27135872
By this time next week, Foxwoods Casino Philadelphia officials, who want to open a slots parlor at Reed Street and Columbus Boulevard, may be celebrating or crying.
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is scheduled to grant two of five casino licenses to Philadelphia applicants Wednesday, the board’s Director of Communications Doug Harbach said.
"All the public input and applicants’ information have [been] entered into the public record, which has been received and closed," Harbach told the Review last Friday. "[Next week] the board will begin the process of determining which of the applicants presented the better project for the community, the City of Philadelphia and the Commonwealth."
Philadelphia isn’t the only city in the running for slots parlors. Dec. 20, the board also will decide which of three applicants will get one license to operate a casino in Pittsburgh and which two of five will receive at-large licenses in the Poconos, Lehigh Valley or Gettysburg.
In the local race, casino opponents — including 1st District Councilman Frank DiCicco whose riverfront district includes four of the proposed sites — are pulling out all the stops. Wednesday morning, the councilman signed a petition to delay the awarding of Philadelphia gaming licenses for six months to create a second public comment period. DiCicco invited members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly to the Foxwoods site to join him in the signing. Along with several community groups, City Councilman Darryl Clark and state Rep. Mike O’Brien both signed, according to DiCicco’s aide Brian Abernathy. DiCicco said he filed the petition because all five applicants have altered their site plans "significantly" since the close of the public hearing period in June.
"These plans have been changing," DiCicco told the Review. "As plans evolve, so will the impact on neighborhoods. I just want to make sure that the neighborhoods adjacent to these sites are a part of this process and will continue to be part of this process. I don’t think six months in the scheme of things is that much to ask."
Also making efforts in the final hours was Bella Vista resident Vern Anastasio, who organized a bus rally to Harrisburg Dec. 11. Starting at 7:30 a.m., the bus stopped along Columbus — at Spring Garden Street then Reed — to pick up protestors.
The most public front against Foxwoods, Riverfront Communities United, has been busy, as well. "Until Dec. 20, we will fight and we will continue to inform," Riverfront Communities Chairwoman Rene Goodwin said.
The ad-hoc coalition is comprised of eight civic and business associations, seven of which are South Philly based: Queen Village Neighbors Association; Pennsport Civic Association; Passyunk Square Civic Association; Bella Vista United Civic Association; Whitman Council; Hawthorne Empowerment Coalition; and Head House Square Business District. The eighth is Society Hill Civic Association.
Riverfront Communities met with city officials Dec. 1 for a final round of talks — and to raise some new concerns. The two-hour meeting was chaired by Shawn Fordham of the Mayor’s Commission on Gaming and Janice Woodcock of the city Planning Commission.
One of the latest contentions raised by Goodwin’s group included the proposed site’s proximity — several hundred feet away — from a U.S. Coast Guard station on Columbus, Goodwin said. "Philadelphia is one of a dozen or so ports throughout the United States considered significant to this country’s Homeland Security. The existence of a large facility that would attract nine million people could severely hamper the Coast Guard station’s ability to respond effectively to a threat to national security."
Foxwoods spokesperson Maureen Garrity of Tierney Communications said she doesn’t think a military office near the proposed site would pose a problem. "Plans for our facility have been public for months and no concern has been expressed to Foxwoods by the Coast Guard or other emergency response officials."
Another Riverfront concern hones in on one of Foxwoods biggest selling points: The nearly thousand jobs it could bring to the area.
When applicants — including Donald Trump who is among the five vying for a license — testified at one of the 13 hearings Nov. 14 before the Gaming Board in Harrisburg, Foxwoods officials said they planned to import managers from their Mashantucket, Conn., location. According to Goodwin, who was at the testimony, the remaining jobs would be low-paying with no room for advancement.
"We’ve been open and honest in saying that many of the upper-level gaming supervisory positions will initially come from Connecticut to open the property," the spokesperson said. "They have to. This is also an area the PGCB is very interested in, the level of expertise in the field of gaming that we’ll bring in to open and run the casino. It’s one of the reasons that we needed to supply an organizational chart with our application. Unfortunately, these aren’t jobs that are filled from a local job fair or through a training facility. In many cases there are regulations regarding supervisory roles in a casino."
When Foxwoods held its second job fair Nov. 18 at Annunciation BVM school hall, 12th and Wharton streets, Riverfront United protested outside. The first fair also took place at the church July 13.
The recent one Goodwin claimed, attracted many cars with New Jersey and Delaware license plates. Bringing in managers and hiring outside the Philadelphia area translates as Foxwoods not fulfilling its promise of local employment, she said.
But according to Garrity, only 11 attendees at the Nov. 18 event were from New Jersey and none were from Delaware. All 427 applicants were asked to register so Foxwoods could track where they came from. In an effort to solicit local response, Foxwoods advertised both fairs in the Review only, Garrity noted. As a result, the attendees’ dominant ZIP codes were 19147, 19148 and 19145. The spokesperson offered the Review sign-in sheets for verification.
"We’ve said all along that 95 percent of the approximately 950 jobs will come from the local area," Garrity said.
Now that city and state officials have heard from both sides of the casino debate over the last year, the fate of all five applicants — Pinnacle, TrumpStreet, Foxwoods, Riverwalk and SugarHouse — hangs in the balance. When asked if she thinks Foxwoods will win a license, Goodwin said,"I believe that if one looks objectively at all the material presented to the [Gaming Board], if anyone in their right mind looks at all the facts pertaining to the Foxwoods site, it would be difficult to deny the fact that the Foxwoods site is the worst site."
Should the board give the Connecticut-based outfit the green light to break ground, Goodwin and her group will continue their fight.
"We will do everything we can to stop that site from being built," she said. "We’re in it for the long haul."
Foxwoods investors fined
Development mogul Peter DePaul and an investment group of which he is a part, Washington Partners Community Charities L.P., were fined a total of $200,000 after violating a ban on political contributions while seeking a gambling license.
Comprised of more than a dozen investors, including DePaul, Comcast-Spectacor Chairman Ed Snider, real estate developer Ron Rubin, 76ers President/Manager Billy King, former Phillies centerfielder Garry Maddox, music mogul Quincy Jones and Temple University basketball coach Dawn Staley, the group owns 70 percent of the Foxwoods site on Columbus Boulevard and Reed Street. Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, a federally recognized 800-member Native-American tribe, owns the remaining 30 percent.
The Gaming Control Board fined DePaul and the group last week after discovering the former made 21 contributions to individuals after filing for the state license, the board’s Director of Communications Doug Harbach said, adding he could not disclose the recipients. The deadline for casino applications was Dec. 28, 2005.
"The statute provided for fines to be levied by the board by which they fined Mr. DePaul $100,000 and Foxwoods another $100,000," Harbach said.
DePaul’s attorney Paul Rosen did not return calls by press time.
—Lorraine Gennaro
