Of course, that doesn't mean the slots parlor can move in right away. Tomorrow, when City Council conducts a special hearing on rezoning the Gallery for gambling, the Nutter administration had better be prepared to outline its defensive strategy. The city must take measures to buffer its precious Chinatown neighborhood, perhaps the last place in Philadelphia where people still live, work and shop within a few square blocks.
Planning and zoning restrictions are obviously crucial. But they alone can't protect Chinatown. Mayor Nutter needs to confront the monster in the room: You can't simply move a replica of Foxwoods' waterfront slots parlor to a downtown location. It has to be right-sized for Market Street.
The real test for the mayor will be how he finesses that issue with Gov. Rendell. When Rendell's folks laid down the rules for Pennsylvania's casinos four years ago, they created a form of factory gambling whose sole purpose is to stamp out huge sums for the state treasury. Their one-size-fits-all model requires casinos to field 5,000 slot machines. That's more one-armed bandits than you'll find in any Vegas casino.
Worse, the Rendell administration barred table games like poker and blackjack, which attract a more affluent audience than slots. Instead, the state went for the Kmart crowd. Rendell's gambling model is guaranteed to produce generic stand-alone slots barns unsullied by the distractions of shops, theaters or fine restaurants.
And now, he wants to put this low-end schlock in the heart of the state's biggest, most cosmopolitan city, at 11th and Market Streets, two blocks from the Convention Center?
No wonder the Chinatown community is suspicious.
