Get the Keypoints on Cleveland Casino Issue 6

Here's the article in Crain's Cleveland [1] just published Sept 26, little more than 4 weeks before Elections...

Lakes Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ: LACO), the Minnesota-based company behind the push for a casino in Clinton County in southwest Ohio, said the Ohio Secretary of State has certified that Issue Six, a referendum to permit the casino, will be on the Nov. 4 statewide ballot.

“We are excited to present this referendum to the people of Ohio,” said Lakes Entertainment president and chief financial officer Tim Cope.

Click through the related link MyOhioNow.com LLC [2] for information points written for a third grade sensibility. This is embarassing. But for whom?

Gross social costs to the community and the region. Here's how the Casino website brushes off any psychological fallout from gambling:

The vast majority of visitors to gambling entertainment venues are middle class and working class people. We
recognize that a very small minority of people are problem gamblers,
and like the Ohio Lottery Commission, offer help and programs for
people who really need it.

For more information on disordered gambling, visit the National Center for Responsible Gaming Web site at www.ncrg.org [3].

Consider these *Keypoints other regions have learned from building local gambling saloons:

• Incomes will be drained from Northeast Ohio. The money
  recycled through “economic development” set-asides will not compensate
  for these losses

• Without restrictions on casino-based restaurant operations,
  subsidized restaurants in casinos will create a restaurant “dead zone”
  within a mile of the casinos. For this reason, the City of New Orleans
  mandated no restaurants for Harrah’s land-based casino. No such
  restriction has been negotiated with Forest City or Jacobs.

• The incidence of pathological gambling will be higher in Cuyahoga County compared to surrounding counties.

• Within Cuyahoga County, the incidence of pathological gambling will be highest in the poorest neighborhoods, such as Midtown

• The costs of pathological gambling are high: between $8,000
  to $16,000 per gambler. A portion of these costs are paid by employers
  in lost productivity and unemployment

• The incidence of property crime and violent crime will likely
  increase dramatically within three to five years after the casinos open

*Taken from "Casino Impact on Midtown" Ed Morrison, Director, I-Open

Get the facts: Read the report, "Casino Impact on Midtown" by Ed Morrison, Director, I-Open (attached) Oct 2006 when Cuyahoga County last discussed Casinos in
Northeast Ohio and was defeated. All Keypoints are immediately applicable to a County, region, or state with no exceptions.

Where is the widespread Civic Engagement and Public Discussion? Where are the facts, the deep analysis results? Issue 6 is a farce parading as promoting Ohio jobs and workforce. 

Why a farce? A simple answer: What family today - or individual
- can live on $34,000+benefits? Is this before or after taxes? It is
important to consider the very small number of jobs reported to be created:
up to 4-5,000 - compared to the gross amounts of clear cash profit developers and
downtown landowners will make. 

Who pays? Our children will, and sooner than you think. Not one citizen can afford to shackle their children to the deep poverty and psychological despair that results from addiction to gambling. Poor "one-shot" solutions such as gambling cure-alls for the benefit of special interests cannot compare with real and intelligent results citizens and leaders can generate from regional Strategic Doing sessions. Learn now how Lexington, Kentucky brings together regional leadership and citizens with Strategic Doing with positive results. Go. [4]

We have the Brainpower and the tools, but citizens and regional leaders are choosing not to use them. Why? The U.S. Department of Labor is practicing Strategic Doing and Open Source Economic Development throughout the Nation in hundreds of communities because they realize innovation and networks is our only answer that results in shared benefits for everyone, not poor one-shot solutions for a very, very few not likely to share.

Begin by learning how others are working across the Nation so you can begin to ask the questions you may have. Join and participate in the Dept of Labor's national network, WIRED-Nation. [5] Learn more about Open Source Economic Development [6] and Workforce Development [7]in these free, beautifully presented I-Open educational lessons.

The Casino issue is an example of a failure of Northeast Ohio leadership to serve their public who said "No" less than 2 years ago, yet the City of Cleveland has put Casino's to the vote again in November.

Question: What would happen to your job if you did the opposite of what you were paid to do?

 

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