Following the money trail

Yesterday, as expected, the Philadelphia City Planning Commission voted 4–2 to approve SugarHouse's redesigned proposal for a slots parlor, parking garage and hotels on the Delaware river waterfront.

We were heartened by the two commissioners, Natalia Olson de Savyckyj and Nancy Rogo Trainer, who voted against the proposal. "It looks like it's a tin roof from the sides," Olson said of SugarHouse's plan. "It looks like a Wal-Mart, dressed up."

Nonetheless, as we know from Common Cause's report from earlier this week, the $16 million dollars that casinos and their lobbyist friends donated to Pennsylvania politicians is paying off.

In recognition of this fact, we delivered large bags of money to the city commissioners yesterday, and urged attendees to "follow the money trail" (see flyer at right). Our actions were well-covered by the media, including videos from ABC 6 News and Fox 29 News, and coverage in the Associated Press, WHYY, KYW News Radio, the Inquirer, the Daily News and the Metro.

As we said yesterday, this political process has been a farce — designed to appear as if community voices are being heard, without actually taking any of those voices into account.

But we know our community power can be stronger than their corrupt money. Join us at lunchtime today for our Anti-Casino Circus, the grand opening of the Philadelphia anti-casino coalitions' No Slots Spot.

Philadelphia politicians were the ones who got our city into this casino mess, and it was always unlikely they'd be willing to get us out of it without pressure from us. It's up to all of us now to continue to keep Philadelphia casino-free!