CasiNO!
Beach Officially Opposes Casino Development
The City of Miami Beach is officially opposed to Florida approving any new casino gambling.
The city commission unanimously voted to urge Tallahassee thusly before a chamber filled with residents and high profile allies opposed to the measure under consideration that would permit limited development of three resort casinos statewide, Wednesday. The Genting Group is planning for a 10 million square foot resort, with four hotels, and an 800 million square foot casino on the former site of the Miami Herald on the bay in Miami. The State is supposed to take up the matter early next year and Genting is ironically gambling on approval of the law change of the casino component of their project. The Malaysia-based giant is southeast Asia’s largest casino operator and paid $236 million this year for the nearly 14 acre parcel. Uber Vegas casino owner Steve Wynn is eyeing Miami Beach as another possible site.
“I don’t think the [Genting] project would happen without the gambling, but even so we need to be prepared to put every stumbling block that we can on that project,” said Miami Beach Mayor Matti Bower. “I feel more secure that if we’re against gambling, that project might not happen.”
The commission and casino opponents in the audience echoed the sentiment. Two well known figures sat next to each other in commission chambers, revered former Beach Mayor Seymour Gelber and billionaire and populist hero Norman Braman, leader of the recall effort that reshaped Miami-Dade government this year. Braman was the first member of the public to address the commission.
“I believe that casino gambling – and I’m not just talking about Genting and I’m not just talking about the Sands, or Mr. Trump or Mr Wynn, or any of them – is, frankly, an assault on the quality of life of this community, is about the best way to put it and to really invite casino gambling into this community, to me, it’s like inviting a disease that will only metastasize here,” Braman said.
Braman’s comments brought broad applause from the chamber early.
“If the door is opened slightly it will open all the way and history has also shown that once casino gambling comes to a community it’s only a matter of time, as you’ve seen in various cities, before the political culture of the community is dominated by the casino interests, and only a small amount of time before it infects the entire state,” Braman continued. “And this is what we have to be careful of – that the door isn’t opened slightly.”
Former state senator and son of the former mayor, Dan Gelber
“I think, in your hearts, you realize that the sharks are circling, but this is incompatible with who we are and who we want to be,” Gelber said. My dad [former Mayor Seymour Gelber] is here and when my dad sat in that chair 15 years ago, he decided that as mayor of this city he was going to be volunteer chairman of No Casinos, as I am now. The reason he did that was he believed that, for this community and for the people you represent, there could be no greater threat to our way of life and who we are and where we want our children to grow up than this notion that these folks are coming in here to change all of that and all that we love.”
Bower asked the audience who had come opposed to casinos. Most hands went up. She then asked who had come in support.
No hands visible.
While the public might be split its clear casinos have strong opposition from local city activists. Some 50 opponents to the casino plan joined in a rally Tuesday just prior to a forum discussion of the topic hosted by the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce. A second rally took place just prior to Wednesday’s commission meeting.
Miami Beach CasiNO! rally organizer Arthur Marcus was pleased with both the rallies and the commission vote.
“The commission was unanimous in its endorsement of a No Casinos resolution. And the chamber was standing room only and was also fully supportive. Miami Beach – citizens and commissioners were [unified] in their stand [in] not having a casino in the city. However they are also proceeding to complete an economic analysis which would show the effects of gambling in Miami on Miami Beach — on property values, on small businesses, on hotels and restaurants and soon…,” Marcus said.
Marcus said the No Casino movement against any new casinos, not just in Miami Beach or in Miami-Dade.
Developers have dangled goodies in front of the public and of elected officials. It’s been suggested that Genting might invest in a Bay Link type public transportation project connecting the beach and downtown. A resort-casino-convention center scheme has been batted around in Miami Beach.
But opponents stand firm.
“As wonderful as the recent Art Basel weekend was …the traffic was worse that ever,” Marcus told SunPost. “I saw this as a premonition of what traffic might be like all the time if a casino is built downtown. Our infrastructure is not capable of handling today’s traffic — let alone being able to handle the needs of the massive development proposed. When the Arsht Centers’ halls are open along with the AA Arena, downtown traffic comes to a screeching halt.”
“The new form of Baylink is really just a ploy for the casino to make it easy for any tourists left on Miami Beach to come over to the Genting casino,” Marcus continued. “And I fear that this is a ploy to sell us with only three casinos initially. We would have no say in a year or two if Tallahassee decided that Trump in Sunny Isles and the Fontainebleau and the Diplomat in Hollywood all needed to be casinos. And my fear is that whether there is one or three or seven or however many casinos — that everyone will want to come to south beach on the weekend — thus making every weekend on Miami Beach like Memorial Day.”
Others figures on the beach have been supportive of at least the mainland project. The Taxpayers Association has cited the conceivable public transportation component of the Genting proposal in part for its support of it. Former Beach Mayor Neisen Kasdin has been an attorney for the Genting project.
An actual proposal for a Beach casino could splinter general casino supporters who live on the beach, but no real details have been discussed and might not be for some time.
For now, casino opponents have staked out the political high ground.
“Genting is the worst possible thing that could happen to the area. I think we’re on the right track here,” said Commissioner Jonah Wolfson.
The SunPost’s Charles Branham-Bailey contributed to this report.
Category: COVER
