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Chair: Matt Ruben, mruben@gmail.com, Debbie King - nortonia@erols.com
The Casino Committee's purpose is to promote the community’s best interests with regard to slots casinos. Its main goals are:
- To learn as much as possible about casino licensing, design, construction,
and operation.
- To educate the community about these matters.
- To communicate the community’s views on casinos to government officials
and the general public.
- To work with casino applicants and other communities to minimize the
negative impacts of any casinos located in or near Northern Liberties.
The NLNA's current stance on casinos
The NLNA general membership has diverse feelings about gambling, Philadelphia casinos in general, and the Sugar House and Foxwoods casinos in particular. Overall, however, the vast majority of NLNA members have expressed serious concerns about casinos, strong criticism of the process by which gambling was legalized in Pennsylvania, and strong opposition to the location of casinos at the sites currently planned for the Sugar House and Foxwoods casinos.
Following the lead of the membership, the NLNA is working - alone and in coalition with other organizations throughout the city - to relocate both proposed Philadelphia casinos. The NLNA also is critical of the process by which casinos were legalized in Pennsylvania and selected in Philadelphia, and has taken legal action aimed at addressing these problems of process.
As a member of the 27-organization Philadelphia Neighborhood Alliance, and at the behest of its general membership, the NLNA will not engage in negotiations with either casino.
Informational links
-Jan 21 Philadelphia Inquirer Editorial calling on the casinos to relocate away from the riverfront:
http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20080121_Editorial__Phila__Casinos.html
Evidence that Philadelphia granted 16 submerged lands licenses since 1978 could be crucial to an upcoming Supreme Court decision. Whether it still exists is another matter. Read more here.
Kellie Patrick Gates reports how the state government and special interest groups have approached the issue of locating two 5,000 slots casinos in Philadelphia. The bottom line? Politicians, activists and slots operators all vow to hold their ground. Click here to view the sites that have been discussed in the past. Read more here
Archeologists at A.D. Marble followed Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission recommendation to look further for remnants of a British fort. Some consulting parties believe the Army Corps has lost control of the process. Read more here
-Inga Saffron's Jan 11 column about saving the waterfront from Casinos:
click here
-Recent PlanPhilly article about the archaeological discoveries on the SugarHouse site:
http://www.planphilly.com/node/2584
-Philadelphia Magazine article "Gaming the System":
http://www.phillymag.com/articles/gaming_the_system/
-Casino Free Philadelphia:
http://casinofreephila.org/
-Queen Village Neighbors Association:
http://www.qvna.org/
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