realy concerned about the schools. LOL!!— LouDiamondPhillipsheadScrewdriver
- The unions want to build it, they don't care if people come to it or not after it is built.— TheGuyfromPhilly
- I am Union, now gimme.— CD75
- 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
- @Wildman Bill: Your lips, god's ears...— PotteryPete
- 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 - Yes, just another scheme for you and I to pay Union salaries.— Bede19025
- 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
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