Time for Solutions

In case you missed it, here's the Philadelphia Daily News' front page which summarizes the situation: the Governor understands that the "political landscape has changed." The landscape shifting includes State Representative Evans' and Senator Fumo's recently released joint press release saying, "It would be in the best interest of Philadelphia, its residents, state taxpayers and the casinos themselves if they were to move to a new location."

The Governor now says he agrees. At least in part. He will start the process of moving the casinos. Will he, however, finish it?

We have often disagreed with the Governor but on one point we agree -- this is not over.

The Action

The Governor, the Mayor, Fumo, and Evans have plans to meet with the casinos to talk about resiting. They need to get their mandate from experts in the field. That's you.

Casino-Free Philadelphia has drafted a letter (below) proposing four principles to guide them in that particular phase. We want you to take a moment and see if you agree with each of the principles. If you agree, sign on to our letter, which will be sent to the Governor, the Mayor, Senator Fumo, and Representative Evans. You can add your own note if you want.

At their core, the four principles are: 1) Any resiting effort cannot jeopardize other neighborhoods - no casinos in neighborhoods. 2) The process needs to be done with higher values than how casinos came in the first time which means it needs to be done with rationality and inclusive of all factors, including economic and social costs. 3) The option of "no casinos" needs to be on the table, period. And 4) casinos should not receive any sort of bailout - this is their own fault.

Rendell, Evans, Fumo and Nutter need to feel our appreciation for this start, and our pressure to see it through to the end. Please sign our letter of the four guiding principles to urge them on. Then, pass this note onto 10 friends and tell them to sign onto the letter, too.

More Background

Fumo and Evans' held a joint press conference -- which was joined by various other State Representatives including (but not limited to) allies Tony Payton, Mike O'Brien and Bill Keller. At that press conference, they announced the political alignment of the Philadelphia delegation towards moving the casinos away from their current locations.

Senator Fumo's spokesperson Gary Tuma explains that the Senator "believes the two chosen locations are inappropriate because they are too close to neighborhoods." He convinced Evans' of the position that the best way to get casinos in the ground is to move them.

While Casino-Free Philadelphia opposes having casinos in our City, we support any effort to have the casino problem addressed in a way that is fair, open and democratic.

So let's get this moving. According to Kellie Patrick Gates at PlanPhilly, Rendell will indeed ask the casinos to move. And the Inquirer Editorial Board wants Rendell to push really hard.

Please sign onto our letter. Let's remind the power brokers where their power comes from.

Check out Mayor Nutter's letter to the state in which the Mayor concludes that "the obstacles to casino development at the present sites would seem to be practically insurmountable."