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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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CONTACT: Ruth
A. Myers |
State Rep. Mike O’Brien |
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Mike O’Brien bill would eliminate free-standing gaming facilities
Nearly 300 sign online petition to allow licensees to select new sites
HARRISBURG, Feb. 8 – Calling the state Gaming Control Board’s site selection process “seriously flawed,” state Rep. Mike O’Brien, D-Phila., has introduced legislation (H.B. 357) that would eliminate Category 2, or free-standing, casino licenses in Pennsylvania.
“I am not anti-gaming,” O’Brien explained. “However, it would be impossible to overemphasize my concerns about the inadequacies of the infrastructure surrounding both proposed stand-alone casinos in Philadelphia.
“Just one example of the board’s disregard for the facts in selecting stand-alone sites in Philadelphia is their determination that the SugarHouse site will have a ‘minimal impact’ on the neighborhoods because there will be easy access to the site via Interstate 95 and Delaware Avenue. Anyone familiar with the area will tell you that’s not true. If you exit Interstate 95, you must drive through residential neighborhoods to get to the casino.
“Their description of the SugarHouse site is also flawed. They described Fishtown, a neighborhood in my district, as a low-income neighborhood within several miles of SugarHouse. In reality, Fishtown homes would be less than 100 feet from the casino.”
O’Brien first called attention to this issue on Jan. 19, when he posted an online petition on his Web site, www.pahouse.com/OBrien. The petition called for the Gaming Control Board to invoke a provision in the state’s gaming law that allows a licensee to move a casino from its planned site to a new location if good cause is proven. Approximately 300 concerned citizens have signed the petition, and O’Brien is still seeking people to sign it.
“SugarHouse Casino is slated to be situated in my district, and Foxwoods less than a half-mile from my district. It is my responsibility to speak up for the people I represent, and I fear that the financial cost of these casinos will ultimately prove to be prohibitive for the city of Philadelphia and the state, to say nothing of the quality-of-life cost for residents,” O’Brien said. “We can take action now to protect the people, the city and the state, and we need to do so. The future of our people, our neighborhoods and our city is at stake.”
O’Brien invites any Philadelphia citizen concerned about this issue to contact him by calling or visiting his district office at 610 N. Second St., Philadelphia; the phone number is 215-503-3245. They can also sign his petition or send him e-mail by visiting his Web site at www.pahouse.com/OBrien.
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