Opinion: Pequot casino project in Pennsylvania a mess

Monday, March 8, 2010  

"Sorting out the unforgivable mess of the Foxwoods casino project will take years. The South Philadelphia site on Columbus Boulevard, with enough commercial congestion already, was by far the worst of those considered by the state (and wait to see what happens when there is a Phillies game). Let's not even get into the sad truth that Pennsylvania, once the nation's greatest industrial state, has no choice but to turn to the opiate dens of casinos to raise revenue.

Ever see anything more grim than glum-eyed souls playing glum-eyed slot machines in obsessive-compulsive catatonia? Those screams you hear are from delighted casino owners as they strip senior citizens of money they can't afford to lose. The city morgue offers more enthusiasms.

But none of that mattered. The project was a fait accompli from the beginning (the phrase on the tip of my tongue is politically connected). So it is still hard to believe that three businessmen as savvy and successful as Lewis Katz, Ed Snider, and Ron Rubin, the main local investors in the project on behalf of charitable family trusts they represent, could have handled anything worse.

The three are more politically connected than most politicians. They acted with requisite arrogance because of those connections, so it was lovely justice to see them assume the submissive position last month and turn over control of the project to gambling magnate Stephen Wynn, who has acted thus far with such an utter lack of diplomacy and preparation that you have to wonder if he is merely a big-name straw man for the three amigos as they continue to try to buy time.

Given the location, Foxwoods never should have gotten the license in 2006. Nearby residents had a right to be livid. The projected infrastructure costs were obscene. But the three amigos never seemed particularly worried. Why would they be? They had the swag and swagger that come with always getting what you want because of who you know. When Ed Rendell was mayor, they plumped themselves into his office with more comfort than Rendell himself, and I doubt it was much different in the governor's office. They acted from the beginning of the casino-licensing process with the odiferous cologne of their power because it's force of habit."

Get the Story:
Buzz Bissinger: Half Empty: Casino investors have lesson to learn (The Philadelphia Inquirer 3/7)