From the Philadelphia Inquirer:
Whenever casino owners go before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, it would be easier if Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille kept a rubber stamp handy that said “APPROVED.”
That would save time, trouble and the pretense of impartiality, since the outcome of casino cases before the high court have been a foregone conclusion. Whatever the casino owners need, Castille and his robed colleagues are there to please.
Last week, the court swept aside Philadelphia’s authority to oversee details involving the Foxwoods project on the Delaware River in South Philadelphia [Philadelphia Entertainment and Development Partners v. Phila. City Council, majority opinion, concurring opinion]. Talk about a one-stop approval process. Who knew Castille & Co. were also planning, traffic, safety and zoning experts?
In December, the court handed SugarHouse a similar carte blanche to secure necessary city approvals for zoning and the like at its Fishtown site, also along the waterfront. Now, only historic-site concerns and a tussle over riverbed rights stand in SugarHouse’s path.
Last spring, the court scuttled Philadelphia voters’ chance to cast ballots on a City Charter referendum that, if approved, would force the casinos to move off the river.
What’s next? Castille’s bunch just fast-tracked a hearing on a case involving SugarHouse’s battle against state lawmakers and the Nutter administration for the riverbed rights. Look for another win for the casinos.
After all, Gov. Rendell and his buddies want those quarters. So look for the Castille court to do what it takes to get all of the one-armed bandits in business.
Even so, the pattern of special treatment for casinos under the 2004 state gambling law and implied in Supreme Court rulings reached a new low with the Foxwoods decision. No wonder Mayor Nutter called it a “slap in the face” to the city.
The court imperiously ordered the city to step aside and let the casino build at a location that’s almost assured to be a traffic nightmare, while bringing gambling ills within blocks of decent neighborhoods.
Didn’t matter that City Councilman Frank DiCicco was in the midst of hearings on an array of concerns over Foxwoods beyond traffic, including the impact on local businesses and police and fire protection.
The many concerns surrounding the Foxwoods site make a strong case for moving the casinos off the river. Those sites were force-fed on the city by Rendell appointees and state legislative leaders.
Castille’s court has helped to ram through the casinos with basically no public input. As the court said, the city “ultimately has no discretion to preclude gaming.” Or even much say. So sit back; Rendell, the legislature and the Supreme Court will take care of everything.
Turtle Talk 