We had our day in court for December’s anti-casino action. Thirteen of us drove to Harrisburg to attend District court in Dauphin County.

We were charged with creating “a hazard offensive condition which served no legitimate purpose…” You can see the exact wording on the citation.

We sat in front of Judge Joseph S. Solomon in Dauphin County District court.

Our lawyer argued that our only intent was to retrieve documents. The PGCB is a state agency and is charged with making its documents available to the public. We are nothing more than citizens exercising our rights.

Paul Mauro, identified only as a Supervisor at the PGCB, testified on behalf of the PGCB. He testified that that we were shouting and blocked the entry to the elevators. He further testified that he told us that the PGCB did not want us here and we would need to leave.

The Hallwatch video clearly shows that we were non-violent and respectful.

Reverend Jesse Brown was called to testify on our behalf. He testified that we were citizens who arrived during the PGCB’s regular business hours to request public documents. We were refused access to these documents. When we refused to leave without the documents we were arrested. He testified that the security guard did not offer to contact anyone from the PGCB.

Judge Solomon delivered his verdict:

He said the key to his decision is that “…no testimony showed that there was an intent to create a hazardous condition. If such a condition was created it was done without intent.”

Judge Solomon continued: “The problem I have with this situation is that a request was made for information that should be made available to the people.” He stated that this is a “people’s government” and “…anyone should be able to go to a state government agency, walk in and be able to see the documents. I can’t imagine what documents your [indicating Mauro] agency has that they need to be protected from the people…This was handled extremely inappropriately by your agency…If your agency continues to operate in this fashion we’re going to have a lot more of these [referring to our case].”

He continued, accusing the PGCB of “…creating an undue burden on the citizens of Harrisburg…” by refusing citizens entry and calling the police. He told Mauro that if his [Mauro's] agency is unable to allow public access due to building security policy then the PGCB should consider moving out of the building.

The judge openly chastised the PGCB. I can’t express enough how moving this scene was. Not only were we found innocent but we were justified not as activists but as citizens exercising our rights.

We are not activists, we are citizens who want the rights that we are due. We are due a say in our government. If we are denied that right we will stand up for it.

I can’t thank the organizers of this event enough for showing me the beginnings of how to make a difference in government. It takes time but a group of concerned citizens can make a difference in their government.

Links:
NABR: http://www.nabrhood.org
Casino Free Philadelphia: http://casinofreephila.org

Last week was busy and draining. Monday I attended a NABR meeting, Thursday I attended my first Fishtown Neighborhood Association (FNA) meeting. I found out a lot of interesting information on the casino front.

PennPraxis has launched a new Plan Philly (planphilly.com) web site. Their first and current project is to plan the central Delaware Riverfront. They have called a series of public meetings to get input from the community. The casino comes up prominently at each meeting.

Penn Praxis continues to erroneously refer to the casinos as a done deal. They are responsible in mission for listening to the neighborhoods but they repeatedly ignore the people’s input. PennPraxis should address the casino issue head on. That’s what the neighborhoods want. They should put together two plans: one with casinos and one without.

Vern Anastasio spoke at the NABR meeting about the ill-conceived proposed Special Services Districts. The purpose is to provide “clean and green,” basically improve neighborhoods by cleaning up trash, planting trees, etc. This is incredibly short sighted. These are services that should be provided by the city. Neighborhoods should ask city hall for these services, not a commercial developer. The money will be spent to clean up the mess the casinos create, it will not be spent to better our neighborhoods.

Ultimately we will become addicted to the revenue. We won’t be able to clean up our neighborhoods without the crutch of tax revenue from casinos. Philadelphia needs to think bigger picture. Philadelphia can create real incentives for business, draw business and ultimately draw tax revenue from a thriving business community.

Last week’s FNA meeting showed that Fishtown is is changing. New residents and long term residents alike clearly came out against casinos. A stand hasn’t been taken by the group but the groundwork has been laid. The Fishtown Neighborhood Association (FNA) is officially agnostic on casinos. Northern Liberties, Old City, Society Hill, Pennsport and Passyunk have all taken an anti-casino stance. This is troubling because without a firm stand they can’t negotiate.

Links:
fishtown.us
fishtownlife.com
Wikipedia article.

SugarHouse has been licensed just three blocks from our house. Foxwoods is within a few miles. Both will have a dramatic affect on Philadelphia’s waterfront and likely the city as a whole.

This is why we need to fight. If the Inquirer thinks it’s okay to print this we have a real problem. Here are a few more examples.

We attended an all day strategy session hosted by Casino Free Philadelphia on Saturday. It was informational and yielded tangible strategies and gave each of us next steps in the fight.

It’s not a done deal. That’s what they said about the construction of I-95 in the late ’50s. The original plan called for an elevated highway along the riverfront. With the exceptions of pass throughs for Spruce and Dock Streets there would be no way to pass from the neighborhoods to the (at the time) planned Penn’s Landing development. A group of lawyers got together and fought to change the design to a sunken highway. Ultimately they got the plans changed and 95 is now below street level with many overpasses for foot and vehicle traffic. We got the story first hand from one of the lawyers involved. He knew less about organizing at the time than the organizers of Casino Free Philadelphia.

Lesson for developers that don’t listen to the community: New Market in Society Hill. It was a multi-level shopping development right off head house square between South, Lombard, Front and Second Streets. There is surprisingly little online about this development. The neighborhood didn’t want it, the developers built it anyway. Ultimately it was abandoned and sat vacant for years. It was demolished a few years ago and is currently a vacant lot.

It won’t end here. There are rumors that Foxwoods has options to buy land from Comcast to the north and Home Depot in the south. This means a few things– namely that they can expand and swallow up more of Philadelphia’s waterfront but more insidious is that this land could continue to remain vacant in wait for Foxwoods to buy it. This is exactly the situation much of Philadelphia’s waterfront is in now– waiting for wealthy casino owners to buy it. Why would land owners sell when they know they can hold out and sell at premium prices to well funded casino operators.

I’ve posted photos here.

Consider getting involved. We can stop the casines but we need help.

Resources:
Casino Free PA Excellent resource, the coordinator is passionate about the topic.
The Luck Business by Robert Goodman
Gambling in America by Earl Grinols
Without Reservation by Jeff Benedict

Here’s my edit of the the message Casino Free Philadelphia suggests we send to Philadelphians:

This past Saturday more than 80 Philadelphians joined together to take the next step in keeping Philadelphia casino free.

Now that the State has conditionally licensed two casinos on our City's waterfront the negative impact and potential harm is becoming clearer. Our politicians at the State and City level have been clever in how they have planned to impose slots gaming into our city. But they didn't plan for the resistance which is growing stronger every day.

Saturday's strategy event with Casino Free Philadelphia made it clear that we have a great deal of power and ability to protect our families, communities, city and state from the negative effects of gaming. But to do so we need to reach out to people we know and encourage them to get informed and involved.

Please go to www.casinofreephila.org and join the email list. While you are at the website check out the media clippings, photos, videos and other resources available. Please share this resource, by forwarding this email, to other people you know. Please also consider joining me for future actions, events and meetings.