Chinatown residents at a public meeting on Foxwoods casino on Oct 9th / Image credit AAU Morgan Jones

By John Chin

The Gallery Market East was put in play as an alternate site for the Foxwoods casino on September 9, 2008. Governor Rendell and Mayor Nutter stood together to announce this center city site.  Shortly after, City Council hurried the legislative process to introduce the “Commercial Entertainment District” legislation, which would accommodate a casino for center city.  Yesterday, November 13, 2008 the center city casino train left the station and could possibly arrive at the Gallery Market East station in record time.  City Council voted yesterday unanimously to pass the CED legislation to Chinatown’s dismay.

Chinatown does not want the casino for many of the same reasons that other neighborhoods do not want the casino.  For the last two months, the Chinatown community has voiced opposition to the relocation time and time again.  Along the way other neighborhood groups joined in voicing concern over the proposal.  While the concerned neighborhoods shared differing opinions on the morals of gambling and the best locations, we agreed on two notions. First, neighborhoods do not want the casino in their neighborhood.  Second, all the neighborhoods said the process was too fast and need to slow down.

Well, Chinatown and every concerned citizen of Philadelphia must move to the next stage of the game.  Foxwoods has been given the opportunity to accept the gallery site and offer a “Plan of Development,” POD.  Pressure must to put on the City Planning Commission, City Council and the Mayor to ensure that this process that they enacted is an “open and transparent” process.  They must be held to the highest standards to ensure that the citizens have every opportunity to participate in all discussions.  If this is not the process, then the CED legislation needs to be amended.  Anything less would be unacceptable.

Foxwoods, the key player in all of this, has been silent and out of sight during these two months.  Even when Foxwoods representatives attended one meeting in Chinatown on October 9th, they offered very little information.  With the passing of CED legislation, they have been given the green light to start the planning process.  It is time for Foxwoods to speak up.  Foxwoods has been given a free pass these last two months.  It is time for the Chinatown and the citizens to focus on Foxwoods and take the fight directly to them.

John Chin is the Executive Director of the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation