|
|
Daily Southtown
Casino
legislation takes Country Club Hills out of the running
May
30, 2007
By Jonathan Lipman Staff writer
Country Club
Hills -- which has angled since 2002 for a casino -- would be
frozen out of a new license under an increasingly popular
proposal to expand gambling in Illinois.
The
legislation, which could pass out of the state Senate today,
adds four casino licenses to the state but says any new casino
in the south suburbs must be within eight miles of the Indiana
border.
Country Club Hills' proposed site at 175th
Street and Pulaski Road is about 11 miles from the state line.
Previous versions of casino expansion legislation said a
casino had to be east of Interstate 57, which would have
included the site.
Backers of the Country Club Hills
proposal were surprised Tuesday to learn of the new language
and immediately started rallying local leaders to correct what
they hope is a mistake.
"Everyone appears to be
standing strong and is not happy with what's occurring behind
the scenes," Country Club Hills Mayor Dwight Welch said.
"We're assuming it's an oversight -- but we're working
with the governor's office and with (U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson
Jr.'s) office to make sure we're included."
But
the Illinois Senate's top Democrat is not flexible about the
new language.
"(Senate President Emil Jones) said
you have to draw the line somewhere, and the eight miles is
where they drew it," Jones' spokeswoman Cindy Davidsmeyer
said.
Country Club Hills was not deliberately excluded,
Davidsmeyer said, but Jones is not willing to change the
language to include the city.
"The Senate
president has always argued that we were losing a lot of
business to Indiana," Davidsmeyer said. "The purpose
of putting (a casino) that close is to try to protect
Illinois."
Democratic legislative leaders and Gov.
Rod Blagojevich have been at loggerheads for weeks on a new
state budget. The governor wants a huge increase in health
spending but promises to veto any income- or sales-tax
increase. Legislators rejected the governor's corporate tax
and want to put education funding ahead of health care.
In
the stalemate, casino expansion has again become popular.
Blagojevich, who previously promised to veto any bill allowing
new casinos, said this week he'd accept it if it funded his
health care program.
House Speaker Michael Madigan has
said his members still oppose more casinos, though other House
members say the votes are there.
Assistant Majority
Leader Sen. Rickey Hendon (D-Chicago) said the bill has been
changed to fix some of Madigan's objections, and Hendon is
confident it will pass.
Jones pushed through committee
late Friday $5 billion worth of revenue proposals, including a
new gambling expansion bill, Senate Bill 11. The bill adds
four casino licenses, increases casino taxes and allows horse
tracks the run online betting networks.
In addition to
the south suburbs, casinos would be authorized for Lake
County, Chicago and a site within eight miles of O'Hare
International Airport.
Country Club Hills has been a
leading contender for a possible south suburban casino.
Investors have a site chosen and a business plan that won high
marks from state gaming board staff in 2004. And Welch has
gotten neighboring towns to sign on by promising to share the
revenue.
Hendon, who has helped shepherd the
legislation for Senate President Emil Jones, said limiting the
south suburban license to within eight miles of the state
border was his idea, not Jones', and it was not a political
favor.
Hendon said it is vital to stem the tide of
Chicago-area gamblers crossing the border to spend their money
on Indiana slots.
"When you hear the commercials
for the Horseshoe Casino, which is in Indiana, you'd swear it
was in Chicago," Hendon said. "They say they have
Chicago-style hot dogs."
Dolton Mayor Bill Shaw, a
Jones ally, has said he'd like a casino in his town. Dolton is
about four miles from the Indiana border. Other eligible towns
include Harvey, Chicago Heights and Calumet City, which
applied for a casino license in 2003.
Shaw did not
return a call for comment.
Welch and casino investors
said Tuesday they would launch a lobbying campaign involving
the other communities that would share taxes from a new casino
under the Country Club Hills plan.
"This is
freezing out 18 towns and about 30 or 40 school districts
involved in our formula," Welch said. "These are
mostly African-American communities, two with the greatest
needs of all."
Anthony Bass, an attorney
representing Southland Development, the development group that
has committed to the Country Club Hills site, said Jones
recently endorsed their plan, and they don't believe he'd
intentionally cut them out of any new law.
"I
don't believe Jones would turn his back on a minority-owned
venture that has worked as hard as we have to bring jobs,"
Bass said.
Jonathan Lipman may be reached at
jlipman@dailysouthtown.com
or (312) 782-1286.
|
|
