Neighborhoods Not Casinos
PSA #1 Neighborhoods Not Casinos
http://blip.tv/file/219656
Posts Mentioning RSS Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
-
duran
-
duran
So I Guess the Casino Hearings Were a Complete Sham After All — By Hannah Miller
This is cross posted from an email I got from a friend, all about the casino situation in Philadelphia.
Happy Holidays.Dec. 23, 2006
So I Guess the Casino Hearings Were a Complete Sham After All
By Hannah MillerFor the last 15 years, I’ve been an activist and a reporter in various capacities, and pretty much dedicated those 15 years to trying to stop rich people from screwing over poor people.
One of the things I have learned is that there are an incredible number of ways that rich, powerful people screw over poor people. They cheat us. They steal from us. They sue us. They take our homes. They pollute our air and water. They lie to us. They lay us off. They fire us from our jobs if we try to unionize. They scare us into thinking we have no power. They control us any way they can.
There are, in fact, an infinite number of ways by which rich people screw over poor people. But never, ever, once, in the last 15 years, have I seen anything as egregious as what happened this week.
The awarding of two slots licenses to Foxwoods and Sugarhouse over the most extreme community objection, the worst and most haphazard planning and design, criminal penalties levied against Foxwoods for illegal campaign contributions, and on and on, meant one thing and one thing only: that the rich and the powerful do not give a damn about the people who live on the Delaware River, and they never have, and they were lying to us along when they pretended to be listening.
Like many of the other people who worked on this, I spent hours in Gaming Board hearings, organizing protests, getting signatures, etc. Although all the casinos had powerful political interests connected to them, there were degrees. By far, the two most directly tied to State Sen. Fumo – who wrote the gaming law – were Foxwoods and Sugarhouse.
It was great that we had all those nice hearings.
It was great to see all the fantastic work done by NABR and the ILA and Anne Dicker and Vern and Mike and Matt and PennPraxis and Inga Saffron and the homeowners of Pennsport and the homeowners of Fishtown and the Trump architects who redesigned their entire casino to accomodate community input and that one amazing Pinnacle architects from somewhere in Europe who very obviously had no idea how dirty our politics are and thought this was actually a merit selection process.
It was great. Really fun.
We had yet another great big happy civic debate that was completely irrelevant, because our politicians just don’t care.They were going to do it no matter what we said.
What the Gaming Board said on Wednesday is that they are going to built slots parlors on the river whether we like it or not. They are going to take our homes from us under eminent domain whether we like it or not. They are going to build a new onramp to 95 right at the corner of Reed and Delaware whether we like it or not.
It was rumored that Frankie Dicicco told one of the South Philly civic associations a long time ago that it was going to be Foxwoods and Sugarhouse, a done deal. I don’t know if Frankie actually said this, but I think for many many months a lot of us were afraid that the rumor was true (since he would know) – that it really was a done deal all along.
The people who live in these neighborhoods don’t have a lot. Most of us, if we own anything, we own our homes, and the connections to our neighborhood and our families.
Have you ever seen an old dying man reach out to grab a cracker and munch it?
That’s what happened on Wed.
And that cracker?
That was us.—
Usually when developers get the go ahead on a multi-million dollar project, they hold a gigantic press conference where they have a golden shovel and all the local politicians show up, and everyone gives a speech to announce how great this project is for the community, etc.
Usually they have a big happy ceremony on the site itself to show how great it is that they are coming. But these guys didn’t do any of that. They didn’t dare show their faces. They knew they would get booed. They know we all hate them.
It’s a minor point, I know. One fewer press conference in history.
But that’s how I know that something really really stinks to high heaven. Seriously. I never thought I would live to see the day that Ed Rendell passes up a ribbon cutting. But the world has really changed.
If any of us have learned anything from the casino battle, there has been one horrible, miserable, aching truth that overrides it all.
It is that the people who are supposed to be protecting our city have betrayed us, and do not care about the wishes, hopes, future, or needs of the people who live here.
The people of Philadelphia were completely alone in our fight against the casinos. Our elected officials did not care about us.
Our city council.
Our state delegation.
Our mayor! Our mayor!!!!
And not to mention…our once-Mayor Rendell!None of these politicians stood up against the casinos.
These people, corrupt and wizened and greedy as they are at the top of whatever towers they live in, feel not the burden of responsibility – they feel not the desire to serve – they lack even the most basic human emotion that holds us here with our families and our friends – they have turned their back on their own home, and sold out their family, and betrayed their own people.
They are unfit to serve. They are unworthy of this city. They have betrayed us all.
And as far as I am concerned, they are no longer Philadelphians.
They should just pack up and go.
But people like that don’t leave easily.
We’re going to have to run them out of town.Hannah Miller
http://www.nabrhood.org
http://www.phillyforchange.com -
duran
I won second place… again!
Well, I’m on a roll with this second place thing… Today was the costume party at work, and despite some last minute duct tape repairs, I won 2nd place one more time.
-
duran
I won an award!
$115 dollars worth of supplies later, and I won an award for best costume
more pictures will come soon, but heres the first taste.
-
duran
Well, its official, I have a 10 year high school reunion coming up.
Its a little shocking, kinda scary, and all together surreal…
The Strath Haven Class of 1996 10-Year Reunion will take place Saturday, November 25th,….
So pull out the yearbooks and start reviewing names and outdated faces- then come early and enjoy…..
- This bar gets crowded, especially later at night. If you arrive after around 9:30pm, there will probably be a line at the door. Also, we will have an area of the bar sectioned off for us until 9:30, after that, it’s just another popular bar in Philadelphia on the one of the most popular bar nights of the year- so COME EARLY.
…
- Having already mentioned nonexistent costs, if there are classmates out there unsure of their desire to re-hash the early 90s with 242 of their former closest friends, please keep in mind that if you’re very not thirsty, this entire reunion can costs you ZERO DOLLARS. That’s pure good times.
- It’s this or turkey leftovers.
I took out some of the boring parts… but jesus… there were 242 of us…
We had a 5 year reunion, there were about 75 people there, I’ve heard rumors already that theres over 100 people signed up for this already.I guess its time to start making up stories about how I joined the army and now work full time as a contract killer… man, that would make a great movie!
-
Where did you get info of reunion?
Where did you get info of reunion?
-
duran
I got an email from Rob Jacobs.
-
Anonymous
ok, thx. i hope to see three deaf guys there. lotta qq to ask them since i last saw them 10 years ago
-
-
duran
some fucking asshole knocked over my bike.
update: a gallery of the damage.
oh what a saturday morning.
I had grand plans to SLEEP IN.
soundly wrapped up in the comfy confines of my cotton sheets, as the slow creeping dawn of sunlight crawled through my windows, listening to the rain on the side of the building…. ***BZZZZZZZZT*** wtf.8AM doorbell, who the hell is that.
I look out the window and see my neighbor Dave, who runs Elite Bicycle pointing over to the left. I shift my gaze, and find my motorcycle lying on its side in the middle of the side walk.
Awwwhh FUCK.
When parked securely for the night, its chained to a steel pole thats in the ground thats part of a sturdy fence system for the parking lot that I’ve been told I’m not welcome in, even if I pay… So on the side walk my bike stands, on its center stand, chained to the fence poll, fully covered beneath a heavy protective plastic cover designed to cover bikes. Its about as secure as you can make it with out having a private garage. This unfortunatly does not protect it from the assholes and idiots who think its a good idea to try and ride it, or just in general FUCK with it. I doubt this was a legit attempt at steeling it, because if the theif was smart he would have evaluated the situation, and realized he needed an acetealine torch to cut the chain before he tried to move it.
So, some idiot probably jumped on it, even though it was covered, and over it went. popping off the center stand, and falling off its side.
I’m about to go out side and look at it again, but I can tell you right now, the damage is probably in the $400 range.
And that just really fucking makes me pissed off.So much for that lazy saturday of doing nothing because its saturday and I had nothing to do…
double pissed off.-
Daneel
Quit bitchin you metro fool!
-
duran
I’ll just fly over to england, and step on one of your expensive headphones… then we’ll see who’s bitching.
-
mdk
don’t get mad
get frisky -
Colin D. Devroe
Ok – so should I start driving south now – and we’ll “take care of business”?
-
-
duran
you know, this is right on…
OTHER FRIENDS: Never ask for food
PHILLY FRIENDS: Are the reason you have no food.OTHER FRIENDS: Call your parents Mr. and Mrs..
PHILLY FRIENDS: Call your parents mom and dad.OTHER FRIENDS: Bail you out of jail and tell you what you did was wrong.
PHILLY FRIENDS: Would be sitting next to you saying, Damn …we screwed up
.. but it was fun!!OTHER FRIENDS: Have never seen you cry.
PHILLY FRIENDS: Cry with you.OTHER FRIENDS: Borrow your stuff for a few days then give it back.
PHILLY FRIENDS: Keep your shit so long they forget it’s yours.OTHER FRIENDS: know a few things about you.
PHILLY FRIENDS: Could write a book with direct quotes from you.OTHER FRIENDS: Will leave you behind if that’s what the crowd is doing!
PHILLY FRIENDS: Will kick the whole crowd’s ass that left you.OTHER FRIENDS: Would knock on your door.
PHILLY FRIENDS: Walk right in and say, “I’m home!”OTHER FRIENDS: Are for a while.
PHILLY FRIENDS: Are for life.OTHER FRIENDS: Will take your drink away when they think you’ve had enough.
PHILLY FRIENDS: Will look at you stumbling all over the place and say, “Yo,
watch your gonna spill it!!! – Gimmi it before you waste it all”OTHER FRIENDS: Will talk shit to the person who talks shit about you.
PHILLY FRIENDS: Will knock them out!!OTHER FRIENDS: Will ignore this.
PHILLY FRIENDS: Will repost – Too true not to pass on!!! -
duran
lost umbrella’s and giant sea monsters.
Surprisingly, Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, the new Johnny Depp movie is really good! While the first movie had an element of fantasy and magic, it wasn’t as… deeply rooted in to the core of the movie. The original was a big romp on the high seas with classic steretypical roles played by actors who knew they were having a fun time making a fun movie. Sure, there was an undead pirate ship, that turned to skeletons in the moon light, but they were much more of a back drop to the adventure.
The second film, Dead Man’s Chest dives much deeper (literally) in to the fantastic and magical, grabbing it straight by the fins and making you hold on for the surface.
The sequal, unlike the first film, is nothing with out the fantasy elements it uses for the plot. Where the first one stood on its own with the flamboyant and funny antics of its characters, this second film is more balanced between the characters and the plot (which, I’ll admit, isn’t that deep, but hey… its brain candy), and boy-o… the special effects.
The costume effects in this film were amazing. Now, I realize that a HUGE amount of it was CGI, at the same time it was so well done that it was almost impossible to tell it was CGI at times. the presense and character, of uh… the characters wasn’t something that seemed made up by a mouse and keyboard. Texture, pose, detail. It really had me fooled a number of times.
The bad guys in this film were over all just a feast for the eyes, every time I saw one, I noticed new details that I hadn’t seen in a previous shot, and they just kept coming alive. It must of been a blast to come up with the character designs for them.
Oh, and sea monsters are cool, seriously. There needs to be more of those in movies these days.
I guess the only REALLY bad part, was the fact that I left my umbrella at the movies, and calling up this morning didn’t help anything, when they said they hadn’t found anything in the theater. Oh well.
-
duran
calm returns to the world…
well, looks like this is going to be a “normal” day…
New students register today, and not with out a few minor burps here and there, and some non critical bugs cropping up, I’ve been able to relax a bit today, and even *gasp* plan a few things for the week that aren’t involving me being at work till 10pm…
The job’s been crazy stressful the last week or so, but in a rewarding way. I know that I’ve done a good job, even if I needed to put in the extra hours for it. But yeah, things are returning to normal now.
Looking forward to a drink and some food with the “gang” this evening, and being out on the bike for at least just a little while, even if it hot out there…
-
Joe
I’d like to point out that this is post… 404, a number plaguing you lately.
-
-
duran
can I get out of town already?… part 2.
Or, more like, I’m back in town, and the next 3 days of work are going to be hell.
1 server install, 2 application deployments, and hand holding everyone through the process.You’ll hear from me when i come up for air.
good times await.
ps: great time at the beach, and a really nice 4th of july fireworks show and small party afterwards
Joe are discussing. 
Where did you get info of reunion?, and 
Joe 3:54 pm on October 30, 2006 Permalink
Yay! Good going, man!
Colin D. Devroe 11:11 am on October 31, 2006 Permalink
Congrats!
But, $115? Holy crap. Were you “playable”?