TBFKAP*: The 175th and the Philadelphia 5

Day two of the Great Philadelphia Casino hearings has come and gone. I did not make it to the hearings. But I did spend the evening pounding the streets of Queen Village on behalf of Anne Dicker, candidate for State Representative for the 175th District.

Knocking on doors with flyers in hand, I need only to mention the word "casinos" and all of a sudden ears perk up, doors open and people become willing to hear what I have to say on behalf of Candidate Dicker.

The 175th district runs along the Delaware River from Queen Village to Fishtown. Four of the five casino applicants have selected sites within this district. The 175th pretty much sits at epicenter.

Walking door to door speaking to the residents of Queen Village, and before that, Fishtown, their minds are filled with one issue and one issue only - the casinos. I spoke to more than 50 residents and every last one of them is opposed to the casinos. Every last one of them believes that the casinos will hurt their neighborhood. And every last one of them believes that the only people who stand to benefit are the politicians and their cronies.

Anne Dicker is running as the independent Democrat, apart from Philadelphia machine politics, apart from the moneyed interests who stand to benefit from a few thousand one-armed bandits. "Neighborhoods First" is the first commandment of her campaign. The implication - the other candidates will put other interests first, and the interests of neighborhoods who will live in thee shadow of at least one casino second. And I'm sure you don't need to be a resident of the 175th to know what I mean by other.

As the only independent Democrat in the May 16th primary, she can sincerely make this promise. If she wins the primary, she will have no one to answer to except the neighborhoods themselves. What other candidate can make that pledge? What other Philadelphia politician does not stand to benefit if their backers secure one of Philadelphia's two casino licenses?

That question is rhetorical.

The five applicants are competing for Philadelphia's two casino licenses. Four of the applicants have selected sites in the 175th district. The fifth candidate is Donald Trump. He proposes to put his casino in East Falls (See Rendell, you do get what you want!). But considering Trump's dubious track record - last year he had to sell off most of his interest in his casinos in order to finance their emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy - I doubt he'll end up securing a license. So that leaves the 175th as the likely host of two casinos. I would say definite but this is Philadelphia and Philadelphia politicians have been known to do some pretty stupid things (see my sidebar for the anecdote on the Athletics).

At present, the Pennsylvania Gaming Board has posted all of the Local Impact Reports on its website. I'm currently in the process of digesting the hundreds of pages of each report. Motivated by my general frustration with the coverage of this issue and the apparent public frustration with their government's handling of this issue, I plan to update this entry on a regular basis with additional detail for each of the five applicants

Hopefully, at the very least, I'll be figure out which politicians that purport to represent us, the citizens of Philadelphia, have their hands in the proverbial cookie jar. At least we know one (Anne Dicker) who doesn't.

So, click here and bookmark that page. Feel free to use it as your handy dandy Philadelphia Casino Cheat Sheet.

1. The TrumpStreet Casino &; Entertainment Center. The Donald plans to bring slots to the site of the former Budd Company factory. The casino would be located on Roberts Avenue between Henry Avenue and Fox Streets. I'm sure John Fox (and the overseers at Penn Charter for that matter - sure would bring a whole new twist to off campus privilege) will be roiling over in his grave knowing that his name is now better known for gambling than it is for pondering the principles of Quakerism under the old oak tree.

The first phase of the project, budgeted to run $350M, will consist of 3,000 slots, three movie theaters, and several restaurants - most notably a Chickie and Pete's. Among the other backers who stand to reap a windfall if TrumpStreet is granted is Pat Croce and Randal Pickett, the winner of last season's Apprentice.

The obvious problem with this project is Trump himself. His track record is at best "spotty." Spotty considering that prior to declaring bankruptcy in 2005, his casinos were so poorly run that they had fallen into considerable disrepair. The spottiest of all his properties likely was the Trump Plaza in A.C. There, the housekeepers were alotted a grand total 45 vacuum cleaners to clean the 904-room casino hotel. 45 vacuums were simply not enough. So rooms were vacuumed every other day (if at all). This is Trump's history and you know what they say about history repeating itself.

2. The Sugarhouse Casino. One of the three applicants to propose a site along the Delaware waterfront between the Ben Franklin Bridge and Girard Avenue. With no significant ties to the Philadelphia powers that be, Sugarhouse is being criticized as the outsider application - guess the peeps making this criticism must be firmly in the devil-you-know camp. The pincipal is Neil G. Blum, a billionaire real estate developer from Chicago. The rest of the partnership is filled out by Greg Carlin (CEO Sugarhouse), Midwest Gaming & Entertainment of Illinois, local developer Daniel Keating, attorney Richard Sprague, former State Supreme Court Justice William Lamb and auto magnet Robert Potamkin.

Of the five applications, this is definitely the slickest and to be honest, after my initial (and fairly superficial read), the most well thought out. After all, they do have a whole bunch of cool pictures.

Sugarhouse has already been recognized as a "preferred site" by Mayor Street's Gaming Task Force (the local phillyheads who are trying to horn in on what Harrisburg is trying to keep an exclusively state run affair). Like the other applicants, Sugarhouse proposes 3,000 slots, a theater and some restaurants. Interestingly and a possible plus for the neighborhood and the future development of the Delaware shoreline, Sugarhouse has promised to provide public access to the riverfront. Also of note, Sugarhouse plans to dock a riverboat casino at the site to provide a temporary casino while the main casino is being built. Guess these guys will also be in favor of deepening the Delaware shipping channel.

For those of you keeping your eye on the money, the initial build out is expected to run $450M.

3. Foxwoods Casino Philadelphia. Foxwoods intends to plop a casino down on Columbus Blvd (Delaware Avenue) between Tasker Avenue and Reed Street (across from the Home Depot. Like Trump, they plan to pinch their pennies and are coming in with on the low end with a $350M proposal. The fat cats behind this proposal are former-Phillie and current rib maven Gary Maddux, Ron Rubin, Ed Snider (Chairman, Comcast Spectacor), Melissa Silver (daughter of New Jersey Nets owner Lewis Katz), Quincy Jones, and Dawn Staley (Temple's Women's B-Ball coach). Filling out the list is (foot soldier) Spokeperson Maureen Garrity.

The map of the proposed site is shown below.

4. Planet Hollywood's Riverwalk Casino. What's the deal with so many applicants who have declared bankruptcy in the last few years? (Trump and Planet Hollywood) I need me some bankruptcy - maybe I'll snag a license too. Okay, enough editorializing. Back to business.

This proposed site is the former home of a city incinerator. The ownership group managed to snag a sweet deal on the property after Penn's Landing Corp., the current owner of the 11.5 acre site, voted two weeks prior to the due date for applications to lease the site to Planet Hollywood from now to the end of time (2089 if you are not Darren Daulton).

The backers of the Planet Hollywood reads like a veritable who's who in Philadelphia greasy palms. We start off with William R. Miller (local Political Soothsayer Extraordinaire) and Robert Earl (CEO Planet Hollywood). Next we move on the the truly fat cats: Ken Trujillo, Mayor Street's former city solicitor; Willie Johnson, known affectionatly as "a major campaign contributor for Street" now looking for the proverbial "big payback;" SEPTA board member Herman Wooden (hey, shouldn't running a dysfunctional public entity disqualify you from being granted the right to run another???); Philadelphia Parking Authority Chairman Joe Ashdale; the talk show host on WURD (900AM) Bill Anderson. As already noted by some of the Inquirrer coverage, this group has the race card as its central strategy.

Proposed cost: $380M.

5. Pinnacle Entertainment Casino. Not one to sit idly by, Pinnacle is a very busy body these days. In addition to seeking approval of their application to build a 3,000 slot casino off the Girard Avenue exit of I-95, Pinnacle is currently involved in a bidding war to acquire Aztar, the owner of the world famous Tropicana casinos. The proposed site consists of 27 acres in Fishtown, the former home of the Cramp Shipyard. The rights to this land was previously held by Harrah's Entertainment, but after G-Love got his hands on Chester Downs, Harrah's ditched Fishtown like a two dollar...

Like Sugarhouse, this project also has a lack of local ties (a good thing in my opinion as they will not already be habituated to Philadelphia government's standard practice of ignoring its citizenry). William Hundley, the president of Pinnacle, is the only insider my rather limited research has been able to uncover at this time.

Like every other applicant, these guys have their standard movie theatre, retail and restaurants. These guys do manage to out do the others with the promise of a 12-screen megaplex. Like Sugarhouse, these guys apparently have put a bit of thought into how to make the casino fit into the neighborhood (rather than how to pay off city politicians in order to ignore the neighborhood). They expect the casino to draw approximately 6.8 million visitors per year. In order to connect what will likely be a monolithic, windowless facade to its environs, Pinnacle has proposed an extensive outdoor space that includes an outdoor skating rink.