Plain Dealer published an article on Thursday discussing a revised plan for Cleveland’s casino, set to open in 2012. The proposed casino, costing an estimated $350 million is just phase I of the development process. This temporary casino will be located in the Higbee Building while the permanent casino is constructed.
Rock Gaming's revised Casino plan proposes the demolition of a historic building to construct a parking garage and pedestrian walkway. (Photo Courtesy of Plain Dealer)
According to the Plain Dealer article, the revised plan proposes the construction of a new parking garage on the opposite side of Ontario Street which is directly connected to the casino by 170-foot-long overhead pedestrian-walkway. This walkway would obstruct views to and from Public Square and the parking garage would require demolition of a historic Cleveland landmark – the Columbia Building.
The historic Columbia Building, built in 1908 (Photo courtesy of Flickr)
This new parking plan shows us that we may have previously been lead on by Rock Gaming, who has implied that the casino would open its doors to the city and encourage visitors to explore the rest of Downtown. I had originally supported this project and was actually excited to see the transformation in Downtown. Unfortunately, after seeing the revised plan, I’ve changed my mind. Not only do I strongly oppose this new plan, I’ve also lost faith in the project’s developer – Rock Gaming, LLC.
I was especially disappointed to read that Mayor Jackson supports this plan. I personally asked the Mayor just a few weeks ago about plans for Casino parking and he assured me that every measure would be taken to retain the historic character of our Downtown, that the residents’ feelings would be considered during the planning process and another Downtown district would not be turned into a giant parking lot/garage.
The city of Cleveland seems to be motivated by the amount of money the casino will bring to the city. I can only imagine how much of an economic impact the casino will have on our city if visitors are encouraged to walk our streets and patronize the surrounding bars and restaurants.
Downtown is one of Cleveland’s safest neighborhoods. Herding the 5 million+ visitors through what one of my professors refers to as a “Honkey Tunnel” only sends the message that downtown is not safe. There is safety in numbers and the more people who walk our streets, the better!
This is just another effort to cater to auto-centric suburban visitors rather than the residents of Cleveland. We have to live here everyday and what makes downtown Cleveland so attractive and unique is its historic buildings. Please don’t take that away from us. As a classmate of mine, Gregory Soltis stated in a letter to the editor, we can never get these buildings back.
Please help to Save Lower Prospect Avenue by writing to the Mayor’s office or by emailing them directly at mayorsactioncenter@city.cleveland.oh.us.
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http://clevhist.blogspot.com/2011/05/balancing-developers-plans-and-downtown.html
“The gaming customer is not comfortable parking outside a certain radius without climate control and security,” said Nate Forbes, a Rock Gaming principal. “We need proprietary control.”
Steve Litt did well to use the attribution to essentially separate cover from motive. Rock Gaming’s new position is all about control gambler’s wallet. Gamers hit the scene with money to burn. Whether they spend under the ‘proprietary controlled’ roof of the casino or the patios of the more organic East 4th development matters not. If I was Ari Maron, Zach Bruell, Michael Symon or whoever the hell owns Flannery’s and Fat Fish Blue, I would be going bananas over Rock Gaming’s turn about.
In this argument, safety and weather are flimsy subterfuges that cannot stand under any level of scrutiny. Remember, Rock Gaming is not building the Bosphorus Bridge. The proposed walkway is 170 feet long. I would love to see the study that suggests gamblers are unwilling to cross one intersection (two crosswalks) to place their wagers. Rock Gaming was basically awarded a spatial monopoly on table games (and maybe slots). They’re trying to extend this windfall into the spheres of entertainment and eating, urban fabric be damned.
Since I began with a quote, I’ll end with Ace Rolstein’s words from the classic movie Casino: “The cardinal rule is to keep them playing and to keep them coming back. The longer they play, the more they lose, and in the end, we get it all.”