[written by Mike Toklish]

I live at 114 Federal Street - a two minute walk from the proposed Foxwoods Casino. I am totally opposed to any casino being sited in any densely populated urban neighborhood. It is a recipe for disaster.

My immediate neighborhood was originally part of the Village of Southwark in the 18th century. Over the centuries, it saw some great times and some tough times. It is now a thriving, diverse and trendy city neighborhood. It is a mix of restored historic homes, totally renovated homes, and completely new upscale homes. New restaurants continue to open in the area and are packed. Our historic neighborhood park (Jefferson Square) is getting renovated to be similar to Rittenhouse Square, largely due to the efforts of many new residents working to further improve our community. Similar projects and organizations are at work in our neighborhood libraries, parks and playgrounds. We are walking distance to center city. It is a vibrant and exciting place to live.

My historic home was built in 1790 by Benedict Arnold's father-in-law. I am a CPA. My neighbors include doctors and lawyers that had wonderful new houses built on my block. Our block is a nice blend of new and old homes and the neighbors are great. The casinos have told us we need them because our neighborhood is blighted and our community needs the jobs they offer. My neighborhood is clearly NOT blighted and I doubt very much that my neighbors and I will be quitting our careers to wait tables or clean bathrooms at Foxwoods. In fact, Foxwoods will destroy everything that is great about our neighborhood by creating Casino Blight.

Casino Blight is not a "what if" worry but is certain because of the poor sites chosen. The casinos will create a level of traffic and crime and other problems that will substantially reduce the quality of life. Our supermarkets and stores will close. Traffic will be horrible. Crime will rise. Home prices will drop. Those who can afford to will move. The residential area around the casinos will slowly become a slum.

While the residential area declines, the casinos will be profiting. Like all casinos, they will then need to expand to compete with other casinos. They will approach the city with an offer to buy up the areas they blighted under the banner of urban renewal, or simply buy up the properties one-by-one, raze the neighborhoods, and expand. Like Atlantic City and other cities, the city taxpayers pay for much of this casino expansion work.

In the meantime, with Atlantic City casinos losing money due to competition, how long will it be before New Jersey will allow casinos to be built directly across the Delaware River in Camden to compete with Foxwoods and Sugarhouse? Possibly promoted as NJ's urban renewal efforts to improve Camden. Many states have already positioned casinos on their borders to compete with the state next door, only to learn (duh) that there is a limited number of people to go to casinos, and the more casinos you built, the thinner you spread a limited number of casino patrons among a growing number of casinos. This makes each casino lose more. The only course of action is continuous expansion to lure back lost casino patrons to your bigger competitors. The landlocked Foxwoods site does not allow the casino to expand as it will eventually need to.

Casino opposition is not just about saving one or two city neighborhoods. There are many other enormous ongoing costs to the entire city being ignored.

New businesses will be frightened off. For many years the city negotiated and work very hard to get the great new shopping centers built along Delaware Avenue. Big businesses like Ikea, Wallmart, Loews, Home Depot and many others agreed to come and invest millions and create jobs. Placing the casinos on the waterfront will destroy those businesses and they will move. This tells all future businesses considering a city location that the city can not be trusted and will take any deal that comes along, even if you get screwed. Locating casinos on the waterfront is a hard slap in the face to those businesses who we begged to locate here. Shame on Mayor Street and the city's Chamber of Commerce for supporting casinos and thereby snubbing those businesses who have already invested so much in our city at their urging.

Then there are the huge unknown costs to the city for infrastructure, public transportation, airport expansion, crime and traffic issues, among others. No one even knows what these costs are, but many existing studies clearly indicate that these costs will far exceed any tax revenue we will get from the casinos. I am glad our current Mayor Nutter has requested a study of his own to gather these key financial facts. Shame on Mayor Street for irresponsibly ignoring them.

Another outrage is how these casinos do business. Please let us not forget those of us who signed casino opposition petitions were visited by casino-appointed thugs at our very front doors and threatened with legal action. Also remember that these sites were forced on us against our will and the casinos immediately go to court to stop any action we take to force a more thoughtful look at more appropriate sites. Shame on the casinos for behaving like mobsters, suppressing public opinion and not seeking better sites on their own as they should have been doing all along.

And here's the point that bothers me the most. Our governor has chosen to patently dismiss all these valid concerns and ignore the voice of the people in this matter. He believes he has been elected Monarch and as His Subjects we must obey. To make his will known, he influenced the state courts to rule in his favor. He has bullied, strong-armed and possibly threatened many officials into supporting his position on this matter. He appointed a gaming board that was clearly biased and sanctioned a fast-and-dirty site location process. He ignored all outcry for public input into one of the single biggest things that will shape Philadelphia's future. Shame on our Governor Rendell for continuing to stubbornly insist on casino sites that will destroy our city instead of benefitting it. For ignoring us and forcing his will upon us, he is clearly a Traitor to The People.

What about the local casino investors? Think about it, these people are our neighbors - they live in the Philadelphia area. We may pass them on the street or sit in a theater or restaurant next to them and not know it. They watch the same news broadcasts and get caught in the same traffic as we do. And they clearly would not want casinos in their own neighborhoods. They are people of great power, influence and philanthropy and have a strong influence in Philadelphia's future. I am hoping that these neighbors will reconsider and choose more socially responsible investments for their foundations to invest in. Over time, casinos will destroy whole neighborhoods, will force thousands of families to relocate, will devalue thousands of homes and will destroy the lives of many people. There is therefore nothing socially responsible, neighborly or "charitable" about a foundation investing in casinos. Besides, casinos look like a very bad long-term investment anyway. It's not too late dear neighbors, pull your money out! Remain true to the charitable motives of your foundations and consider socially responsible investments instead.

The only positive thing about this whole terrible situation is that it has united thousands of people in a positive common cause - to save great city neighborhoods and spare the city from financial ruin. I am proud of our political leaders who defied Traitors Rendell and Street and instead stood by us - The People. Thank you Councilman DiCicco, the entire City Council, State Rep. Michael O'Brien and everyone else who continues to Fight To Re-Site!

Michael J. Toklish
114 Federal Street
Philadelphia, PA 19147