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Panel should back Fishtown casino

By A.J. Thomson Call it a Wynn-win for Philadelphia. The 300-room casino-hotel for Philadelphia proposed by Steve Wynn would sit about five blocks from my home in Fishtown, and extend up into lower Port Richmond. It should be the only site up for discussion.

By A.J. Thomson

Call it a Wynn-win for Philadelphia.

The 300-room casino-hotel for Philadelphia proposed by Steve Wynn would sit about five blocks from my home in Fishtown, and extend up into lower Port Richmond. It should be the only site up for discussion.

Wynn, chief executive of Wynn Resorts Ltd., which has similar operations in Las Vegas and Macau, is intent on building a destination resort on this 60-acre site, which extends along North Beach Street from Palmer to Cumberland Streets. Any other city and state would jump at the chance for an attraction that would elevate a city - and community - to international prominence.

The fact that there's even a debate shows how convoluted the awarding of casino licenses is in Pennsylvania. During the first round of licensing, we had to endure a slew of opportunistic "activists" whose daily threats of community apocalypse from imagined casino-induced evils shackled the development of the SugarHouse Casino, which placed it at a disadvantage from the jump.

Yet, today, SugarHouse is a tremendous positive for Fishtown and for Philadelphia. It employs hundreds of my neighbors, and provides the longest stretch of private waterfront access on the Delaware. It has also provided millions of dollars for local projects that have given tens of thousands of my fellow residents positive outlets to give back to the community. The owners of SugarHouse, as well as its staff and partners in the Fishtown community, have demonstrated that a casino can be successfully integrated into an urban neighborhood.

Wynn's project is poised to build on that success, and expand it farther up the river, providing a once-in-a-lifetime chance to reinvent our waterfront. His resort will spur unprecedented tourist development and expand our tax base by adding family-sustaining jobs to a city that needs them.

Like it our not, Philadelphia is getting another casino. Wynn's proposal is the only game-changer for the city. Smaller plans will just cannibalize the market, cutting into SugarHouse's revenue and leaving us with two struggling casinos. Wynn's vision is to complement SugarHouse and encourage it to get better. His plan would provide more public access to the waterfront than any other private development yet proposed for the Delaware. And Wynn has committed to following SugarHouse's lead on funding community improvements, which will have a tremendous positive impact in Fishtown, Kensington, Port Richmond, and beyond.

Philadelphia has missed too many development opportunities. We always seem to get close, but then lose out to some other, usually lesser town. However, right now, we are as close as it gets to greatness. I hope, for the sake of my family, my community, and my city, that the gaming board gives us this Wynn.