Betting their place

Two South Philly community leaders will have a voice on Mayor John Street’s newly formed Gaming Advisory Task Force.

The mayor created the 42-member panel to analyze the anticipated effects of gambling in Philadelphia, which is set to receive two of the 14 slot parlors that state legislators approved last summer.

While the state gaming board ultimately will determine the placement of each parlor, First District Councilman Frank DiCicco said it’s a safe bet that at least one will surface in South Philly.

The councilman requested two seats on the task force "so that if anycommunity issues arise, the community could be represented," and he filled them with longstanding South Philly civic leaders Colleen Puckett, of Queen Village, and Mark Squilla, of Pennsport.

South Philly is a likely choice for a slot parlor because Caesars Entertainment Inc. owns a parcel of land on the waterfront side of Columbus Boulevard between Reed and Tasker streets. The gambling giant already has announced plans to build a 3,000-slot casino housed in an 80,000-square-foot building. The $350-million project would require licensing from the state.

DiCicco said he chose Squilla and Puckett to represent South Philly on the gaming task force partly because of their neighborhoods’ proximity to the proposed Caesars complex.

As former president of the Queen Village Neighbors Association, Puckett was an outspoken opponent of the Rendell administration’s riverboat gambling proposal a decade ago. Over the course of several years, she contacted residents in 25 neighborhoods along the waterfront that would have been impacted by riverboat gambling. A board member of Whitman Council from 2000-02, Squilla is now treasurer of the Burke Community Fund. A group of Whitman and Pennsport neighbors who united to form sports leagues and maintain Burke Playground, Second and Jackson streets, created the fund.

Squilla also serves as community service coordinator of another group, Pennsport and Whitman Beautification and Revitalization.

He said he wants to protect his area’s interests as gambling comes closer to being a reality.

"My main concerns were the community concerns and that the community would have an input," he said. "Sometimes people overlook the concerns of the people who live in that community."

STREET APPOINTED THE task force members, none of whom are paid, from private and public agencies and businesses.

Co-chairs of the committee are Paul Levy, executive director of Central Philadelphia Development Corp. and the Center City District; Maxine Griffith, executive director of the City Planning Commission; and Bernard E. Anderson, a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Puckett said she was somewhat concerned about whether the mayor’s task force would be independent, but the co-chairs impressed her enough to sign on.

"I hoped the commission wouldn’t be a rubber stamp," she said. "I’m encouraged by the quality of the co-chairs. It seems like if anybody can make it happen, these folks can."

Puckett cited Levy’s track record with the Center City District as proof that he follows through on ideas.

Each of the 42 members is assigned to one of three subcommittees: economic impact, site selection and social-service impact.

Puckett serves on the social-service impact committee.

"It will study the impact slot parlors will have on neighborhoods — traffic, parking, crime, as well as social impact," she said, adding the committee also will look at problem gambling and how the influx of slots will "affect the more vulnerable populations like homeless and low-income."

Many opponents of legalized gambling worry more about social impact than anything else, said Puckett. Even the mayor voiced concern in the past about the city’s ability to handle the vehicle and pedestrian traffic a slots parlor would generate.

Puckett and Squilla agreed that traffic would be a major issue no matter where the parlors end up.

Mayoral spokesperson Dan Fee said Street hopes the task force will address a variety of municipal services.

"Gaming will do more than just create slot parlors," he said. "It will influence parking, traffic, social services, sewage. Those were all the things we wanted to consider to get a leg up on, so before a final decision for locations is made, we can make our views known."

A proponent of gambling since the 1990s, DiCicco feels the economic benefits far outweigh any risks. Casinos are cash cows that will stimulate the economy and create thousands of jobs, the councilman said.

Squilla, who serves on the site-selection panel, agrees.

"We need to make it work for the city. It will bring in money and revenue," he said. "Our goal as a committee is to come up with the best sites possible but also to take into consideration how the communities will be impacted."

State legislation authorizes each parlor to have up to 5,000 slot machines, but they will open with 2,500 to 3,000, said Gary Tuma, spokesperson for state Sen. Vince Fumo, who was instrumental in passing the gambling package.

THE FIRST MEETING of the city’s gaming task force on Feb. 22 was closed to the public. Future meetings will include public hearings.

The task force’s power is limited in that it can only offer advice on site locations and speculate on the impact those locations would have on the city. Members are expected to come up with a list of recommendations by late summer or fall, said Fee.

"The introduction of gaming into Philadelphia is going to have one of the largest impacts of any changes in city history. What we wanted to do is be an active participant in any decisions made," the spokesperson said.

Tuma said the creation of the city panel makes good use of the legislation’s provisions.

"The law does allow for public comment, so the fact that the mayor has mounted an organized effort to look into gaming and its impact on the city and to feed that input into the gaming board is certainly a positive step," he said.

Puckett and Squilla said while they recognize their roles are limited, they hope the state gaming board would take the task force’s recommendations seriously enough to implement them.

"This is not the decision of a couple of people," Squilla said. "It will affect the neighborhood."

Tuma said that Fumo and other state officials who want to ensure Philly profits from slots will keep an eye on the task force and its recommendations.

Meanwhile, there’s still a lot of work to be done at the state level before slot parlors come to Philadelphia.

Gaming board members were only recently appointed and an application process still needs to be created before companies like Caesars can even apply for licenses, Tuma said.

The first slot machines are not expected to arrive locally until 2007. Regardless of how people feel about legalized gambling, slots are a "done deal," said Puckett.

"Slots are coming here," she said. "We need to do the best job we can to minimize the negative impact on neighborhoods and quality of life and maximize the positives."