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| Will this become political battleground in war of casinos? |
BUT
THERE’S ONE factor that has been popping up in my brain – the way in which the
siting of a city-based casino will also impact the way the so-called south
suburban casino will be located.
There
are several municipalities scattered throughout southern Cook County, all of
which are insistent that they’re the only local place to erect one of those
tacky, flashy, gaudy structures that promise instant wealth (and downplay the chances
you’ll walk out of there flat-broke, instead).
It
seems there is one line of thought that a south suburban casino ought to be
placed in a community fairly close to the Illinois/Indiana border. Almost as
though its existence would stand in the way of people who otherwise would try
to fulfill their gambling “jones” by venturing to those casinos in Indiana
(Hammond, East Chicago and Gary, to be specific).
Why
cross over State Line Road to the land of Hoosiers if you can gamble closer to
home?
SO
IF THE notion of a casino being located near the Lincoln Highway right by Interstate
394 (just barely in suburban Ford Heights) becomes reality, does that impact
the idea of a city-based casino by making it more likely that such a facility
would be located in the heart of downtown – to take advantage of the nearby
presence of out-of-town tourists?
Or
does the concept of putting a city-based gambling complex down around the 10th
Ward (as far southeast as one can go and still be in Chicago proper) become the
big boost to the people who think a suburban casino ought to be at a site on
Interstate 80 at Halsted Street?
I
should make one confession. I have a step-mother who enjoys the environs of a
casino (playing the slot machines is her big kick), and that latter location would
put a casino about a five-minute drive away from her home.
It
intrigues me the way these varying proposals for more gambling are going to
impact each other – even though the political people tend to act as though the
city-based and suburban-based casinos will exist in differing worlds.
ALMOST
AS THOUGH they’re Las Vegas and Atlantic City.
Rather
than the idea of an East Side neighborhood in Chicago casino being only about a
15-minute drive down the Bishop Ford Freeway to the would-be Ford Heights site.
Which
may also suffer from the general reputation that suburb suffers in the public
eye. I already can envision the notion that many people will have in thinking a
Ford Heights site is too decrepit to want to go to.
Or
it could also turn out to be like when Ford Motor Co. decided to build an auto
plant in that area, and actually picked a site right on the municipality’s border.
What was then East Chicago Heights, Ill., went so far as to rename their town
to try to make Ford Motor think they were special.
ONLY
TO HAVE the company choose to annex into Chicago Heights proper. Would a casino
feel the need to claim they’re in another town (Sauk Village or Lynwood?) to
escape the perceived stigma?
For
all those people who already are calculating how much of a cut their municipality
will receive in tax revenues from a proposed casino, we ought to consider that just
because the Illinois General Assembly has given authority to allowing a few more
casinos does not mean anybody’s ready to open for business anytime soon.
If
anything, the real political infighting will now begin – with village vs.
village being pitted against each other to argue the merits of who’s most
worthy of having a casino with over-priced buffet where one can gorge
themselves in between black jack hands operating within their boundaries.
Because
let’s not forget – the operating premises of many casinos is that they want to
keep customers inside at all times. They certainly don’t want them spending
money at any surrounding businesses in the community – spending that would
generate true economic development.
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