We are all entering an important phase of protecting our communities from the predatory gambling trade. The casinos' political allies are working at a feverish pitch to bail out the casinos and to shovel misinformation to the people.
During the next two weeks Mayor Nutter and Councilman DiCicco are bent on trying to ram through zoning for both SugarHouse and Foxwoods.
They are trying to fast-track two zoning bills that, if enacted, would actually decrease oversight and public involvement. It would eliminate a layer of council approval, which would leave the public to vent only at the Planning Commission. This takes the cue from Vince Fumo who did the same when he designed Act 71: he delegated the decisions to an unelected agency (in his case, the PGCB) in an effort to escape political accountability.
When it comes to casinos, the zoning bills would cement our Planning Commission as being the local PGCB; a place where decisions are preordained and public grievances are ignored, while the politicians stay conveniently behind the wings.
We caution you not to take the bait during these next two weeks.
