A Memorial Service for Our City - SugarHouse Casino in Philadelphia
Yesterday, you changed the story.
- On a day that was supposed to be about SugarHouse bringing wealth to Philadelphia, you helped remind the city that the casino will destroy twice as many jobs as it creates.
- At a casino that bills itself as harmless entertainment, you helped document the predatory tactics SugarHouse uses to purposely create addiction, through our first Casino Town Watch.
- In a moment when the city was instructed, in the words of Councilman Frank DiCicco in 2006, to "just sit back and take it," you demonstrated that our communities' voices still matters.
Take a moment to watch this inspiring video produced by our friends at the Media Mobilizing Project, featuring community leaders Lai Har Cheung and Rev. Jesse Brown:
Please share this video with your friends. Post it on your Facebook profile, and email it to those who want to know why you oppose casinos in Philly.
Reports on SugarHouse's opening in the news media demonstrate the degree to which your hard work over the past four years has changed the conversation. Yesterday morning, the Philadelphia Inquirer editorialized:
"The vocal casino opponents who
fought the good fight did delay
SugarHouse's opening. That's a
victory of sorts. Now, their vow
to monitor inevitable problems
stemming from casino gambling
in Philadelphia must become the
mantra of city officials, too."
We couldn't agree more. Our Casino Town Watch should serve as a model for what the city of Philadelphia should be doing: Keeping our children and families safe, reporting drunk driving, connecting patrons with addiction services and pushing SugarHouse to abide by the city smoking ban.
This morning, the Philadelphia Daily News followed up with their own editorial:
"There's another way to look at these
casino-revenue figures: These dollars
are what gamblers lost. In other words,
people visiting the state's casinos lost
$234 million in August. ... What are the
implications of those choices? Objective
data on these decisions don't exist. We
think getting this data is a job for the
House Gaming Oversight Committee.
The General Assembly brought gaming
to the state. It, and we, should be as
clear-eyed as possible on exactly what
that decision may mean."
We agree the state legislature must take action. Our state legislators should aggressively investigate predatory tactics -- like free alcohol and offering gambling on credit -- that SugarHouse uses to stoke addiction.
We still need you in this fight. The sooner SugarHouse is shut down, the fewer jobs in Philadelphia will be lost. The more effective the Casino Town Watch is, the less effective SugarHouse's addiction-producing tactics will be.
Your hard work has made a big difference this week. Thank you for all you do!
--Lily, Ivan, Dan, Kristin, Francesca and the Casino-Free Philadelphia working groups
P.S. We'll be publishing images and video from yesterday's events next week. In the meantime, check out some of the coverage we received from the Associated Press, Philadelphia Daily News, Phillyist, WHYY, and Phillyist (again).
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