Changing Skyline | A slots barn, herding them in

A coalition of anti-casino forces in the city has been lobbying Harrisburg's enablers to reconsider the state's gaming law. Those forces tried to place a referendum on Tuesday's ballot barring casinos 1,500 feet from a residential neighborhood, a regulation that would boot SugarHouse and Foxwoods off the Delaware waterfront.

Although the tactic was struck down by the state Supreme Court, the group Casino-Free Philadelphia will mount a shadow referendum by installing big red ballot boxes outside select polling stations. Voters can also register their views online at www.casinofreephila.org/referendum.

As dispiriting as Harrah's Chester racino is, it has the virtue of being located in a remote industrial area, away from dense residential areas. True, the slots parlor consumes good waterfront property. But Chester's stretch of the Delaware isn't on the verge of blossoming into a real neighborhood, as Philadelphia's is. It helps, too, that Chester's box is softened by the green of the racetrack.

Because of its location, I encountered virtually no car traffic along the 21/2 miles between the Interstate 95 exit and Harrah's driveway. Steering toward the garage, I admired the huge neon billboard on Harrah's facade. The light display made an impressive sight for a first-time visitor.

But I wonder if the inmates at the state prison still bother to watch the show.

Inga Saffron blogs about Philadelphia architecture at .