Casinos, L&I. L&I, Casinos.
Casino Wars are just blowing up this week. Mayor Nutter weighs in with a letter to Vince Fumo and Dwight Evans (and cc’d to about 8 billion other people) that, in his typically modest and polite way, informs them that if the casino sites don’t move, perhaps L&I will (sort of) redeem its nightmarish bureaucracy by putting it to good use:
Foxwoods, as appropriate sequentially, must submit plans for and obtain zoning, foundation and building permits from the Department of Licenses and Inspections before it can proceed with construction.
Boring, right? It’s like, “Golly, we hope you’ll give another thought to moving your business, or you might have to follow all the rules. But in case you didn’t get the subtext, L&I will never, ever say your building plans are safe. Ever.” There’s more in the letter about how casino construction must abide by state regs too, but for argument’s sake (since we don’t want to slander anybody) let’s hypothesize that those wheels, just maybe, have already been greased. The big question is: Will free pulls at the slot get L&I to 1) ignore its boss and 2) get work done? Casino folks might find it surprisingly tough going on that second one.
Mayor to Casinos: Drop Dead [PDF via Philla.com]
