Usually, when we give you these casino updates, they are dark and ominous, filled with expletives and fat with Michael Moore references. (Perhaps that’s a bad way to describe such a reference. Pardon.) Those will continue, but today, let’s take a look at how ridiculous this has gotten. First and foremost, there’s no news yet regarding exactly when/how/if the newly installed Nutter Administration will yank the two key permits John Street slipped to SugarHouse before we went out in a blaze of “Fuck you, jobs and permits for everybody!” But that ain’t the half of it.

SugarHouse has in fact begun work on their site, questionable permits be damned, but even anti-casino people will grant that it’s surface crap mainly intended to keep investors from getting completely freaked out. (And let’s face it, if you’ve got money in SugarHouse, at this point, you probably moved past the “completely freaked out” stage a long time ago.) But what is really screwing with the works on Delaware Ave.? Oh, only just history, the environment and wildlife… oh, AND the US Army. Casino-Free Philadelphia’s Daniel Hunter put it best in an open letter he sent yesterday to SugarHouse brass:

SugarHouse is embroiled in ongoing and major controversy. Engaging in preliminary construction at this time will further increase the controversy and worsen your situation. Your current actions may violate the law and constitute grounds for further legal challenges to an already politically-isolated and legally-bogged down project.

The City’s site grading permit states that no work can be done in the “remaining areas of archaeological concern until clearance is obtained from PHMC [Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission] and ACE [Army Corp of Engineers].” Further the NPDES permit for discharge of stormwater associated with construction activities issued recently by the PA Department of Environmental Protection explicitly says: “You are also cautioned not to disturb areas that may be subject to historic investigation by the Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission or the federal ‘Section 106’ historic investigation being undertaken pursuant to the permit application pending before the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.”

None of this even acknowledges, of course, the poor, beleagured red-bellied turtle, who seems to have appeared in a flash eerily reminiscent of the last season of Weeds. What’s next? No idea, but if anyone is taking requests, we’d like to see a fish that walks in the next protest for either side. Cool? Thanks!
Related: PlanPhilly: Dressed For The Mess [includes video]

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 10th, 2008 at 5:21 pm.