FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The City of Philadelphia does not have the legal authority to grant submerged land rights to SugarHouse or to any other private waterfront developer, testified members of the Philadelphia Neighborhood Alliance, a coalition of 26 civic organizations, at today’s Commerce Department hearing.
As elected officials testified while being heckled by union laborers, SugarHouse’s expedited application for submerged lands license is fatally flawed and would only lead to further delay and obstruct the arrival of slots parlors to the City and the tax revenues that they are expected to deliver.
“We join with State Senator Vince Fumo, Representative Mike O’Brien and City Councilman Frank DiCicco in asking you to deny the riparian rights for submerged lands, said Joel Palmer of Bella Vista Town Watch and a PNA delegate, “This is not within the purview of the City.”
The SugarHouse casino’s attempt to by-pass the Pennsylvania state legislature by appealing directly to a lame-duck city administration for riparian land rights is seen by the PNA as a desperate maneuver to subvert the established licensing process for lands that belong to the Commonwealth in trust for the public.
“Casinos will limit the potential development of the waterfront to a handful of wealthy investors,” said Jeff Rush, of Queen Village Neighbors Association, who invoked the vision of the Penn Praxis waterfront plan, unveiled the previous evening at the PA Convention Center.
The Philadelphia Neighborhood Alliance is a coalition of 26 civic and community organizations who support the re-siting of the two proposed slots parlors. PNA is not anti-casino, but supports a 1,500 ft buffer zone between casinos and neighborhoods..