Make a Gift for our City: Support Casino-Free Philadelphia

Dear friend and supporter,

Together, we have done a ton in one year. And they said almost all of it couldn't be done! We are now asking for your financial support to help us keep it up in the new year. We have made donating easy online -- just click here.

Eight months ago the politicians and pundits said City Council would never oppose casino development or support a 1,500-foot buffer between casinos and homes. They said the political winds were too great to face down the Governor, Mayor Street, and state politicians.

We changed the political winds with the largest three-week petition drive in Philadelphia's history, gathering over 27,000 signatures. The dedication and level of organization shocked City Council, who voted unanimously to add the buffer referendum question to the May 15th primary ballot.

Since then City Council has refused to go along with the "done deal" casino tide. They have re-zoned the proposed Foxwoods Casino site in South Philadelphia as residential and have refused to grant the zoning required to build SugarHouse, located within 200 feet of homes in Northern Liberties and Fishtown.

Every week more politicians and pundits are seeing things our way. Almost a year has passed since the state's licensing decisions of SugarHouse and Foxwoods, and still no construction has happened. The work of Casino-Free Philadelphia has made the difference.

OPTIMISM ABOUT THE POWER OF THE PEOPLE

Casino-Free Philadelphia is about more than just casinos. We stand for the right of Philadelphians to control their own destiny and to eliminate the corrupt processes that have plagued the city around the issue of casinos.

Over a year ago, Philadelphia Inquirer wrote an editorial encouraging citizens to give up. Chris Satullo penned the now-tired expression saying it's a "done deal" and "that train done gone and left the station." A year later, the Philadelphia anti-casino movement has not gone away and instead has gained huge ground. Reporters now write "if" -- not "when" -- casinos will be built. Powerful politicians and pundits who once supported building "no matter what" are coming closer and closer towards our position.

Those politicians, however, are not the leaders. The leaders are the citizens who stood in the cold to gather signatures for the No Way Without Our Say petition drive, who ran Philly's Ballot Box, who got kicked out of offices and hearings, or were arrested in numerous successful direct actions.

We are teaching Philadelphians how to fight to retain democracy – ignoring the media's fatalistic analysis and politicians' declarations of powerlessness. We can take back decisions that were stolen from us. That's the power of the people.

BUILDING A MOVEMENT

Casino-Free Philadelphia started June 1, 2006 with a rally of two hundred people calling for greater transparency and more public input on casinos in Philadelphia.

Our mission is simple: "No casinos in our neighborhoods and no casinos in anyone else's neighborhoods." Our fight is for a process that respects the citizens and consults them in decisions which affect their their lives and their communities.

Since that June rally, we created a grassroots movement to stop the casinos in their tracks, including:

• Earning thousands of television, newspaper, and internet articles about this struggle, including national and international press as far away as the UK and Australia;
• Purchasing hundreds of public service announcements and advertisements about the negative effects of casinos on neighborhoods and their link with increased crime;
• Lobbying for the successful introduction of House Bill 1477 which would create the same 1,500-foot casino buffer as the question the PA Supreme Court prevented from being on the city ballot;
• Setting up a fully staffed riverfront office;
• Filing numerous lawsuits which slowed down the process;
• Supporting groups fighting casinos across the city, including coaching and conducting nearly a dozen trainings on media, facilitation, direct action, strategy, and creative tactics;
• Organizing dozens of demonstrations across the city to voice our concerns in many venues; and
• Proving that citizens can take back their government.

We did all of this with a one-year budget under $120,000. Compare that amount with the $12 million that SugarHouse spent hiring public relations firms across the city to discredit us, hiring law firms, and private investigators to try to smear and intimidate us.

Here are some of the major campaigns of Casino-Free Philadelphia:

OPERATION TRANSPARENCY
October 2006 - January 2007

The PA Gaming Control Board (PGCB) refused to make public their documents, such as updated site plans and traffic plans. No meaningful public input could be made without access to such basic documents.

The goal was to get the PGCB to stop violating our right to know and release the hidden documents. If they did not release the documents, we vowed to go to their offices in Harrisburg to carry out a citizens' document search to make the documents public ourselves.

We led a two-month campaign with small media-friendly actions, like washing their windows to help them become more transparent. After the deadline passed, the documents still had not been released. Fourteen people carried out the document search. All were arrested only to later be found "Not Guilty" by a judge who scolded the PGCB's behavior. The judge virtually invited us to return to Harrisburg and do it again if the PGCB did release the documents and become transparent. Public pressure was mounting.

The result: thousands of pages released.

NO WAY WITHOUT OUR SAY
February - May 2007

After the Gaming Control Board made its decision to pick SugarHouse and Foxwoods, we vowed to give the public a say in the siting process. We launched No Way Without Our Say – a petition-drive to get over 20,000 signatures. That many signatures would force a City Council vote on creating a primary ballot question.

Citizens were asked to support a ballot referendum creating a 1,500-foot buffer between casinos and homes, places of worship, and schools. The goal was to allow Philadelphians a chance to have their voices heard through a legal and open process.

Over 27,000 signatures were gathered in 21 days for the first citizen-initiated referendum in Philadelphia in over thirty years.

The result: once on City Council's desk, they voted unanimously for the referendum (twice!). On May 15th, the voters of Philadelphia would be given the first chance for direct democracy in this casino debacle. But, with a twist...

PHILLY'S BALLOT BOX
May - June 2007

Rather than allow the public to have their say, the PA Gaming Control Board, SugarHouse, and Foxwoods, sued the city to prevent the vote from going forward.

In a decision reeking of corruption, the PA Supreme Court overruled the city's right and the right of the voters by handing down an injunction to to prevent the vote from taking place. A sticker stating, "Removed by Court Order" was placed over the ballot question on each voting machine. Once again, many politicians, reporters, and pundits declared the anti-casino movement dead.

But we take a bold response to repression. Instead of seeing this as a loss, we saw this as a chance to show the city just how deeply casinos and corruption were intertwined.

In just four weeks, Casino-Free Philadelphia designed and ran Philadelphia's first citizens' election, Philly's Ballot Box. We set up five-foot tall ballot boxes at polling places in every Councilmanic, as well as every State Senate and Representatives' district. Over 13,000 people across the city participated in Philly's Ballot Box. 95% said "YES" to the buffer.

Philly's Ballot Box received local and statewide attention. Even with a competitive Mayoral primary election, we received front page coverage in the Metro and coverage by TV news channels on election day.

The result: the voters' clear statement in Philly's Ballot Box helped secure City Council's support for the long-term and led to the introduction of the casino buffer question at the state level via House Bill 1477.

Yet the greatest result from Philly's Ballot Box was that it renewed people's sense of self-empowerment and creativity in the face of injustice.

PUBLIC FILIBUSTERING
July – December 2007

Since summertime, we have moved into a phase of preventing the last ditch efforts of SugarHouse and Foxwoods under the Street Administration. A key direct action tactic used has been the public filibuster.

Casino-Free Philadelphia first successfully used the "public filibuster" tactic with the PA Gaming Control Board (PGCB), where for months the public was not allowed to testify at their "public" meetings. At a PGCB board meeting this Fall, several members of Casino-Free Philadelphia stood up, one at a time, and started testifying.

Each person was gaveled down and told to be quiet by the chairwoman. A recess was immediately called. The three members who rose to testify were escorted out of the building and told not to return. Others repeated this action two more times until eventually the chairwoman closed the meeting rather than allow public testimony.

The result: rather than risk a similar engagement, the chairwoman allowed the public to testify at subsequent meetings. Public filibusters have since been used to interrupt meetings where the public has been locked out. The transparency we seek must be enforced. Through this period, we have minimized the damage of the Street administration and have encouraged Michael Nutter to come out repeatedly and publicly opposing both casino sites.

WE NEED YOUR HELP TO CHANGE THE POLITICAL WINDS

At our January 2007 strategy retreat, we said, "Do not worry about the political winds – change them." That's what we have done. We have been told repeatedly "it can't be done." Then we go and do it.

Despite being outspent by over $12 million, we have built huge momentum to stop casinos. We forced the PA Gaming Control Board to open up its secret planning documents, lined up unanimous City Council support for a buffer question to force casinos out of neighborhoods, and ran our own citizens' election after the referendum question was stripped from the ballot.

We are a force in Philadelphia politics teaching a new approach, unshackled by the done deal and hopeless mindset that has gripped Philadelphia politics for years. Yet, there is much work to do to keep up the pressure and to assure transparency and openness in a casino endgame strategy.

Can we count on your continued support today? Over 95% of our funding comes from individual donors like you – many who have generously donated more than once. If you have already donated, please consider another gift. If you have not given yet, please consider a generous donation of $100 or more to support this work.

We know how to stretch a dollar, so please give generously to help support this critical work. Thank you!

Warmly,

Daniel Hunter and Jethro Heiko

on behalf of the Executive Team of Casino-Free Philadelphia