The tribal chief was pitching the benefits of a waterfront casino in South Philadelphia to Mayor Nutter.
It was March 14, a Friday, in the mayor's cabinet room, and Michael Thomas, chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, ran through a PowerPoint demonstration of all that the stalled $670 million Foxwoods Casino project could offer Philadelphia.
By his side was Nick Maiale, a veteran South Philly ward leader and lobbyist hired to break the deadlock that Nutter had helped create.
The mayor was having none of it. Foxwoods had won a state gaming license in 2006, but Nutter didn't want casinos on the waterfront.
Period.
"I realize I'm coming into this in the middle of the game . . .," Nutter offered.
"Actually, Mr. Mayor, it's the eighth or ninth inning," said Maiale, according to one of the meeting's participants.
"Then this game is going into extra innings," Nutter replied.
And so it has.
The announcement Wednesday that Foxwoods would pursue switching its casino to the Gallery at Market East, a Center City shopping mall, was a stunning change in course.
A year ago, the political powers in the city and state, led by Gov. Rendell and then-Mayor John F. Street, were committed to seeing Foxwoods Casino build a 3,000-slots casino in South Philadelphia.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, too, had quashed the city's attempts to overturn the state Gaming Control Board's location of the casinos at every turn. Now Nutter has the chance not only to reverse the intentions of his predecessor, but also to bring Rendell and Foxwoods around to his thinking. He has had help from like-minded state lawmakers from the river wards, battle-weary City Councilman Frank DiCicco, and suddenly helpful State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo (D., Phila.).
Maiale, a veteran of city politics, said he didn't recall telling the mayor the ball game was over at that meeting. But if the project is relocated, "they've accomplished what they wanted to do despite all odds," he said.
Instead of doing everything possible to help the two casino-license holders - Foxwoods and SugarHouse, which wants to build on the Fishtown-Northern Liberties border - the Nutter administration has done everything in its power to stop them.
Nutter wanted the waterfront to become more accessible and pedestrian-friendly. His views reflected the "civic vision" articulated by urban planners at Penn Praxis, a design group with the University of Pennsylvania, and didn't include big casinos.
