Nutter aide gets heckled by Fishtown casino fans
Mayor Nutter's chief adviser on casinos took his case to Fishtown this week, meeting with a community group that favors building the proposed SugarHouse casino on the Delaware riverfront.
Mayor Nutter's chief adviser on casinos took his case to Fishtown this week, meeting with a community group that favors building the proposed SugarHouse casino on the Delaware riverfront.
The message from Terry Gillen was that Nutter is moving cautiously forward on the project.
The message back from Fishtown Action: Not good enough.
Gillen faced an often-hostile crowd of about 100 people in the basement hall of the Holy Name of Jesus Church Monday night. The discussion bristled with class tension as Fishtown residents complained about newcomers who oppose the casino and approve of riverfront towers of condos selling for prices the neighborhood can't afford.
City Councilman Darrell Clarke warmed up the crowd, drawing a round of applause when he told them: "In candid conversations, the majority of Council members are ready to move ahead" with approvals needed for SugarHouse to be built.
But the crowd was not impressed when Gillen noted that several city agencies have been meeting regularly with SugarHouse staffers to discuss plans to deal with concerns about water, sewer and traffic at the proposed site on Delaware Avenue at Shackamaxon Street.
"It's not something that we talk about a lot," Gillen said of those discussions. "It's just happening quietly as we're continuing to move that part of the process along, understanding that there is a pretty good chance that SugarHouse is going to be built."
The state Supreme Court in December ordered the city to approve zoning needed by SugarHouse to start construction. The justices ruled that Council had wrongly blocked the proposed casino's progress.
That was a giant step forward for SugarHouse, but Nutter staggered the project in January when he overruled a decision by Mayor Street's administration to grant the proposed casino a license to build on state-owned "riparian lands" along the Delaware riverfront. Nutter declared that the city has the power to grant such a license, which is disputed by some state legislators, but that Street's administration had improperly awarded the license.
That issue is now being considered by the state Supreme Court, with the city, state legislators and SugarHouse at odds. Gillen noted that many casino issues are tied up in court, and said that money was the root of most concerns.
"The money at stake in these casino deals is exorbitant," she said. "They are in essence licenses to print money for a very long time."
Fishtown Action member Vincent "Moon" Mullen ran the meeting and repeatedly told the crowd to be respectful. Still, several people asked Gillen questions and then heckled her as she tried to answer. One such member asked why Nutter has refused for months to meet with the top SugarHouse executives.
Gillen said she was unaware of requests to meet with Nutter, drawing hoots of derision from the crowd. A SugarHouse spokeswoman later vouched for the man's claim.
Nutter spokesman Doug Oliver said that he has no way of knowing who called for meetings with the mayor but that there was no "categorical unwillingness" to meet with anyone. *
