We do not have anything in writing to date except for the meetings that we have attended, but I have actually started to put persons and businesses in contact with the procurement person at SugarHouse after the meeting that I had with them, so I know that action has started on that part.
We did the same thing. We have a meeting with them and they promised they going to, you know, give us the same opportunity. And I think Asian community really grow -- you know, growing; we need job opportunity. And I think, you know, they -- we, you know, want them to keep their promise and, you know, and give us equal opportunity in the 342 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation woman's and the minority business.
One of the predictors of future behavior is past behavior, so given the history of SugarHouse and Foxwoods and their past performance in this area, do you have a level of confidence that given their past performance --
I think at this time, they really outreach to us and we didn't -- you know, talking to them. And this really, you know, give us more confidence and that they going to change. And I think another thing was they have a mind to change the -- you know, wanted to give us more opportunity. I think they will. You know, I think once they outreach to us and they cannot really go back and say, okay, we not going to help you anymore. I hope, you know, they going to continue to, you know, outreach to all of the minorities and the woman 343 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation business community.
Okay. Mr. Nelson, could you please speak to the level of experience OIC garnered as a result of the building of the Convention Center and how those who were trained were ultimately put in the pipeline for real long-term employment?
Yes. It's interesting that we're even discussing -- and I think you may have mentioned earlier about the coming of the Convention Center. And, obviously, they're built for out-of-towners. And there was really no 17 discussion at that point about how it would benefit local Philadelphians and, thanks to a number of different people, convinced the powers to be that it needed to be a dedicated funding stream for two things: One, to ensure that the kids in the city begin to learn about hospitality as a possible career 344 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation option, number one; and, secondly, more germane to your question, Blondell, what we started -- hotels and restaurants represent great opportunities for growth, particularly hotels because it's a zigzag-mobility ladder in that regard. So we began to say we need to look at all the jobs that become available in that regard and begin to train people specifically for those jobs. The jobs at casinos are not very much different from those that are currently in hotels; they're going to need culinary-arts people, food service, a variety of different occupations in which they're being trained for now. And the success of the job has been about 82 percent over the last five or so years. So constantly we're getting calls and have been getting a lot of calls now about placing people in 345 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation hotels and restaurants, and the same principle or model is being transferable, and the casino's truly becoming the training provider. They're good career options with benefits in that regard. And we fully understand the resistance to all of that. But if you really think about it in terms of the city needing jobs, with good-paying jobs with -- they probably will be union casinos, I would suspect. In that record, it just makes a lot of economic sense to be able to do that. Did I respond to your question? Did I respond to your question?
If I may speak on that same question, OIC currently, with the Convention Center, has an internship program that I am very much involved in just as a restauranteur in 346 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation the city that the students really get a level of training from. And just recently, the CCAP program came in, which is a culinary program, and they spoke on how much and how rewarding that program is to them. And the Convention Center is one of the few facilities that actually is very involved in instrumenting that program as well as walking students through the building, and they get a firsthand experience at all of the levels of jobs that are available to them that they would not otherwise be aware of. In addition to that, the hospital industry is one of the few industries to date, at this time in the environment that we're in, that someone coming out of high school with a high school diploma can be hired and basically work there way from an entry-level position to become a regional vice president of a company. So -- and it employs -- it's 347 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation one of the largest employers in the country, the hospital industry.
And so what I'm hearing is that there is potentially a career path for those who start in the entry level in the hospital industry.
There's definitely a career path, and there is -- there is no real training that you have to have, coming out of high school and going into the hospital industry. It's an on-the-job training process as well as they have internship programs that most companies do not have.
One of the things, just to embellish it a little bit further, is the revenue that's going to be produced, we believe, by this -- the expansion of the Convention Center, which was kind of the beginning 348 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation of your question, is going to create an amazing synergy in the City of Philadelphia. If you really think about it we're now going to be expanding and be able to attract lager and larger conventions and trade shows. Well, that's going to lead to more hotels, more restaurants, more jobs. So, in effect, there's this domino effect that's going to have a major economic impact on the City of Philadelphia. So we got to kind of look at a variety of those things, but I think it's critically important to ensure that the commitments that have been made, that we kind of hold people accountable for saying, If you're going to do things that will benefit the City of Philadelphia, the level of accountability, I think everybody should be responsible to make sure that that happens in that regard.
349 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation okay.
So it's not shallow talk and not empty promises in that regard. And from a personal perspective, from an organization perspective, we are comfortable at least with the interaction that we've had so far. And more recently, as of week, with SugarHouse again, there is a level of comfort, and there's a commitment to do whatever is being proposed to for the benefit of the city.
So we're comfortable that way, instinctively comfortable, I believe.
And what members of this Council have learned -- for me, starting with the stadiums as the first teaching and training ground, is that unless it's in 350 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation writing, it doesn't exist. So whatever -- whatever those ultimate negotiations are, wherever this may lead, if it's not in writing, it doesn't exist.
You're exactly right. It relates to an earlier comment that you made as well, and we're now beginning at the stage where we've had the conversations and the meetings, as I'm sure that you've had, but as until now, it's time certainly. Let's now talk about that in more If terms in writing 'cause you're absolutely right. So I know some of the folk are here right now, so I'm saying it publicly: Let's get down to the writing side of life, right?
The Chair recognizes Councilman DiCicco. (Panel members get up to leave witness table.)
Just a moment, please. The Chair recognizes Councilman DiCicco.
Thank you Madam President. And good afternoon, everyone. In relationship to the comments that the gentleman made about the Convention Center expansion, well, I fully support that expansion as do the other members of City Council. I'm not totally convinced yet that that is a done deal. I don't have any inside information to suggest it won't happen, but we're not there yet. There's a whole new atmosphere and environment in Harrisburg as it relates 352 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation to issues pertaining to Philadelphia. It's a $700 million-plus project that they're working out the budget now. We don't know if that will absolutely happen. We all hope it will happen, and we hope that, you know, the legislators see fit to make sure they fund that, but that's not yet a done deal, so I don't want to kind of put all the cart before the horse, if you will.
And I've been working very hard with my other board members to make sure that 353 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation happens. I've been working through this Council on various pieces of legislation that will help us get to that point. But I'm not totally convinced that it's going to happen yet.
As to the vendor aspect, and my question goes to the Chamber, I guess, and to Miss Wong as well. I'm not certain of what the act provides, but if it's anything similar to Atlantic City -- and I might be wrong and if someone in this audience can correct me, I'd certainly appreciate it. Vendors are just not chosen at the will of the operators. I believe there's a process by which vendors have to go through -- in New Jersey, it's the Gaming Commission; I guess it would be the same thing here. So with all good intentions on 354 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation behalf of Foxwoods and SugarHouse, and assuming their intentions are good, and I expect that they are, I believe that there's another layer that you have to get to before you even can be retained as a vendor. So despite everyone's best effort to make sure that local businesses and minorities and woman entrepreneurs become a part of this entertainment venue, I think that, again, we're getting ahead of ourselves. I mean, meeting with Foxwoods and SugarHouse are good, but I don't think that's the end game here.
Councilman DiCicco, there is a middle layer, and maybe I was not clear in my statement. What SugarHouse and Foxwoods have done to this point is, they are setting up sessions where we can bring our businesses through that layer. They're explaining what that layer is 355 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation so that we understand it, because that is a layer that we have not had to deal with in the past. And the one thing that I will say, Councilwoman Reynolds-Brown, is that with the stadiums, which I'm very much involved in, they never approached our businesses; we had to approach them. This is the first time that I can say that, as a businessperson as well as chairman of the African-American Chamber of Commerce, I have been approached; I did not have to reach out to approach them. And that has been from both casinos.
Yes, it is, but evidently, no one else did it in the past, so they didn't understand that.
I'm not going to argue with you, but the stadiums was a pretty much a government 356 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation -- it was a government- private-enterprise-funded project. You're talking about an entity here, or entities, that are privately funded, and they're going to make every best effort to convince you that they're going to be good business partners, and we can go on and on and on. But let me -- the other question I have is, has the Chamber -- and I've asked this of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce at previous meetings. Have you done any analysis, any statistics that show that there won't be any negative impact on local businesses?
We are, as well as doing an analysis on the businesses, it's analysis on our community. I -- we -- and I live in Philadelphia.
We, as Chamber 357 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation people, our businesses are here. We live here. Philadelphia's our neighborhood. I live in Queen Village; I have a home there for years. 6
We are doing 10 studies on what it does to our 11 community as well as our communities 12 all around the city as well as our 13 businesses. And our businesses are in 14 the communities. 15 But we look at the casinos as 16 being a positive thing for us.
So -- but if your study suggests that there's a negative impact on your community and communities, both on the social side and the business side, would you still be here? Would you still be supporting the casinos?
I would not be supporting it if I thought it was 358 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation negative.
No, the jury is in on it. We are supporting the casinos based on jobs -- (Laughter.)
Based on our businesses, based on what we think it will bring to our city.
But you haven't done the study to see if there is a potential negative impact. You're studying that now.
So it's conceivable that the study may show that if it doesn't have a positive impact, it has a negative impact.
Do you have the results? Can you share the results? 359 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation
We have results that we've been collecting from our businesses and from our staff that's been working on this, that it is a positive thing to date, or we would not -- I would not be sitting here supporting this.
I would appreciate it if you could share that study with this committee.
The results of that study with this committee. Thank you.
Thank you. Any other questions from members of the committee? (No further questions.)
Thank you. 360 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation MR. McPHERSON: Our next panel consists of Janine Missaoui and Mike Seidenberg. (Witnesses come forward.)
Good afternoon. Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Hello. Good afternoon, Madam President and Council. My name is Paul Kimport. I live in Fishtown, but I'm giving testimony as a businessperson in both Fishtown and in Northern Liberties. We have a -- I have a partner, and we both own 50 percent of what is Standard Tap and Johnny Brenda's, which is in Fishtown. I appreciate the -- it's a great source of pride that Standard Tap was mentioned earlier as an example. It was really a special thing. But what I'd like to share with the Council is my feelings about 361 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation the business culture in those communities. I'm actively in the FNA and I am also a business association president for the Fishtown area and I'm also the Fishtown representative to the drug coalition, so we think a great deal about the quality of business on the avenue and in the community. And for me, living in Fishtown, as well as my partner, who lives in Northern Liberties, it's really a meaningful relationship, the community and the business. It's something that I think is really important to what we've down in both places and our philosophy about business. For instance, I think it's really important to have a community that has a strong identity but at the same time embraces, I think, a lot of diversity. And to that end, I really -- I'm very interested in independently- owned businesses and 362 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation small businesses; I think they give a lot of the character and a lot of the culture that people desire for the community and the general quality of life. And I think -- when I look at casinos, my feeling about that is that it's a monolithic culture that doesn't really support the entrepreneur, the smaller-business owners. For instance, I would use Atlantic City as an example that most people are familiar with to some degree. And I look to Atlantic City to maybe have a business, I would look for a civic association. I've actually looked for one, and it didn't seem to reflect the culture of much community; it really seemed like a hollowed-out idea of a civic association that's maybe more of a relationship between the Atlantic City City Council and the gaming industry. They didn't really seem to have the kind of depth that 363 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation communities I feel have in Fishtown and in Northern Liberties especially, developing so much and with so much work. And I think a lot of that is just pride, and I think that's the biggest part of what I think people want in quality of life and in entrepreneurship in their community. I don't see that as necessarily being the -- the character of the casino culture and between both of those communities. And that's pretty much I guess the way I would look at it is being anti- -- or being negative to my business. And I think that, you know, that would be, I think, a loss for me certainly, and I think it would change the neighborhood that I know and really feel a deep commitment to. That's the testimony as I feel I can most relate to it. Thank you.
My name is Arrone 364 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation Dascal (sp.) I'm a business owner and a resident in Northern Liberties. I don't have so much a formal speech to give. But, you know, I fear the casinos clearly. I'm not anti-casino; I'm anti-where they're located. After a couple of testimonies today, I fear the casinos even more. But I'm more here to discuss a word, and that word is "process," something that this issue has really lacking -- has lacked since day one. Had the citizens had a part of this process, I don't think this -- or either location would have been a viable option for a casino. For years, we've lived in a city that's lacked a city planning commission and really relied on civic associations. These civic associations have taken their own time and done a fantastic job building these neighborhoods. And all of a sudden, we have this huge hegemony coming in 365 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation unannounced into our communities and really taking over and destroying what we've worked so hard to really build. But back to the word "process." As a business owner, I was forced into a process. Whether that was meeting with civic associations, going through zoning variances, applying for liquor applications, I was forced into a process. I don't really understand who gives the right to the casinos to avoid this process. Why aren't they forced into zoning? Why aren't they forced into normal liquor applications? From my own experience, it was going through this process that strengthened my business, that strengthened my relationship with the community. And, really, I question why is it that they don't have to go through this process? (Applause.)
Than 366 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation k you.
My name's Frank Maimone, and I'm here as a business owner also. I also live in Northern Liberties with my wife and my two little girls, one of whom's been here with me. And these guys are actually my neighbors. We all own commercial businesses on the same block, actually, in Northern Liberties. And the fact that the three of us sit here says something about our neighborhood, and Arrone and Paul touched on it. Ours is community in its fullest sense. And I think it's also important to point out where we're located in Northern Liberties is less than three blocks as the crow flies to where this casino is going to be, so it's very personal. I just wanted to point out a couple things. Earlier, some people mentioned Atlantic City. And I 367 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation actually have real numbers, and it's not from some pie-in-the-sky thing; it's from the federal government GAO Office, and it was a study done study that was done in 2000. It was a report to Frank Wolfe, who's a -- in the House of Representatives, and it was on the impact of gambling, and they specifically study Atlantic City. And in 1977, which is the year before casinos, there were 242 eating and drinking establishments in Atlantic City, restaurants and bars. In 1981, less than three years after the first casino opened, the number declined to 160. By 1996, which was nineteen years later, the number declined further to 142. Now these are not statistics that you can play with; these are the cold, hard facts. That is what happened. That is a result of what happens because they do serve alcohol, 368 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation they serve booze. And their whole deal is not to get people. There's no 4 ancillary spending; they can use the term. Their goal is to keep you there as long as they can to spend as much of your money, and then you get back in your car and go home. As a business owner, that does scare me. Also between 1977 and 1998, the Atlantic City unemployment rate remained higher than New Jersey and the national rates by two times; it was twice as high as both rates. The rest of New Jersey and the national rate, which were the same at the time, so there was no anomaly, just this one county, Atlantic County, with the unemployment rate. Between '94 and '98 bankruptcies per 100,000 in the state increased from 282 to 555, which is about a double. The rate for Atlantic County went from 385 to 1,019, tripling, okay? The state increase 369 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation again matched the national increase; there was no anomaly in numbers. S. " It's accessible on-line from your Congressperson. I'm sure you guys have access to it. Another couple things that I actually -- when I started to hear about casinos, I wanted to know about it. And I'm not necessarily -- if the casinos can find a place to generate revenue, I don't believe that will happen, but if that make the majority of the people happy, it's fine. The process is broken down, and where they're sited now are the worst possible scenario. But I'm almost flabbergasted when I hear them talk about the revenue that they're going to generate for us, 370 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation and some very bright people today pointed out some formulas and statistics. And casino gambling has been around long enough to know how this really works. And I just wanted to read from another report, and that was: "The casino proponents and state and local governments promote casino tax benefits as a benefit. The revenue is a benefit for the recipient of tax casino revenue. However, it is important to realize that this revenue is not new money to society. Taxes result in a transfer of income from one group to another group; in this case, from the casino owner to the state and local governments and eventually a program recipient. So while states collects hundreds of millions of dollars annually in casino taxes, these tax revenues are a cost to casino operators.
It is just a transfer of 371 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation revenue from the operator to the state government and does not -- it doesn't account for any new wealth for our society. And they're going to take that into their operating expenses account and they're going to recoup that loss. And how they recoup it is through those of us that go there and spend their money. And it also gets pitched that it's a way to go towards education or a specific funding. And I'm sure you folks have been in government long enough that if they said, We're going to give you a hundred million a year towards education. Okay, well, that money's going to go towards education. Next year, does that mean that if the budget this year, to use round numbers, was 100 million that next year, it's going to be 200 million? No. The state's going to use that 100 million and they're going to take the 100 million that was allocated there 372 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation before and they're going to allocate it somewhere else. And so it's not like -- it's not this pool of money that's just found that we're going to have here and it's, ooh, what are we going to do with it? It's going to have uses, and they're not all going to be the uses that are agreed upon or that we would like to see. And in closing, I just wanted to say that this is a very important time for this Council and for this state. As the most recent elections hopefully pointed out, the city and the state are no longer going to be -- the citizens are no longer going to be sheep, and we're not going to be led along. And there's going to be -- there's a legacy involved in here. This decision that you are going to make is going to affect generations of citizens here. They're going to affect 373 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation my children. )
They're going the affect the life of my three-year-old and my six-month-old, and they might even affect the decision on whether I choose to live here anymore and to work here. And these are decisions not to be taken lighting. And for you, as individuals and politicians, these have to do with your legacy. It's a legacy of what you want to be remembered for, because long after we're out of this room and this argument is forgotten and whatever comes to pass will pass, there will be the judgment of history that will be laid down upon all of you. And it's up to you to decide how you want that a history to read. Do you want it to be a legacy of trying to make the best of a situation or a legacy of just laying aside and letting everything basically being steamrolled. 374 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation And I'll leave it on that note. And thank you very much for your time. (Applause.)
Thank you. Madam President, members of City Council thank you for the opportunity to speak today on such an important issue facing the city. My name is Mike Seidenberg. I live in Queen Village with my wife and two young daughters. I'm a Realtor and I'm also the Republican candidate for City Council in the 1st District, where the two casinos are being proposed. I am here as a resident of a neighborhood that will be impacted by one of the casino developments, and I want to share my opposition to allowing the casinos to be built on the two proposed riverfront sites. I am here also in support of Councilman DiCicco's bill prohibiting casinos from within 1500 feet of 375 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation residential neighborhoods. As we all know casinos are about money. They are being proposed and considered soley for the money they generate -- to the state, to the city, to the employees, and to the investors. In fact, when proponents of casinos speak of their benefits, it's generally only in terms of dollars and cents. Now, on the other hand, as we learned today, many will argue that the benefits are actually illusory, and the associated costs of having more convenient gambling will actually cost the city more than the tax benefits ultimately received. Many studies have shown this -- in fact, we saw this today -- that this will be the case: Increases in gambling addiction, crime, bankruptcy, jobs lost to cannibalization, and social costs will all prove to be real drags on the community, requiring even greater 376 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation resources from an already-tight city budget. While many in the room agree with what these studies suggest, including myself, we are not here today to debate whether the city should have casinos or not. The state has already dictated that the two casinos will be located here in Philadelphia when it passed the Gaming Act in July of 2004 without a hearing or a referendum. Instead, the issue for the city is to decide where best to locate them and how best to insulate existing neighborhoods from the immediate effects of such development. I ask that the sites chosen by the casino companies should not be approved for the following reasons: Number 1. The neighborhood civics are united in their opposition. In a city that has managed its development through the structure of neighborhood civics, it is not time now 377 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation to ignore their voices simply because of the money. Yes, there are proponents of the casinos in each community, and they have a right to speak, but governments listening should not be only attuned to them simply because of the money. I would go even further and suggest that given the size of these developments and how they will impact the riverfront for the entire city, the perceived support of one organization in one community, even if it is the closest one, should not be the only basis for your decision. In my view, this development is larger than one neighborhood alone. Number 2. The riverfront is far too valuable to the city, and allowing casinos to be built on it will actually serve as an impediment to future riverfront development. The riverfront could be a city treasure if it was developed properly. It is 378 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation unfortunate that it hasn't been already. I believe that the reason it hasn't been is because of the lure of casino development, which has given speculative landowners no incentive to do anything else but wait. And this will persist until there's a total ban on casino developments along the riverfront. If these locations are approved as planned, the adjoining properties will likely remain vacant because, in their view, the best and highest use of the property will then be established as casino developments. Landowners will wait for casino expansion or sell to someone else who will await for such expansion. This dynamic is real.
So please be aware that approving one or more casinos on the riverfront will likely prevent other and more appropriate development from 379 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation taking place there. Eventually, gambling proponents may argue that the expansion of casinos is the only way to rid the waterfront of its remaining trash-strewn lots. I would guess that would be okay with casino developers, but is it okay with us? I think not. Number 3. The benefits of the casino -- money -- are available regardless of where they are located. I am not convinced that these riverfront locations are critical to the ability of the operators to attract gamblers. Consider the slot parlors in the region that have already opened. They are certainly not in prime locations, and yet, they are collecting money well above expectations. Finding alternative sites would, in fact, be a win/win/win/win/ win situation for all parties. The government would receive the tax revenues, the unions would get the 380 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation construction jobs, the residents would get their permanent jobs, the investors would see their return, the ports would be able to grow, and the neighborhoods would have their say and the quality of life they so desire to protect. I may have left a "win" out, to be honest with you. My question is: What are we all waiting for? Number 4, and maybe the most important, believe it or not. The state government, in my view, has violated the democratic process. The role of government is to see that everyone plays by the rules. If our own government doesn't choose to follow these rules, then problems occur. In my view, the city casinos issue is one of these problems. And as my uncle always said, what smells going in smells even worse going out. )
And that is 381 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation what we're left with today. The state first attempted this process by preempting the city's authority to determine where these casinos should be located. The Supreme Court ruling, however, in 2005, struck the preemption clause and returned authority to the city. The problem, however, is that the state has chosen to ignore the ruling and proceed with the process, as if preemption was till intact. More recently, the State requested the Supreme Court to remove the from our primary ballot; and, against legal precedent, the Supreme Court obliged and yet still has not given an opinion as to why. This cannot be the democratic process our founders envisioned. Let's be clear: We are here today because the city has the authority to approve or disapprove the sites in question. Ideally, the city 382 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation would have chosen the site best for the city and then let the casino operators apply for the licenses from the state to build and operate there. That way, the best operators would be opening casinos on the best sites. Assuming the best operators have already been selected, the city should now identify the best sites through an open and transparent process. In so doing, Philadelphia, the birthplace of American democracy, will turn integrity to the democratic process. In my view, this is far more valuable to our city and state than any amount of money could ever be. Please deny zoning to the SugarHouse development and pass the 1500-foot buffer in order to protect our neighborhoods from casinos, no 22 matter where they're eventually located. Thank you.
383 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation You're very welcome. (Applause.)
Hello. I'm Janine Missaoui. I live in Harrowgate, and I want to thank you all for the opportunity to speak today. It's a great honor. This is a landmark itself, one of the largest brick-on-brick constructions in the entire world. Philadelphia has a great deal going for it. We have affordable living, for one; that's why I'm here. I am a native New Yorker, and I watched the process of turning Battery Park, one of the most ugly waterfronts you could possibly imagine, into a beautiful esplanade that is world-class. It didn't cost a lot of money, and the spillover economics from it have been tremendous over the last 384 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation years that I know of. It was not given to a narrow constituency like a casino. The city has a great deal of history, also. And I see a lot of unrealized potential in this city, having come from New York. Pardon me, I'm nervous. I've seen the city face a great deal of problems with budgeting, which, I think, have a lot to do with a citizen disconnect, a lack of public transparency, as has been demonstrated with the entire process with casinos, and a lack of oversight and public analysis of where these things are really going. And as a bookkeeping contractor, I'm not seeing how this really adds up. For years, we've been hearing stuff about tax cuts, but meanwhile, that means cuts in services also. And then there is pay raises voted behind closed doors. Year after year, 385 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation hot-potato budget problems with SEPTA. the DOT cannot manager to keep the roads clears for commuters during a snowstorm. And tens of millions of dollars that I understand that were supposed to go into the I-95 interchange program that everybody needs to do now, if we're going to put these casinos in place, was actually sucked up into a budget hole, I guess, ten or fifteen years ago, some $60 million, so I don't know where that's coming from again, now that I-95 will need better access, if we're going to put casinos on these sites that have been chosen. And I think that's a really tremendous issue. Driving from my neighborhood up in Harrowgate, up by the Frankford Creek, down towards Washington Avenue, to go to something as simple as my dental appointment can take an hour if I go even as early as 386 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation 4:15 to head down that way. It takes over an hour, and I end up being late, so I have to leave at 3:30 to get to a 5 o'clock appointment. I think that's a really bad idea to put something that's going to add all of this additional traffic in that sort of an area. I think that the southern end of the city, where we have an abandoned Navy Yard, to I understand, would be a of better; or someplace nearer to the airport, where, if travelers really wanted to come from out-of-state, it would be much more convenient to them. I cannot imagine someone coming to someplace so inconvenient as Delaware Avenue. Furthermore, if we look at the difference between Atlantic City and Cape May, which, in the '70s I remember my relatives really, really looking at the situation very, very closely. Both of them had the same -- pretty much the 387 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation same situation going on -- deteriorating waterfront, the old painted-lady hotels were falling down, there were fires, there was vandalism, abandoned buildings, and huge budget deficits; basically the same kind of problems I'm hearing today in Philadelphia. One chose revitalization, one chose casinos. One now has a beautiful place where anybody would want to go, and the other place has a level of crime which seems a little bit on the high side for me and, not to mention, the problems that have happened with their local government with casino insiders getting a little too involved in local government and things of that nature, resulting in numerous convictions.
Given that we're the fifth largest city in the United States, I really don't think we should be facing some of these problems. We have a 388 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation really great waterfront, and we're going to give it away to a windowless venue that really, really doesn't care about the view. And also, another thing I haven't are heard much about is the environmental impact of putting a building that large on what's basically filled-in swampland. I worked in insurance in my younger days, and I know that no 13 insurance company in the world is going to insure any building on waterfront for flood insurance or anything to do with weather. This is all done through federal tax dollars paid out by the taxpayers. So if this casino gets swamped by a storm, we're all going to be paying for those damages. There is no 22 insurance available; it's reinsurance through homeland security at this point, and it's all one hundred percent tax dollars that would pay for any 389 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation damages. Now, here we also have -- we're going to give this to a narrow constituency, and it seems like the Wall Street Journal's June 11th figures show us that this market is already saturated, so I really wonder what the fiscal benefit of this would really be. Okay, let's see. I really think that the state has steamrolled us here, and I think that it's very, very inappropriate that there has not been as much citizen review of this entire process. And I'm sure that you folks have also not been given quite the opportunity to respond to the legislation that the state and this Gaming Control Board are proposing. Furthermore, I think that, looking at the resumes of the gambling commission in the State of Pennsylvania is a little scary; these are all industry insiders with, from what I could see, really no citizen oversight, 390 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation no ability for the citizens to override any part of their decision. I have a real problem with that. I do not feel that this is a democratic process, and I'm very sad to see this happening in my neighborhood. I'm not directly affected with a view or anything of that nature. I don't live in Fishtown; I live in Harrowgate, a few miles away. But still, this is my city. I really, really love living here and I think that the citizens need a much greater role in this entire process. So I'm really hoping that we can get at least a buffer zone to assist our neighbors in keeping their neighborhoods intact. Thank you very much.
Thank you so much. (Applause.) MR. McPHERSON: Our next panel consists of Ed Grose of the Greater 391 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation Philadelphia Hotel Association, Amena Young, Deb Diamond, and Angela Patterson. (Witnesses come forward.)
Good afternoon, Madam Chairwoman and members of the committee. My name is Dr. Debra Diamond. I am the director of research and strategy at the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation. We're a private nonprofit founded to promote greater Philadelphia through marketing and image-building to increase business and promote the region's vitality. Our CEO, Meryl Levitz, served as a member of the Economic Impact Committee of the Philadelphia Gaming Advisory Task Force, which was established by the mayor to gauge the impact of casinos on Philadelphia and recommend how best to capitalize on 392 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation their introduction into our communities. I worked closely with her on the study, and she sends her regards, but she had a conflict and was unable to be here this afternoon. I want to thank the committee for the opportunity to speak about the addition of gaming to the range of activities that tourists will be able to enjoy during their visits. Philadelphia has recently come into its own as a great tourist destination. 9 million overnight leisure tourists in 2005, and that's a 55 percent increase since 1997, when GPTMC first began its image advertising for Philadelphia. Philadelphia has been rediscovered, and when people come 393 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation here, they're not disappointed. As we say in our ads, they fall in love with Philadelphia, and Philadelphia loves them back. In addition to our unique position as America's birthplace with unparalleled authentic historic sites, we have outstanding arts, culture, dining, neighborhoods, and boutique shopping. We're an active city too. Whether someone wants to watch sports in our new stadiums or play them with their friends in Fairmount, there's something here for everyone. The growth and the activities our tourists have been able to enjoy has meant more tourists are visiting, they spend more time, come back more often, and spend more money. In fact, the increase in tourism product has been key to tourism growth. The economic impact of all travelers in 2005 was $10 billion, with leisure visitors accounting for 60 percent of 394 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation that. Saturday night, the most popular night to visit for leisure guests, has been the highest night for hotel occupancy in Philadelphia for the last couple of years; and now, Saturday night has the fastest-growing hotel rates as well. GPTMC just celebrated its tenth anniversary, and over this last decade, we have actively promoted Philadelphia as a premier destination. Philadelphia is now known as a comeback city and a great place to live, work, and visit. We can and we must continue to build on this momentum. A city has to continually grow in order to thrive. We firmly believe that casinos will be yet another reason for people to come here, experience our city, stay longer, and come back. As the mayor's Gaming Advisory Task Force found, a significant portion 395 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation of those who will visit the casinos will come from another state. This visitation help in two ways: Many of those who come here initially for gaming will discover reasons to stay longer or come back -- Independence Mall, our museums, shops, restaurants, and parks, for example. And, two, visitors drawn here for our arts, culture, restaurants, and history will be more likely to stay longer in order to fit in a casino visit. Both of these scenarios are good for the city and for the city's businesses and hotels. They are there for good job opportunities and tax revenues too. GPTMC tracks what our blockbuster exhibitions -- like the Tut exhibition going on right now -- add to our city. For instance, the Dali exhibition, which came to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2005, 396 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation generated 52,000 visits to other attractions, 20,700 hotel room nights, and $55 million in economic impact.
Handled well, gaming has the potential to be an all-year round blockbuster for the city, for tourists, and for the businesses that benefit from tourists coming here. The expansion of the Convention Center, which will be funded with gaming revenues, will also help grow our tourism market. For all of these reasons and more, please do not pass any legislation today that would delay any construction of these gaming facilities. We have too much momentum built *up; we should not risk it. Thank you for your time and. Consideration.
Good afternoon. My name is Ed Grose, and I'm the 397 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association. My association represents pretty much every hotel in Center City, Philadelphia, and 87 hotels throughout the Delaware Valley. I am here today to urge you to support -- to not support the newly- proposed legislation that would delay or prevent our city from being able to attract a major source of revenue through gaming. The Philadelphia Gaming Advisory Task Force, which I worked on in 2005, through a lot of hard work, community involvement, and vision, compiled a comprehensive report that covers every facet of the gaming initiative. This includes site selection, casino design, economic impact, and the social impact gaming will have on our community. The revenues generated by gaming in Philadelphia have well 398 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation been -- have been well-documented. According to the task force, the two casinos will raise approximately $686 million in revenue the first year of operation and will reduce the Philadelphia wage tax by percent for 8 residents and 8 percent for 9 nonresidents. 10 Philadelphia -- 11 (Laughter.) 12
Excuse me. I was 13 quiet while all of you were testifying; I'd appreciate the same courtesy. Thank you. In addition to tax savings for residents, the two casinos will create 1500 casino jobs and between 2,000 and 4500 new jobs in ancillary operations from the casinos. Indirectly, the casinos will also create between 3900 and 6400 new jobs from growth and other industries that service patrons and businesses that service casinos. 399 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation Roughly, 1,000 construction jobs paying between 30 and $34 million in wages will be created during the construction of casinos. This will result in another 1800 jobs that will be created by indirect construction- related jobs, which will pay roughly $73 million. The casinos have pledged to be good corporate citizens to the their neighbors and the city. Foxwoods has agreed to spend $5 million on a proposed nine-step plan to help mitigate traffic congestion. They know that in order to bring people back to their location, they must provide easy access to their establishment. The greatest impact that gaming will bring is that it is the biggest funding mechanism for the largest publicly-funded project in the history of the Commonwealth, the expansion of the Pennsylvania Convention Center. 400 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation The Pennsylvania Convention Center is the economic engine of our great city; and without functioning for this project, it will not happen. 3 million people. Thirteen new hotels have been opened with more than 4200 rooms. Even with this success, we could have been done much better. 6 million room nights, because the center was booked and/or the meeting was too large for our present convention center. Just yesterday, I was contacted by the PCVB, and they are trying to convince Bio to bring back their convention in 2013. And without the expanded center, they're not even 401 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation going to consider it. Another thing to consider is that if construction does not happen for the Convention Center as of this summer, there are conventions in 2010 that will be able to pull out of their contracts if construction does not happen. And if we delay with the casino construction, then it could put the project in jeopardy. 5 occupancy points to Center City, which will create compression in the Center City hotels as well as our hotels in the Philadelphia suburbs and South Jersey. This represents 280,000 additional room nights once the newly-expanded center matures. When the building size is increased, it is projected that an additional 2,000 hotel rooms will be needed, resulting in 1500 permanent hotel jobs. 5 million in the first year alone. 3 billion in total economic impact. Besides economic impact, gaming will also take advantage of Philadelphia's greatest natural resource -- the Delaware riverfront. Other cities have turned waterfront into beautiful places that can be enjoyed by both visitors and residents alike. Such examples as San Antonio's Riverwalk, Baltimore's Inner Harbor, and San Francisco's Marina District show what can be done along the Delaware River. Currently, the river is blocked by trash-filled lots with chain-link fences surrounding them. The casinos will be an excellent 403 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation catalyst towards development of the river. Finally, the casinos will provide residents and visitors another entertainment choice in Philadelphia. The casinos will provide -- will not only provide gaming but will also provide entertainment and much-needed night life to our city. I also want to point out an article that appeared in yesterday's Philadelphia Inquirer that listed that the -- that stated that the casinos in Atlantic City have already been affected by the two casinos that are in Pennsylvania.
That shows that a lot of the dollars that were crossing the Delaware River and being brought down to Atlantic City being spent by Pennsylvania residents are now staying in Pennsylvania. And we feel that -- one of the things we looked at on the Gaming Task Force was capturing dollars that were 404 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation leaving on motor coaches every day that were headed down to Atlantic City. I'd like to thank you for your time. And, hopefully, I was brief enough. I know it was a long day for everyone, and I appreciate the opportunity.
Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Our next witness? MR. McPHERSON: Our last panel is Jim Paylor, Daniel Hunter, Jethro Heiko, Rich Garella. (Witnesses come forward.)
Should I say "good afternoon" or "good evening" -- let's see. Good afternoon.
Thank you. Madam Chairwoman, I'm sitting in front of you with a little (indiscernible) in my heart. I know you must be tired, and I know that your 405 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation colleagues must be tired, and I have to say that I'm tired of listening to myself, so I don't know if this is going to benefit or help this cause today, but if I get a little emotional, I apologize in advance because I've become very angry through this whole process. And I've listened intently today to all of the discussions, and I think something that seems very complicated has to be simplified, and I hope my comments will help do that. I can't promise that they will but I hope that they will.
Once again, my name's Jim Paylor, and I'm vice president of the International Longshoremen's Association, and I've been vice president of the international for 17 years. I was born and raised in South Philadelphia. I 406 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation graduated from South Philadelphia High School. My jurisdiction as the vice president of the international is, I represent all longshoremen locals from as far north as Portland, Maine; to as far south as Corpus, Christie, Texas; including the Great Lakes, Puerto Rico, and also into Canada. And I'm very familiar with what's happening in the maritime industry as a result of having those responsibilities. I have to say to you also today that my feelings are a little hurt because I wish Pat Gillespie would have asked me to sit at the table with him, okay? And I think starting out with why I was asked to be here as far as the relationship of the casinos and jobs is probably something that people want me to convey to you. Growing up in South Philadelphia, I used to play at the playground, okay, at Second, and I was 407 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation successful in beating your colleague James Kenney many times in the basketball court, but he was a much better pony ballplayer than I was, and he wound up defeating me a few times in that game. But that was an era when the longshore industry was thriving. And all of the piers that are now have -- that have now been knocked down and been replaced by places like Wal-Mart and Ikea and Home Depot. When they were working, okay, the playground staff was operating. Every pool that was in your city was filled with water, okay, and it was based on the revenue that was coming from the thriving industry at that time. My father was one who worked along the waterfront prior to me going through, okay, so I'm very familiar with it. When I started there, I used to walk from my house, okay, at Third 408 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation and Tree, and I would walk to Pier 38 and I would walk to Packer Avenue Marine Terminal and I would walk to Piers 38 and 40, and I would walk to Pier 80. Pier 80 and Pier 38 and 40 are facilities that worked at full capacity back then, and they still work at full capacity right now. If you went to those two facilities, you would find millions of dollars of product, mostly newsprint and paper products or wood pulp. My concern -- and that's what brought me as into this issue as a special interest group in the very beginning -- was what study was performed by any government agency that would show what the impact would be on casinos on those thriving facilities. And at numerous meetings, I had the luxury of participating with different government agencies, including the City Planning Commission, and I've had some 409 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation of the same discussions with Janice Woodcock that Councilman DiCicco had this morning, asking what their responsibility was in coordinating good, healthy, compatible development not just along our waterfront but on our city as a whole, and I got some of the same answers that Frank did. Okay, there was confusion at the end of the discussion, and there was questions on what really should be developed. And, to my surprise, she asked me, as a labor leader, well, could I pull people together that would help do the developing for the city, which would include looking at development of casinos, port expansion that we desperately need, which has recently been announced that we will have, and including finding places for the food center and finding places for Sysco Company, which has outgrown their facility. And I was a little surprised 410 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation that the City Planning Commission would give that to me as a challenge, but I was willing to take that challenge on.
I also said to her that the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority should be more involved in the developing of the port area, including finding other sites for the industrial facilities like the food center and the Sysco Facility that I just mentioned. But it's -- what I did learn, going through this process, is that there's total confusion within the different entities who could have and can develop good, healthy development for all segments of the industry. And I think that's what's lacking. And I also think that's where there's some short-sightedness on my union brothers' parts, who think that the answer is just, build the casinos where they are designated to be built. I am not opposed to casinos; I actually go to casinos once in a while, 411 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation but I do think there's a place for adult entertainment. I don't think the adult entertainment should be in any neighborhood. And I think it was proven here today by two people, one being a professor and one being an economist, who have summarized everything that everybody in this room has been saying not just today but in previous meetings: The economics return that are supposed to be there will not be there; the job generation that is supposed to be there will not be there; and the tradeoff that people think they're going to get as a result of casinos will not be there. The social issues that have been come up 'cause I am a parent that still has thee children that are in South Philadelphia today. They deal with the normal social ills that all our children have had to deal with nobody is insulated from it. That 412 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation means drugs, that means alcohol; it's a part of our environment, unfortunately. I had a recent experience where my daughter and myself had to attend a funeral of a 21-year-old kid from our neighborhood who overdosed. And when she came to sit with me, she broke down and cried, and I got mad at her, and I hollered. And I said, "I don't know what to do with your generation and I don't know what's going on with it," and I was hollering at my daughter that "you have to consider what's going on with your own peers" and lectured her. " And then I called her at 413 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation o'clock that night and said to her, "I handled myself wrong. I didn't have to deal with that when I was your age. " 8 And she hit me with a 9 startling message. " Now, that's from the Second Street area, Whitman area, 22 funerals. And I said, There's something wrong. The next day in my office, I sat with other union officials who are from that neighborhood, and between us, we got up to 40 families who have experienced what my daughter has experienced so that we could talk about 40 deaths as a result of drugs. Now we all preach, Don't smoke, don't drink, don't take drugs. And we do our best as parents, and it's out there. And while we're experiencing that, we think that the 414 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation magic wand that's going to address the economics that's going to make our kids feel better is to dump an industry, one that is known to create other vices. It increases crime; you've heard that. It increases suicides; you heard that it. Increases breakdown in other families. We heard today, and it's all on the sly, that gambling addiction also leads to other drug and alcohol addiction. It's not the answer that the city is looking for. What is the city looking for? They're looking for good, family- sustaining jobs, one that when an individual works 40 hours a week, he can pay his bills, he can pay his mortgage, he can pay his car payment, he can pay his utilities, he can pay his cable bill. And he feels good at the end of the week that he did something substantial that provides for a family. That's what's missing. Now, I heard a number of 415 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation things here today from certain people and one being the chairperson of the SugarHouse.
He said there's not another project in our area of their magnitude that will create the type of jobs that they're looking at. And I thought, He must not be from this area, because he hasn't been reading the papers, because I want to go back to the port, okay? With the announcement of dredging by our governor, okay, and the announcement of port expansion, we have presented a project, which, Madam Chairwoman, I did present to you, and hopefully, we get to present it to the full City Council. But that project in itself, okay, has also been given to the PIDC for one specific purpose. They have land that's need for us to meet the goals of port expansion, okay? And we actually asked PIDC to do a peer review on our presentation. 416 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation And the reason why we asked them to do a peer review on our presentation is 'cause our presentation, if the proper planning is done along the waterfront and we expand the port the way it should be and we protect and maintain the jobs that are there now, we can also generate up to 130,000 new family-sustaining jobs. )
That's in addition to the 45,000 jobs, which 8,000 of them are direct and the rest are (indiscernible) type jobs, but all dependent on international cargo. So it would be in addition to those 45,000 jobs. Now, most people say, Wait a minute, you're going to create 130,000 jobs? It's not rocket science. F. Richardson who has done this study for 417 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation us. And the owner of that company, which, again, is the one who's world-renowned, has recently made a statement to USMX. USMX is all the major shipping lines that carry 90 percent of all the cargo around the world. And they asked this consultant, How do you stay out of conflict with other ports who are competing against one another? And he said based on the growth of cargo that is being projected over the next ten to fifteen years, every inch of maritime space that our country has available to them is going to be needed to do accommodate that cargo. And that's where those 130,000 jobs in our area can come from. Now, in addition to that, people say it's still a lot of jobs. We have three Class railroads -- Canadian Pacific, Norfolk Southern, and Conrail -- okay, that work out of one 418 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation area in South Philadelphia, which is just adjacent to the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal and the proposed Southport new expansion project. That is something that not one other port in this country -- not New York, not Houston, not Norfolk, not Long Beach, not Oakland -- they don't have that available to them for distribution of that cargo. That means that we will be in the position to move cargo across this country better than any other port in this country, so Philadelphia would go from being a secondary port to a primary port for distribution. It's all a part of the presentation that I made to you. Some people still say, Well, that's not enough -- how do you still generate 130,000 jobs? It's very simple. 5 million containers that we will be generating, 419 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation and they are New York and they are Norfolk and they are Houston and they are Long Port, California, and you will see, in those ports, they have over that 130,000 job mark that I'm talking about. So it's not pie in the sky, it's not pull-a-rabbit-out-of-the-hat; it's reality. Now, I say that in contrast to some of the conversations and discussions that were had at this table. I never want to critique or be critical of any worker in this country, okay, but I have provided at a previous hearing of this City Council a collective bargaining agreement from Borgata, and it's an outline of the job classifications that work at Borgata. And in that outline, there's 35 different classifications. And out of those 35 different classifications, only 10 of them -- I'm sorry -- only 3 of them pay more than $10 an hour for a 420 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation starting worker in that casino. 50 an hour. And that's 35 different classifications. Now, what I did -- and I presented this at previous forums -- is, I took an Excel program, and I put $12 an hour in there, okay, and then I deducted the taxes and then I deducted the normal expenses for any family, which is your mortgage, your car payment, and your utilities, and at the end of the month, for somebody who's working at that rate and you pay an average mortgage that comes out of South Philly or Fishtown or West Philly, for that matter, you're going to be a thousand dollars a month short of making ends meet. When you talk about despair, that's the reason that people go to work, work 40 hours a week, can't pay what their budget requires them to pay. 421 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation And what do they do? They turn to crime. They have to supplement their income, okay? Now, even if you took the husband and the wife and you gave them both a job in the casino, and now they're going to be making double that, who's taking care of the children?
So then you have to add the expense of day care and everything else. It's a system that, right now, does not work. All I'm saying is, let's learn from our past and learn what has created a good tax base with good family-sustaining jobs in our past, and let's apply that to the future with the one industry that's thriving, okay, not just in Philadelphia -- nationally and globally. That will help settle the problems. I heard of that there is no 23 requirement to go into the hospitality industry. The only requirement to go into the longshore industry is that you 422 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation have to pass a drug and alcohol test. You don't have to have a high school diploma, you don't have to have a college degree; you just have to be willing to work and you have to be willing to learn the machinery. I think that fits a big portion of the people from our region, when Congressman Chaka Fattah, all through his campaign, says one out of every four people is living in poverty, okay? So I think that that helps us. Now, do I criticize casinos? By looking at the economics compared to what I was forced to look at, I learned the things that you have been hearing all day, about the social ills, about the problems that come when somebody gambles their mortgage payment away and they lose their family, all right? So then you have to sit back when we're in the position of making decisions, knowing that everybody's lobbying City Council to do the right 423 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation thing. Here's what I learned coming to this process. What do we agree on? We agree that the state legislature dumped this in City Council's lap and left it up to you to resolve. And then I heard the City Solicitor say, Well, that's not necessarily true. Well, from Senator Fumo's response letter to myself, he makes it very clear that he went to great lengths to make sure that City Council has zoning control over this matter. Somebody has got to be communicating with each branch of the government to make sure know that what we're doing. The working-class people is relying on you, because it was dumped on you, to protect the interests of them, okay, the people that have voted you in and asked you to represent them. You've done a great job right now under 424 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation a lot of conflict and a lot of turmoil and a lot of people pulling at you in different ways. I'm sure you're tired of listening to the debate over casinos; it's probably not going to go away. The reason why it won't go away? You have a woman sitting back here who told me she's retired, okay? She's not retired; she's working seven days a week 'cause she's on the computer communicating with everybody else in the different neighborhoods, okay, 15 that have all formed together. She's 16 not retired, she's working, okay? ) 18
Here's what the 19 state legislature and here's what the 20 casinos don't have a right to do: They don't have a right to say to the people that live in those wards, to the person that's retired and living on a fixed income, that the only wealth that they have is their house, which is their 425 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation home, which makes it their investment. They don't have a right to say that sorry, your investment's not worth anything anymore, but the facts that you've heard before about the houses that are going for sale and the one's that are selling are very low as a result of the announcement of the casinos is real to these people. They also don't have a right to the new person, okay, or the younger person who paid times the amount 14 that I paid for my house on Durfor 15 Street, okay, they paid 20 times the 16 amount and now are worrying, Well, will 17 hold the value of their investment when 18 they're struggling to make. They don't 19 have a right to tell them that your 20 investment's not going to be worth anything anymore. So all of the numbers and all of the special-interest groups that come in front of you are going to come up and they're going to put their best 426 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation foot forward, and they're going to tell you their story, and all I'm saying is, let's make it real, let's simplify something that's somewhat complicated. When I hear our state officials saying that one of the benefits is going to be that somebody who makes less than $40,000 is going to get a rebate of a hundred dollars a year, whoop-de-doo! That means I'm going to get 28 cents a day, okay? And I asked that person and I've asked guys that I know that are in that category, Would you sacrifice that 28 cents a day if one person who is going to lose their home as a result of aggressive gambling, okay, who's going to lose their home, would you sacrifice that 28 cents a day? And the one guy said to me, "I'll give you a dollar and tell you to keep the change every day." Then I said, Would you sacrifice that 28 cents if you knew only one family, as a result of 427 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation aggressive gambling, has somebody who commits suicide? It's not whether it will; it's when will it, okay? It's been proven based on all the cities that have inner-city gambling. It's going to happen. And everybody's response was the same: "I'll sacrifice that 28 cents." Then I said, Well, they're talking about putting $5 million into the school system. We all know about the condition of the school system, okay? And when you look at other inner cities -- I heard it today, okay? Will Detroit turn a better product out as a result of them getting casinos of their high schools? Will New Orleans turn a better product out of having casinos, okay? Will we? Has Atlantic City done it? I think, in all cases, the answer to that's no. 23 But can $5 million be made up? Absolutely. Good, healthy development may be able to take a SugarHouse 428 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation facility or a Foxwoods facility, and you may be able to put more healthy development, which will give more return with the construction and maybe another box store or maybe some more commercial development with shops and with stores and with restaurants. (Applause.)
(Indiscernible.) ... or maybe we could have access to our waterfront that could be then used to supplement the school system. Or maybe we could build a high-level recreation center, okay, that has a fishing pier. Or even more importantly -- or more progressively, okay, since we now have clean water in the Delaware River, okay, which I do swim in, okay? Maybe we'll have that beach area or maybe it will just be a water area or a water-park area that will generate more revenue and give the people who live around the river wards who have dealt 429 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation with the brownfields and who have dealt with the speculators that think they now have gotten their gold rush and that their brownfield's going to become a casino, give the people who live in the area something better, okay, and something more healthier that won't create the social ills that we know about but still can generate a better quality of life and still generate better income. And with that, I thank you. (Applause.)
Good afternoon. Please identify yourself for the record.
My name is Jethro Heiko. Thank you members of the Rules Committee and Madam Chairwoman for allowing me to speak. I'm one of the founders of Casino-Free Philadelphia. I'm kind of in shock as this is the second time in a week where I followed a dynamic speaker, and it's 430 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation difficult, but I'll -- and I'll do my best to be brief. Again, my name is Jethro Heiko. I live at 139 East Allen Street in Fishtown. I've lived on the river side of Fishtown since 2003, when I moved from Boston, where I was a community organizer who did things, including -- I built a day-care program for 39 children and helped stop the taking of acres of eminent domain 13 for a proposed Red Sox Stadium, which 14 was never built. 15 Since moving to Philadelphia, 16 I've been working to support efforts to 17 stop eminent domain in various 18 communities and around issues of 19 affordable housing and good jobs. 20 When my wife and I first 21 learned about the proposed SugarHouse 22 Casino within just a few hundred feet 23 of our home on Allen Street in 24 Fishtown, we were shocked. At the 25 time, the SugarHouse proposal was just 431 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation one of three casinos proposed within a half mile of our home. Within weeks, we were reaching out to our neighbors; you heard from some of them today: Charlie Hocker on Allen Street, who lives directly across the street from the proposed SugarHouse site, and his daughter, Joanne Sherman, who lives next store to me. We talked with them. And we tried to make sense of the slots parlors with the 24/7 liquor licenses, the 5,000-car parking garages, and 6 million visitors a year. We didn't understand how such a thing as SugarHouse Casino could be proposed so close to our homes. On June 1, 2006, I and many others founded Casino-Free Philadelphia about one year ago, which began with a rally at Broad and Spring Garden Streets. Hundreds of residents from across the city gathered with a unified voice against casinos coming to 432 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation Philadelphia. " On the trip were residents from Nicetown, Fishtown, Northern Liberties, Queen Village, Center City, Roxborough and West Philadelphia. Today, like one year ago, our efforts have unified a city that often struggles to bring people together to solve the problems we face. Earlier, someone said -- criticized Daniel Hunter, who's sitting next to me, who's a friend of mine, for holding a sign against SugarHouse in Fishtown. Daniel does not live in Fishtown, it's true, but one of his close friends does and many other friends behind me. He lives in West Philadelphia, and as someone who's worked closely with me on this issue, I 433 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation appreciate all of his support, as do many people in Fishtown. A year after these efforts, besides making many friends and building, I think, a very strong community and a movement to oppose casinos coming to our neighborhoods, I believe there's wide agreement, and Jim spoke about some of the things that I think are widely agreed upon. The first is that Act 71 was a mistake. It provided no standards for how casinos would be built in our city, and it ushered in a process that has been fundamentally flawed not just at the state level but at the city level, as we've seen from the backroom, behind-the-scenes efforts by the Planning Commission to advance SugarHouse Casinos without discussions with the civic groups and neighborhood residents who will be most impacted. I think there's also agreement that although casinos may bring some 434 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation positives, there's increasing understanding of the negatives, much of which has not been studied yet and much of which we, including myself, learned a great deal today about. I believe there's also wide agreement that casinos don't belong on our riverfront.
Finally, I believe there's wide agreement that casinos don't make good neighbors and that the closer they are to residents, the worse they are. As someone who lives on Allen Street, the closest residential street to a proposed casino in Philadelphia, I am very aware of the negative impacts that the proposed casino would bring if it would be built, which it won't be. If we put aside the slots issue for a moment and look at what is proposed on merit alone, this project should be rejected immediately. First, it goes against zoning enacted in 2002 that was won by 435 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation residents and the City Council. That zoning was put in place to protect local residents, as we've talked about today, from the harms of entertainment uses, including nightclubs, bars, et cetera. That zoning restricts uses such as a casino from the riverfront and Delaware Avenue and includes the proposed SugarHouse site. Second, SugarHouse introduces 6 million visitors a year to a residential area without any buffer zone. Third, SugarHouse takes an area currently without a crime problem and turns it into a police state, with security cameras proposed on my block and other blocks of the Riverside section and police presence, from what I hear, 24/7 on blocks that currently see little crime. And as I learned last Thursday night, the closer we live to the proposal, the more police we'll have. 436 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation And I just don't think that's appropriate for a residential area. At last week's meeting in Fishtown with the most immediate neighbors of the proposed site, residents from Allen Street, Richmond, Wildey, Shackamaxon, Marlboro, and East Columbia made it clear to Councilman Clarke and Councilman Greenlee that the proposal must be resited. We told them that we have not heard any plan to address the problems we would face; and that, in fact, there could never be such a plan precisely because such a massive development, with or without slots, does not belong in a residential area. Some problems cannot be solved and the resiting of SugarHouse Casino directly across the street -- excuse me. The siting of SugarHouse Casino directly across the street from people's homes and in a residential area is one of those problems. 437 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation I wanted to present, which is also in my written testimony that I'll be giving you, a Web page from the SugarHouse Casino site, which, as of last night at midnight, was still on their website. I'll take them -- if they take it down today, I'll take it as an apology, but we won't stop fighting against their efforts. On the website, it says -- this is like the benefits -- this is the rationale for why their site is a good site. If you look at the final line, it says that there's a natural community buffer with I-95. For over a year now, SugarHouse Casino has waged a relentless public-relations campaign, which includes a very big lie. The big lie is that no one lives near the site; and, better yet, that there's a natural buffer zone. That natural buffer they speak of is I-95. The Pennsylvania Gaming 438 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation Control Board used the myth that the neighborhood was protected from the casino as justification for choosing SugarHouse to receive one of the two licenses. The problem, of course, is that I-95 does not buffer Fishtown. There is no buffer of any sort between SugarHouse and the residential community that lies between Girard Avenue and the river, an area that contains well over 500 homes, some of which are within just 150 feet of the proposed casino. The one thing, though, in which SugarHouse and the Gaming Control Board and I and the majority of Philadelphians agree on is that casinos do need a buffer, so that's great. I'm not sure why we spent so long having this discussion.
So I ask today for support of Councilman DiCicco's 1500-foot buffer zone, which it sounds like SugarHouse 439 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation would support, which will protect all Philadelphia neighborhoods from casinos. On the other hand, Councilman Ramos's bill to move SugarHouse forward makes a mockery of the existing zoning laws put in place to protect a residential neighborhood from nightclubs and other adult uses, which would also apply to casinos. In order to successfully implement the buffer zone and protect the residential neighborhood where I live, it is imperative that you reject Councilman Ramos's bills. These bills are the result of a flawed process at the city level. Behind-the-scenes, backdoor politics advanced SugarHouse Casino at the Planning Commission the same way in which a corrupt process bought us Act 71. That it took an outgoing Councilmember to introduce the legislation for this negative element 440 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation in another District Councilmember's area demonstrates that there is little support in City Council for this proposal. Given what is being proposed, I would expect that to be the case. And let's get back to what is being proposed -- a negative development that includes a multi-acre parking garage that will house 5,000 cars on the Delaware riverfront; no 13 less than six -- six 24/7 liquor- license establishments across the street from people's homes in a residential neighborhood, within 1500 feet of the Old Brick Church and probably within 1500 feet, or very close to the only significant green space on the Delaware riverfront, Penn Treaty Park. " I don't know how we got to a point where such a project was ever considered, but today, it is time to put it to bed and start addressing the real challenges Philly faces rather than piling on more problems. I ask you again to please vote against Councilman Ramos's bills and to vote for Councilman DiCicco 1500-foot buffer bill. We will stand by our neighbors forever. They're like family to us. And we count not just our neighbors on Allen Street but our neighbors throughout Riverside, throughout Fishtown and Northern Liberties, in every neighborhood in the city. )
We will remain united until these casinos are moved. And with that, I want to thank you.
442 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you. My name is Daniel Hunter, and I'm the cocoordinator of Casino-Free Philadelphia, along with Jethro Heiko. And I appreciate your patience. And you've seen me here before. And like a lot of us, I'm not necessarily happy to be here because it's not my first choice of places where I'd like to be. However, I'm appreciative for those who are still here for listening to all of our testimony. Casino-Free Philadelphia, with allies, collected 27,254 signatures in 443 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation under three weeks to support the referendum; and most recently, had 13,592 people participate in one day in Philadelphia's ballot box from every part of the city. One of the reasons why Casino-Free Philadelphia has grown the way it's grown is because our concept is very simple: It doesn't make sense to put casinos this close to residential neighborhoods. Everywhere I go in every part of the city -- I'm from West Philly. Whether I'm in West Philadelphia, Fishtown Airy, Northern Liberties, Queen Village, Mt. Airy, East Mt. Airy, anywhere in the city, if I tell people that they're trying to build a casino within 200 feet from people's homes, they say that doesn't make sense and it ought to be moved. It makes a lot of sense. It's why it was so easy to get 27,000 signatures, because I didn't have to 444 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation ask many people; I only had to catch a couple of people, and every single person would sign, almost without hesitation. It is probably not too bold to say that Casino-Free Philadelphia is one of the most vibrant dynamic citizens' movements in recent Philadelphia history. We've changed the landscape of Philadelphia politics in a way by saying that we can change a done deal. People were told by the state that this is a done deal and that there's nothing we could do about it. I was personally told by many people that there's no way we could get media attention on such an issue. We have done so. I am part of a movement that's teaching Philadelphia to stand up for itself and that saying we're not going to accept the state's callous disregard of Philadelphia. We represent a new 445 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation movement that's standing up for ourselves both on this issue, and we have every expectation to stand up on other issues to the state as well, because the state -- we need a new relationship with the state. The current relationship that we have is unacceptable. And casinos is a terrible, tragic example of that. It's not the only example. Our goal is to protect the citizen's right to have input, to reduce corrupt politics, and to protect Philadelphians from the harm of casinos. We believe this is best done by no casinos in Philadelphia but have offered what we believe is a reasonable minimum standard of 1500 feet, which City Council's already supported. Our current slogan is: "Move them or lose them," because the current locations are intolerable and will be actively opposed. Anyone who wants casinos to 446 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation come into the city would speed up the process considerably by having them relocated outside of these current locations. Otherwise, we will continue every effort to prevent development that will destroy our neighborhoods, as we well should. This is not a threat; this is simply an explanation of where we stand, which is, if someone wants these casinos to be built, they should have them moved. We're still here. The other folks aren't still there. We have lasting power and we will still be here. (Applause.)
I'm going to just skip through some testimony about the obvious -- the process has been broken, insider politics, attempted done deal. I'm not going to talk about the fact that now we have to have a mayor and the governor arm-twisting a lame-duck 447 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation Councilmember in order to put a bill up for consideration. I'm going to skip through that. The fact is, casinos are not respectable enough as development in order to come in through the front door, and they've disrespected the respected state, they've disrespected the city, they've disrespected City Council by trying to come in through the back door like a thief in the night. This is -- I believe Mike said it well, which is: If it's dirty coming in, it's dirty going out. This is how casinos are going to continue operating in the City of Philadelphia. You've noticed that they've got no community benefits agreements, they have no trust from any of the respected civic associations, there's no agreements that have been made with any of the chambers of commerce, with any of those groups, there's nothing in 448 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation writing. These guys are now playing a public-relations game; they're not playing a serious negotiations with the city. They're trying to push through what they had as a done deal, and they're trying to continue to operate as if it's a done deal and do the backdoor politics, which is why you have the City Planning Commission being a salesperson, as someone said, as opposed to doing her job and talking about how do we create a vibrant waterfront. (Applause.)
Every single planner worth their grain of salt who looks at this proposal and says, What do you want to build on the waterfront, if you're trying to build a vibrant waterfront, you don't put a box casino. It's just -- it's very straightforward. When Penn Praxis brought in an outside expert from Seattle, that's the 449 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation first thing he said. He looked at the proposal of the waterfront and he said you can't create a vibrant waterfront with two casinos along the riverfront. The casino problem has continued to escalate because SugarHouse and its counterpart, Foxwoods, have assumed that their political connections would win over against citizen wisdom. They're now feeling more desperate and are exaggerating their positions, and they've begun to start putting forward unrealistic numbers even beyond the unrealistic numbers they've already started with. As the most recent Wall Street Journal article suggests, the economic gains by casinos are far less substantial than claimed, if they exist at all. SugarHouse has now chosen to inflate its numbers and confuse facts to strengthen their position. I'll 450 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation give you three examples, and I'll try to do it quick. First are their claims about job creation. SugarHouse, in its most recent pamphlets in which they then used to organize fact, claims that your signature could help bring 6,000 jobs to Philadelphia. They say that the official -- quote, that's the official estimate made by the Pennsylvania Gaming Advisory Task Force of the number of jobs that will be created by SugarHouse. In reality, the task force never mentions SugarHouse; the task force makes some guesses about possible job creation and comes up with a range which includes nearly half that number. No study related to SugarHouse or the actual implementation of a casino so close has been done, and they're twisting facts in order to make their case. As will be mentioned -- as has 451 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation been mentioned by numerous others, the only serious study thus far on job impact by Fred Murphy suggests that SugarHouse and Foxwoods will result in a net loss of jobs, including many of those business members who you heard from earlier such as Arrone, who works with Rustica Pizza. I was just really struck by Arrone's testimony because citizens have now had to become experts because the experts have failed us. Secondly, during the last hearing, SugarHouse suggested that their casino -- this was the CEO mentioning this -- would not bring more crime to the neighborhood; and yet, on the other hand, they're openly talking about the need for more police on the street. What are those police doing? SugarHouse wants to downplay the impact on crime because they know crime carries with it serious economic costs. The economic costs that have been put forward suggest, once again, 452 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation that the casinos in these locations will not bring the revenue that they're claiming. And because they refuse to acknowledge the social issues of crime, of addiction and the various social problems that they create, they don't have the plans to address them. They don't take them seriously and, therefore, they are unprepared to build in this city. And, finally, now that they are under such pressure, they're scrambling to defend their poor choice to not listen to the public up until now. And instead of addressing those problems, they're attempting to paint a picture of mass support for their cause. They're trying to frame this as a Fishtown problem, not including those affected from Port Richmond to Queen Village, including the Northern Liberties neighborhood, which is immediately nearby. Every civic 453 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation association that they have interacted with wants them to move. If they had the numbers of the mass support, they would show you the results of a poll.
They've done polling data in Fishtown, they've done polling data up and down riverfront; we know this because our people tell us. They've got the calls, they've received these calls about polling data. We know that they've done several polls, including very aggressive push polls, but they haven't released those results, and I'll tell you why. Because their polls show what our polls show, which is that in almost every neighborhood in the city, 80 percent of people do not support these casino locations and are supportive of a 1500-foot buffer. This is consistent with our polling data, which you've received previously. This is consistent with Philly's ballot box, which we set up at 454 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation every state rep district, and the results were very clear: 95 percent of people said yes. But, more importantly, we had 68 percent voter turnout, which meant even if every single person who passed by our voting box that day said no, we clearly still would have won by an overwhelming majority. That's why, instead of -- I lost my place. But that's why, instead of allowing this thing on the ballot, they sued to take it off because they knew the 1500-foot buffer would win by a landslide, and it would be embarrassing and it would be committing. , and both mayoral candidates support the 1500-foot buffer. That's 455 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation the short list of hundreds of labor unions, businesses, citizens groups, activist organizations, churches and synagogues who have supported and worked for the 1500-foot buffer, and I have a complete list attached to my testimony -- actually, a somewhat complete list; it doesn't include political folks, and there's a bunch that -- it's a little bit old. Instead, they're engaged in a classic corporation technique of Astroturfing, supporting the development of a front grassroots organization that they call FACT, which is fiction, whose roots only go as deep as they can buy. And let me quickly clarify myself. Our organization is deeply dedicated to democracy and value people's rights to speak their minds. Some good people have different opinions from that of Casino-Free Philadelphia. We asked, for example, 456 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation for a larger room for this session so that all people of opinions could have their bodies and voices present in this room, and I appreciate, Councilwoman, that you allowed that to happen, because that was used. We ran an election anyone where could share their opinion on the buffer and had an independent monitor verify our neutrality on the day of the election. Unlike SugarHouse, we have been honest, we have been forthright, and we have not stretched the truth to make our point. We have not lied to the City Council, to the state, or to anyone. I just want to close by saying that our goals as Casino-Free Philadelphia include creating a more healthy, balanced relationship with the city and the state, where the city shows the strength needed to protect itself from the abuse the state has 457 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation heaped upon it, 'cause the fact of the matter is, you guys did not create this problem; this was handed to you as well. We're asking you as allies, not as enemies -- we're asking you as allies to join us in this struggle and to continue the support that you've already shown. Personally, I think there are some very important issues that we need to work on in this city. I think gun control laws are an example of that. The same Supreme Court that is now challenging people like Queen Village's right to defend their own neighborhood and saying that they have no standing, that same Supreme Court is the same Supreme Court that threw out gun control laws in Philadelphia. There's a serious issue that we have to address in terms of the power balance relationship between the city and the state. That's one of the 458 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation things that we're working on.
We're working very hard both at addressing this at a city level and also at a state level. There's a lot of responsibility heaped upon the state, and we're very much working on that. People earlier, just before Council session, were making calls to state representatives to begin putting pressure on them to change the situation. As you know, we've also worked on creating a 1500-foot buffer at the state level, which has already been widely supported. Bottom line: SugarHouse is taking advantage of our weakness. " The ability of the state and SugarHouse to push us around is in relation to our patience with their harassment. Like a bully, they'll keep pushing us around until we stand up for ourselves, and I believe that this movement, our movement, can represent a 459 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation shift in that relationship. I'm asking each one of you to help us and stand up for the city and the people who have been so brushed aside by the Goliath casino industry. Councilman DiCicco has spent more hours than he wishes to remember listening to the people of his and other districts on this issues. It's been a lot of hours. He knows that we will not go away. )
And that we are right in our desire for cleaner development and an open process to create a vibrant waterfront, which can never happen with casinos. Please vote down Ramos's bill 20 unanimously and pass the 1500-foot minimum standard and all other pieces of legislation introduced by Councilman DiCicco. Thank you very much for your time. 460 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation
Thank you. Thank you very much. (Standing ovation.) MR. McPHERSON: Our last witness is Anne Dicker. (Anne Dicker is not present.) (Witness comes forward.)
Good evening. Kindly identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony, sir. MR. McGETTIGAN: Yes. My name is Michael McGettigan, and I can say I know how you feel. I got here at 8:41 today. Philadelphian since 1954. I got an 11-year-old in the public schools. I run a bike shop, Trophy Bikes, at 31st and Walnut in University, and I recently -- in October, I opened a new shop on Liberties Walk, in Northern Liberties, which is part of my interest in this. And I guess I'll -- an awful 461 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation lot of this I've been crossing out all day because I see about the money shifting. From a selfish standpoint, every dollar gambled is a dollar that is not going to buy a bicycle or school books or movie tickets. And so, I want some of that money. Sadly, I saw one of my customers, a very good customer, and he's an attorney for SugarHouse, so I'm getting a little money from the gambling business. Yeah, so the thing -- econsult -- very -- lots of number are thrown around, and probably the biggest number, we're all worried about our property values, and my property values are great. I live on the well-planned waterfront, the Schuylkill, 27th and South. 5 and no Home Depot, no casino. They put in a strip of asphalt for bikes, a dog run, and a couple of swings, and my house is worth 250 grand 462 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation today. And so it's not hard to make a river worth a lot of money; just let people get to it. Now, one of the things that's beyond my little property values -- and it was a little shocking to see GPTMC in here rooting for gambling because they spent a lot of money building up a big piece of property, which is impossible to value, and it changes all the time, and that's Philadelphia's image as a city, who we are, what we're supposed to be. And no one can really agree on what it is, but we're trying to keep it looking like something. It's a complex image, and don't always take the best care of it. Sometime the city of homes blows up a block. Or we took Love Park, which was a worldwide symbol of skateboarding, and bulldozed it so that you can sit down and eat lunch. So we don't always do the best job. And in some parts, our image 463 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation is a little bit sad, but we have to look at 'em. Where there's just a few blocks down, they're digging up a space where Philadelphians lived who were owned by other Philadelphians. And that's an issue that persists today, I think, even in this room. I looked up at the unions, and I saw mostly people that looked like me. And I have to say I looked at the anti-casino forces, and I see mostly people that looked like me. And I see the split a little bit, and maybe no 15 one's mentioned it, but it's split a little bit on race, I think that says a bit about the desperate straits of Philadelphia's minorities and Philadelphia's blacks, that they're ready to reach out to anything for economic help. And I think that says -- I can't picture in the 1960s or the 1980s -- and I was there for that -- someone coming out and saying, All 464 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation right, I'm going to help the black community. You can polish slot machines and do the carpets because our schools can't prepare you for anything better. And I got to say for my son, I hope for something better for him than a casino job. And I think that should be something that all kids in Philadelphia should aspire to, and our schools should prepare 'em for something better than a casino job. Now, that's not to say -- I work with my hands all day long, I fix bikes. And if my son comes back and says he wants to be a longshoreman and he's happy doing that, I know he got people their food, he got people their automobiles, he got people their clothing, and he did something to help people; he didn't throw out false hope or deal a bunch of cards out.
So I think if we get the city mixed up in something like this, the 465 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation image that we built for so many years and that we're trying to protect, we're going to be up against image meisters, and they just need people to come in here and bust our slots. GPTMC's efforts to define Philadelphia as a city of history and economics and medicine and all of the different kinds of night life are going to be stepped on by a giant casino program. These people are experts, and I think that's what they'll do, and that's what they'll pitch our city to look like. Finally, a lot of things have happened in -- a lot of Philadelphia's biggest successes are things that didn't happen. In my years in Philadelphia, which aren't that long, I can remember all of these done deals, such as the -- there was going to be a baseball stadium on North Broad Street, we were going to put an expressway through Chinatown. This very room was 466 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation supposed to be a three-level traffic island; Ed Bacon had the plans for it. All that was going to remain was the tower. I think we're all pretty glad that the crosstown expressway didn't happen. Oh, I forgot. There was a monorail that was going to go from the Post Office at 30th street past the Liberty Bell. If he had done all of these things -- among them, the crosstown expressway -- I think we'd be really a few steps closer to being Detroit instead of the city we are today. ) MR. McGETTIGAN: Thank you.
Do we have anyone else that would like to 467 6/13/07 Rules Committee - CED Legislation testify? (No response.)
Thank you. This will conclude our public hearing. * * * 468 6/13/07 Rules Public Meeting - CED Legislation
We will now go into a public meeting, and the Chair recognizes Clarke.
Thank you, Madam President. Madam President, during the public hearing, there were two references to amendments, one to Bill 10 No. 070456 that would create -- that would require, prior to the passage or the enactment of any CED, a special services district must be created, nonprofit, that would be in a position to provide resources to support the surrounding community. At this point, I would like to make a motion on the amendment to Bill 19 No. 070456. (Motion seconded.)
It has been moved and seconded that the amendment, as proposed earlier regarding Bill No. 070456, be adopted. All those in favor will 469 6/13/07 Rules Public Meeting - CED Legislation signify by saying aye. Those opposed? The ayes have it, and the motion carries. Councilman Clarke?
Madam President, as indicated earlier in the public hearing, it will be called Exhibit A, which was actually the plan of development that will be added as an amendment to Bill No. 070458, so I make a motion that that Exhibit A, as referenced, be adopted -- that that particular amendment be adopted. (Motion seconded.)
It has been moved and seconded that the amendment to Bill No. 070458 be adopted. All in favor will say aye. Those opposed? The ayes have it and the motion carries. This committee will stand in 470 6/13/07 Rules Public Meeting - CED Legislation recess until Wednesday, September 26th, at a.m. 4 Thank you all for your 5 patience. 6 (Applause.) 7 (Proceedings end at 5:25 p.m) 8 * * * 9 10 471 C E R T I F I C A T E I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings of the City of Philadelphia Council Committee on Rules are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me on Wednesday, June 13, 2007, and that this is a true and correct statement of same. __________________________________ JOSEPHINE CARDILLO Registered Professional Reporter (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)