PHILADELPHIA – Chants of “No Casinos! No Slots!” rang out across Chinatown from a community meeting at Holy Redeemer Church on Oct. 9, as residents protested plans to build a casino in a neighborhood shopping mall.
The meeting, a forum to answer questions about the logistics of the proposed Foxwoods Casino, drew hundreds of Chinatown residents and a panel that included Philadelphia Councilman Frank DiCicco, the mayor’s senior advisor Terry Gillen, State Representative Michael O’Brien and Foxwoods President and CEO James Dougherty.
Chinatown residents are concerned about the social consequences-including divorce, child neglect and domestic abuse-of placing a casino in Chinatown. Studies have shown Asian Americans are three times more likely to become gambling addicts than Caucasians.
Foxwoods initially planned to build the casino on the city’s Delaware waterfront, but opposition from neighborhood groups in conjunction with DiCicco forced the casino company to seek an alternate location. Still, because of a Supreme Court decision, Foxwoods does not legally have to move the casino from the waterfront.
Mayor Michael Nutter promised an anti-casino policy in his 2007 run for mayor and continues to oppose two planned waterfront casinos. But last month, Nutter endorsed an idea to relocate one of those proposed casinos to the Gallery at Market East shopping mall in Chinatown, saying it would fit in with its surroundings and stimulate development.
Chinatown residents have criticized DiCicco for supporting a casino in their neighborhood. “Why won’t you stand with this community the way you stood with the Waterfront community?” said one Chinatown resident at the meeting.
Chinatown residents and vendors have also expressed concern about increases in traffic and crime that may accompany a casino. A youth rally preceded the meeting in which local teenagers spoke out against the casino plans.
“They’re basically kicking teenagers out,” said high-school student Nancy Phe. “We’ll have no place to hang out, and we’ll be scared to come here because the crime rate will increase.”
A Foxwoods representative stated the day before the meeting that, if approved, the target date for opening the casino would be as soon as 2009.
There are other more lucrative areas to build casinos that would satisfy several other community problems.