Councilman Fights Impact of New Casinos in Philadelphia


by KYW's Mike Dunn
Philadelphia City Council opened its 2007 session on Tuesday with an hour-long meeting dominated by the issue of the two slots parlors slated for the city.
City councilman Frank DiCicco (above, in file photo), in whose district both slots parlors are to be built, introduced a package of bills and resolutions aimed at stalling the process.
Another councilman asked him if this approach could backfire by infuriating state lawmakers, who have given the city zoning oversight. DiCicco said his constituents understand the risks:
“There’s such anger out there, and concern, that people say, 'We want you to fight this as hard as you can,' understanding that we could possibly push the envelope too far and maybe lose all those controls. But that’s the risk they’re willing to take.”
DiCicco’s plans including hiring an attorney to fight the Gaming Control Board in court, and commissioning an independent study of the impact on traffic.


http://www.kyw1060.com/pages/188761....ntentId=294362






Oh.... you so better hope that PA doesn't totally revoke the zoning.



You guys started too late...




I've lived here for over 20 years... they've been planning on riverfront casinos the whole time.


I'd still bet that this "vocal opposition" isn't totally representative of the actual opinion.

Anti-anything are always the most hysterical about it.

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Ah, I can picture it now. Inside the Capital Building state lawmakers are saying, "This is why we never should have let Philadelphia have zoning oversight over its own casinos. Meanwhile Frank DiCicco is filing his nuisance lawsuits and Philadelphia is losing out on tax relief and job creation that the slot parlors would have provided.

F***ing brilliant.

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"Ah, good taste! What a dreadful thing! Taste is the enemy of creativeness."

Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)

What is the purpose of giving the city control of zoning if they cannot control zoning?

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Free hat

Zur, you might actually have a good conspiracy theory going on there.
Dicicco starts juggling a million new pieces of legislature. Fumo,er, I mean the state follows the puppetshow by producing legislature to finally squash philly's chances to fight-you know, so we can continue with Rendell's budget that helps the poor kids get insurance and gives the elderly a $5 dollar realestate tax break. Yeah, that's why were doing it!

Dicicco looks like he tried to do something for the good of us lowly citizen's for his re-election year, and no one will remember Fumo's move by the time his next election comes up-if he's not indicted first.

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Peter Cetera:
Sometimes I just forget
Say things I might regret
It breaks my heart to see you crying

1. They're not true casinos. They're SLOTS PARLORS. Two very different venues.

2. Opposition is to the Reed St/Columbus Blvd SITE LOCATION, which by most all accounts has been labelled as the worst possible site of all options. I don't necessarily hear a lot of opposition to CASINO Gambling at more reasonable sites.

3. What is the extent of the zoning control that we have now? I seriously doubt that if the City pushes the zoning envelope to alleviate to the greatest extent possible the environmental, traffic, and visual impact of the buildings, there won't be some kind of push back from Harrisburg. I wouldn't count on looking to our so-called zoning powers to truly mitagate the negatives of the Foxwoods site. They will be taken away if we try to actually use them, just as quickly if we throw law suits at the State.

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If you can't serve as a good example, you'll just have to be a horrible warning.

Gladys,
I'm glad you are doing what you can to alleviate our neighborhood of the traffic and conjestion that casinos can bring.
However, your post is titled "what can it hurt?".
When citycouncil is forced to make quick zoning decisions, we hurt by overutilization of the law.
Quick reaction by changing the zoning law is exactly why its near impossible to open coffee shops around here. Additionally, Philadelphia's legal definition of "pawn shops" would include any used furniture store, antique store, vintage clothing store, etc. The legal defintion of "check cashing store" includes any bank that procures any secured loan-like a mortgage.

Anyone can say "come on, I know the difference between McDonalds and RedHook Coffee" or "United Check Cashing vs. Washington Mutual" or "Society Hill Pawn vs. Thrift for Aids", but the fact is the law doesn't...which is why so many businesses have been lost in our neighborhoods.

Laws are already on the books to deal with this. Add to the legislation instead of creating more overlap...the casinos will know how to get around any bill passed, while the small business owner will be hit by yet more of Philadelphia's bureaucracy.

__________________
Peter Cetera:
Sometimes I just forget
Say things I might regret
It breaks my heart to see you crying