Councilman DiCicco Will Sue

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board's decisions are being hailed in some quarters, reviled in others.

KYW Newsradio Team Coverage

The Philadelphia city councilman whose district includes both of the sites chosen says politics, not merit, prompted the Gaming Board’s approvals.  And he’s taking it to court.

KYW's Mike Dunn reports that First District councilman Frank DiCicco is disappointed by the two choices -– particularly the selection of the Foxwoods bid for a casino at Delaware Avenue and Reed Street:

“I have always felt that Foxwoods was the worst site.”

He says the traffic problems there are already enormous and will only get worse:

“There’s total gridlock today. And (with a casino) you raise the level of vehicles by somewhere between two and four million additional vehicles a year. I don’t know how anyone’s going to get to the river.”

DiCicco suspects that the political connections of the two successful applicants played a key role in the awards, and he intends to file a lawsuit to bring the Gaming Board’s decision-making process out into the open:

“For the life of me I just can’t figure out how the Gaming Board made this decision.  And it's one of the reasons I will be filing a suit in the not-too-distant future, to find out what criteria they used to select Foxwoods.”

KYW's John Ostapkovich reports that at a small demonstration in South Philadelphia's Italian Market area, Vern Anastasio of the Bella Vista United Civic Association declared war:

"Our community starts just five short blocks of the Delaware River, and today our leaders in Harrisburg sold us down the river. They sold us down the river and City Hall let it happen."

Anastasio says he's asking City Council to withhold zoning approval indefinitely until alternate sites are explored, and wants every city councilman and the mayor to file an appeal with the Gaming Control Board. 

Anne Dicker, of Neighbors United for the Best Riverfront, says the two worst sites were chosen, and she blames politics, too.

KYW's Mark Abrams reports that Mayor Street was in Harrisburg to hear the state Gaming Board's announcement.

The mayor (right) says he's pleased with the selections, calling both Sugarhouse and Foxwoods "first class" operations:

"It will be a huge boost to the waterfront. And as you know, from (interstate) 95 you can see both of these facilities. There are going to be people who will be driving north and south on 95, they'll look and see these facilities, and they're going to stop and get engaged."

However, Street says, he knows a new I-95 ramp will have to be built near the Foxwoods site to handle traffic flow, and other road improvements will have to be made.

Street says he'll be contacting the governor and the city's congressional delegation for help in making those happen.

KYW's John Ostapkovich has reaction from other quarters to the casino decisions.

He reports that you'll have to excuse Rev. Jesse Brown of "Casino Free Philadelphia" if he's a little relieved, since Trump Street would have been in his neighborhood. But, Brown adds:

"My opposition to them doesn't change.  It does now focus our attention on where we need to make sure communites are impacted as little as possible by the casinos."

He cites traffic and river impact as concerns. 

James Paylor of the Longshoremen's Union agrees, especially about the Foxwoods site, which is wedged between dock facilities.  He worries about trading better-paying port jobs for casino jobs at a time when shipping is booming:

"There's a goose that's laying a golden egg in every other maritime city except in Philadelphia.  They're shooting the goose."

KYW's Suzanne Monaghan reports the current President and CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, and former Pennsylvania Governor, Mark Schweiker says overall, the addition of casinos to the city is positive. 

The Chamber doesn't want to see casinos be the only development to occur along the Philadelphia waterfront.  However, Mark Schweiker says the addition of gaming will bring tremendous economic benefit to the city.

"For residents, the opportunity of 2,000 jobs make it a significant day and on the economic horizon a very significant opportunity for many many parties."

Schweiker says he realizes the casinos are raising traffic concerns, but he says all indications show city council, PennDOT and the Rendell administration are all committed to making the necessary road changes.   

 KYW's Hadas Kuznits reports  those opposed to casinos on Columbus Boulevard and Delaware Avenue protested Wednesday evening in front of the future Sugarhouse casino site on Columbus Boulevard. 

Neighbors, union members and folks from Casino-Free Philadelphia say they didn't start off in opposition to the casinos, but they say issues of traffic and crime are not being addressed and they believe information about the process and the impact of the casinos is being withheld: 

"Most of the stuff has been happening behind closed doors."
"It makes me angry because we're totally shut out of the process!"
"We haven't had access to any of the designs.  There was a study done about exactly revenue can be expected from these casinos.  Nobody's been able to see that!"
"I went to a gaming control board hearing in April, I asked for corrections.  For example, Sugarhouse in their application said that no one lives a block away.  Well, me and my 100 neighbors live a block away."
"The only people who are going to benefit by this is all the people who are big power players in the city! They're gonna get rich on the backs and on the heartache of people in Fishtown and it's a disgrace."
"This was a bad site, this was a bad decision, this was a bad process and we plan on resisting it!"