WHEREAS, The Pennsylvania General Assembly enacted Act 71, commonly known as the Pennsylvania Gaming Act, in 2004. Under this legislation, the City of Philadelphia has been mandated to accept two slots parlors; and
WHEREAS, Applications for these licenses were due on December 28, 2005. Five applications were filed for sites in the City of Philadelphia and, to date, all of these applications require supplementary information and none have been declared complete and final. Further, much of the developers’ applications have not been released to communities or elected officials to help the citizens of Philadelphia better understand and comment on these proposals; and
WHEREAS, Four of the five applications are located in Philadelphia’s river wards, less than one mile apart. Because these locations are in such close proximity to one another, it is nearly impossible for policy makers and communities to properly comment on the individual applications without considering the other potential locations; and
WHEREAS, The PGCB has declared that the final day for public comment will be June 2, 2006. This deadline falls approximately three months after initial application information was made public and falls months before full applications will be made public. This time period and the complexity of the information provided has been wholly inadequate in order to guarantee appropriate public comment; and
WHEREAS, The PGCB has failed to respond to requests in writing from constituents and elected officials requesting an extension of the public comment period; and
WHEREAS, No gaming license application in Philadelphia is complete and, therefore, communities are commenting on information that may change at a later date. It is illogical for the PGCB to request public comment for proposals that are still being finalized and then award gaming licenses based on those comments; and
WHEREAS, Gaming will impact all Philadelphians and all Pennsylvanians and every resident and business owner must be given the opportunity to let their voices be heard; now therefore
RESOLVED, THAT THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, Calls on the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) to extend the public comment period on individual slots licenses and further calling on the PGCB to create a second public comment period following the Board’s declaration that the applications are complete and final in order to insure all Philadelphians’ voices are heard.
End
June 1, 2006
Councilman Frank DiCicco
1st District Council