In addition, the Dept. of Health will be hosting a citywide forum on gambling addiction in November thanks to the work of Asian Americans United and other concerned groups to raise awareness and hopefully get some dialogue going, as well as reporting and services out to problem gamblers and their families.

You can thank Chinatown and CFP for redirecting the debate around casinos away from traffic and congestion and back to a broader and fundamentally important social, ecocnomic and progressive vision for our city – one that doesn’t rely preying on our most vulnerable citizens for revenue or corrupting our political process through unregulated gambling contributions and all-out lobbying efforts. CFP – not PennPraxis – has also been responsible for the development of a waterfront vision that was adopted by civic and city leaders.

So hold the contempt for someone else. And forgive us for not spending a lot of time dabbling in the BS around CBAs when stuff like what Isaiah highlights in his blog post raise questions about what such CBAs are really about.

And by the way, it is really classless to out someone just to take a potshot at CFP. For someone who knows how to dish it out, you could man up a lot better.

first, tips, let me say that my name is Andrew Purcell and i’m not affiliated with Casino-Free, so that should save you the trouble of trying to out me.

second, they’ve said that the anti-casino movement has been dead for over a year, but last time i checked, the end result of this isn’t going to look very much like what the casinos initially wanted. so to just say that the movement lost is kind of puerile and disingenuous. of course i’m not terribly surprised since your tone and style are generally smug, self-satisfied, and, you know, yuppiesque. meanwhile, others are out there actually trying to help their communities. if you actually think casinos *improve* communities, you’re deluded. the facts are plain: crime rises, poverty rises, local businesses suffer. the casinos even acknowledge this! that’s why they offer to pay special recompense to cities for the damage they do.

and lastly, the fact is that casinos are no longer special. you can’t drive an hour without running into one, so it just isn’t the draw it used to be. don’t be mistaken, the money that will be sucked into the casino’s coffers will be sucked directly from the local economy.

Because they’re against the casinos and believe it or not, the casinos are still not a done deal.