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Columbus casino location makes mayor unhappy

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The Associated Press Updated 8:49 AM Friday, November 27, 2009

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Mayor Michael Coleman is looking for legal authority to regulate a private casino projectthat he wants removed from a high-profile downtown neighborhood.

Coleman said the casino location in the city's Arena District is unacceptable and that the neighborhood needs to remain a family district. The district features a new minor league ballpark and new condos near Nationwide Arena, home to the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets.

Coleman told The Columbus Dispatch in an interview published Thursday that he will ask the city attorney for an opinion on the city's legal authority over casino development.

Ohio voters on Nov. 3 approved a constitutional amendment that allows casinos in Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Toledo. The amendment also specified the neighborhoods where the casinos would be built.

Coleman acknowledged that it's unclear how much control the city may be able to exert.

"We have to follow the law, whatever that is," he said.

A majority of voters in Columbus and Franklin County, which includes the city, rejected the casino ballot issue.

Bob Tenenbaum, a spokesman for Penn National Gaming Inc., a co-developer of the casino project, said developers want to cooperate with local officials.

But in their draft of proposed legislation to implement the constitutional amendment, developers call for casinos to be subject only to local health and building codes. It also prevents local zoning rules from stopping casino development, and it would bar actions that "unduly burden" casinos. It doesn't define that term, however.

"It's probably one of those things, you know it when you see it," Tenenbaum said.

Gov. Ted Strickland has said he will veto any casino bill that doesn't protect local governments' ability to regulate the projects.

In a separate move, a group of central Ohio lawmakers are pushing a plan for a constitutional amendment that would let cities opt out of hosting a casino by passing a local referendum.

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Information from: The Columbus Dispatch, http://www.dispatch.com

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November 26, 2009 07:13 PM EST

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Scioto Downs would be a perfect location. They have lost so much business. Also there is so much land, there is room to grow, easy access from 270, not in a heavy crime area, and so much more!

Connie
12:16 PM, 1/5/2010

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Westland Mall is an eroding ghost town with few prospects for rejuvination. Retail dies as stores continually split North and South to new growth in neiboring Hilliard and Grove City. West Broad Street offers great roads and infastructure. Revitalization should be a big player in the Master Plan. It will soon cost the taxpayer millions to remove just like City Center. It would be a gift and oportunity for everyone to let the casinos have that old mall.

Chuck
12:21 AM, 1/1/2010

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Ohio should have legalized gambling everywhere and allowed local governments to regulate licences like they do for liquor. It's as if we took the stupidest gambling idea and went with it because the economy is so bad.

lucifer sam
10:58 PM, 11/27/2009

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To for real:
Wow! That was really out of left field! As a college educated person, I'm a little surprised that you would pull such a dated race card out on what is universally known as a Jim Jones reference.

Good thing you won't be needing one of those 34,000 jobs that won't be coming with the casinos. For me, it's just one less reason to go downtown.

Grampa Caligula
8:55 PM, 11/27/2009

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John Doe: that's the OLD definition of "drinking the kool aid". Here's what one site said about what it means today:

What does drinking the Kool-Aid mean today? It signifies that the person in question has given up personal integrity and has succumbed to the prevailing group-think that typifies policymaking today. This person has become "part of the problem, not part of the solution."

rrhoop
6:38 PM, 11/27/2009

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