Continuing to the necessary work of in depth coverage of the casino issue, Plan Philly provides a review of the progress on the planning, approval and construction of the Foxwoods casino on Market East.   According to the article, the city is moving ahead by issuing Requests for Proposals to do the redevelopment of The Gallery in preparation for a new slots parlor.

On the other side of the issue, anti-casino advocated are moving ahead with an RFP of their own to put together an impact study that would measure the casino’s effects on traffic and retail in the Market East area.  Paul Levy of the Central Philadelphia Development Corporation continues to point out that, casino or no casino, city officials are still failing to take a hard look at this section of Center City and turn it into something worth going to:

“City government thus has a special obligation not to focus obsessively on the casino and its opponents, or to revert to its customary, project-specific focus. It’s time to look at Market East as whole, taking this unique opportunity to transform the entire area into a pedestrian-friendly, high-energy, shopping, dining and entertainment district.”

(Oh, to play the “If I had a billion dollars game.”  The things I could come up with for Market East!)

Also included in Plan Philly’s piece are a primer on how the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC) works, the potential controversy surround the owners of the Gallery and their stake (or non-stake) in Foxwoods and an interesting photo of Market East from what seems to be at least 1980s if not earlier.