You won today

Earlier today, you and your entire city got some good news. Fourteen of its citizens, arrested in September for blocking the entrance to the SugarHouse construction site, were acquitted of all charges. Watch the video from Fox 29.

The judge dismissed the case. As a result, all Philadelphians should feel empowered to work for a more transparent, democratic and sustainable future, even when political forces are stacked against them.

We know the last year has been hard.

Yet today's win demonstrates once again that Philadelphia has only been casino-free for five years — and remains so to this day — because of your hard work and dedication.

We've seen many victories over the past year: increasingly perilous financial situations for both SugarHouse and Foxwoods, the formation of a city-wide coalition fighting predatory gambling and another year without slots in our neighborhoods.

This past year has been challenging — as we've attempted to accomplish so much, in the face of such odds and political opposition, while remaining true to our mission and history as a community-centered organization.

We can do even more with your continued support. Foxwoods can be kicked out of Philadelphia entirely. Investments in SugarHouse can be slowed and cower from our growing community power, causing the slots parlor to go bankrupt if it does open. And we can push for a city and state budget based on commitments to fund essential services rather than exploit people through predatory gambling.

But we simply can't do it without some measure of financial support. More than 85% of our funding comes from individual donations, and we steadfastly refuse to accept donations from other casinos or their backers.

Donate to Casino-Free Philadelphia, and let's make this the first of many victories in 2010!

We're still pulling together more images and video from today's events, but check our website and our Facebook page for live updates and other multimedia collected throughout this amazing day.