Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell is scheduled to meet with the developers of the two proposed casinos to discuss moving the planned sites. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board approved the sites for the casinos back in December 2006: the Foxwoods casino for South Philly, and the SugarHouse casino for the Fishtown neighborhood.

The casino operators are not happy the sites are again in question, but the governor said new discussions were necessary because of opposition to the casino sites by some legislators and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter. Rep. Dwight Evans and state Sen. Vincent Fumo are threatening legislation to drop property-tax breaks for the casinos if they don’t agree to move elsewhere.

Both Gov. Rendell and former Philadelphia Mayor John Street supported the SugarHouse site, but the new mayor, Mr. Nutter, opposes both casino locations. Is there a balance to be found between the economic and environmental/planning interests?

On June 26, 2008 Philadelphia Mayor Nutter ordered a casino site study by PennPraxis, an urban-planning affiliate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Design. The group will return its findings in 60 days. Both casinos are opposed to the choice of PennPraxis, as that planning unit previously concluded casinos are inappropriate for the waterfront.

In November 2007, after a series of community meetings, PennPraxis presented a waterfront plan that was pedestrian-friendly and emphasized public accessibility by extending the grid of neighborhood streets to the water’s edge.

The waterfront plan is to narrow the width of the roads and add a streetcar line. Casinos mean more vehicular traffic and integrating parking structures into the streetscape. Adding lanes to Columbus Boulevard or Delaware Avenue to mitigate casino traffic is counter to the waterfront plan, but no doubt would be welcomed by the casino operators.