Tom --

Hate to say this, but, you aren’t going to have an easy week – yet again!

To quote you, “…Traffic around them will be mucked up. There will be an increase in crime around the casinos. The casinos themselves are Grade B designs, in my view. I am not at all sure they picked the best locations on the waterfront from them.”

You agree with us! That’s exactly what the neighbors have been saying for over a year. Move the casinos to less onerous locations – away from any neighborhood in this great city. As I talk with friends throughout the state, I have yet to find one person who does not stare at me in disbelief when I tell them that casinos larger than the King of Prussia Mall might be built a field goal away from one neighborhood and a home run away from another neighborhood. Reasonable people intuitively know that casinos do not belong in neighborhoods. They don’t belong in anyone’s neighborhood. No way. No how.

As for whether casinos belong in Philadelphia at all, I would encourage you to take a hard look at whatever facts and figures you have been provided. Casinos are not the panacea they are touted to be. Talk – really talk – to the people who want to move the casinos. You will quickly discover that we are not “nuts”. Passionate, yes. But, not “nuts”. Wade through the emotions to get to the facts. Read about the impact of casinos to cities throughout the country who have tried this experiment. You know that significant problems follow in the wake of casinos. Why are you so sure that the neighborhoods most affected by the proximity of the proposed casinos can “absorb the shock of casinos” that you readily admit will result?

BTW, what do you make of legislation that protects a racino from other casinos by a 10-mile buffer, yet does not protect the citizens of the state from a casino by even an inch-buffer? A flawed law does not make good governance.

To quote you again, “I wish this city could draw a cleaner, less problematic business that would bring 7,000 – 12,000 new jobs are give us a major wage-tax cut in the bargain.” So, why haven’t we? Why can’t we? Why aren’t you pressing this issue in your columns?

This is not over.

Shirley Cook
Queen Village