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Editorial | Clearing a Last Hurdle

The slots are coming. Really.

The future site of the SugarHouse Casino, in Fishtown. It, and the Foxwoods Casino, at Reed Street and Columbus Boulevard, have gaming licenses.
The future site of the SugarHouse Casino, in Fishtown. It, and the Foxwoods Casino, at Reed Street and Columbus Boulevard, have gaming licenses.Read moreCLEM MURRAY / Inquirer Staff Photographer

Casinos' arrival in Philadelphia seems like a sure bet with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court rebuffing a key challenge to the state Gaming Control Board's troubling licensing decisions.

In effect, the court last week gave the final green light to plunking down a pair of casinos on the city's heavily congested waterfront.

The City Planning Commission has delayed approval for the Foxwoods slots parlor along the Delaware River in South Philadelphia. But that appears to be only a stumbling block.

With licenses locked up for Foxwoods - at Reed Street and Columbus Boulevard - and for SugarHouse - upriver in Fishtown - the stakes have increased dramatically for city officials. They must do their utmost to assure that the casinos are developed the right way.

It's also vital that the city push ahead with refining its broader vision for developing the seven-mile stretch of waterfront where the casinos will operate.

City Hall officials can no longer delay figuring out how to provide the intensive oversight needed in the casino environs, be it a special-service district or free-standing city office. The idea is to bird-dog casinos' every move, and flag problems - from the logistical (traffic) to the social (petty crime, gambling addiction.)

First principles: shaping the casino development in order to mitigate traffic and to preserve as much public access and views of the Delaware.

The Foxwoods site is jammed with big-box patrons now. The gaming board gave short shrift to traffic woes stemming from two casinos on the waterfront. So the Planning Commission was right to hold off its approval until it can take a closer look at ways to limit gridlock. Foxwoods officials only invited skepticism with their claim that traffic will be improved.

As for the casino designs, it's unfortunate that they're being locked down before Mayor Street's master planning process for the waterfront can be completed.

The Penn Praxis project (www.planphilly.com) launched by the mayor to shape the waterfront has offered sound design principles. They may not have the force of law yet, but the guidelines - if incorporated into the casinos' construction - would yield more public-friendly projects. Instead of hulking garages, parking would be incorporated more discretely, while the overall look would be more campus-like on a European-scale.

Both casinos promise public access to the river, but the sheer size of these projects will obscure more of the Delaware than they reveal. Special steps - in terms of design, signage and festivities - will have to be taken to bring citizens to their waterfront.

Given the inevitability of the casinos, it's difficult to dispel cynicism about the impact of public input. Philadelphians weren't asked whether they wanted casinos. City Hall's best ideas on location were ignored. Despite unanimous votes by City Council, the Supreme Court - acting like a bouncer for the casinos - quashed a referendum on where they should be located.

In the end, it may be that the same court - acting on Foxwoods' pending request - simply orders the city to issue building permits. That would be typical. In such a climate, the arrival of slots casinos in the city feels like an invasion.