Quote:
Originally Posted by the urban politician
^ I think that’s the mix up.
A casino isn’t going to save a struggling neighborhood.
But well located, it can contribute to a thriving tourism/nightlife district.
Las Vegas’ strip being the obvious example. Even if you hate Vegas, the casinos work there. You’ve got a whole ecosystem of entertainment down there.
Chicago doesn’t need to build a new “strip”, but having one grand, high-quality casino in a district with a lot of tourism and other draws that feed off of each other could very well succeed.
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First, there's only one Vegas. Other cities have tried to compete for that top tier level of gambling/entertainment and failed (Atlantic City comes to mind).
Second, context matters. Even the Vegas style of casino would be absolutely awful in a traditional city like Chicago. Just look at Detroit - the MGM and Motor City casinos are awful anti-urban pieces of trash. They got it better with the Greektown Casino, but even that would probably seem cheap and tacky in Chicago compared to all of our authentic neighborhood strips. And I'm guessing the Greektown Casino is probably the
best case scenario for Chicago. Potentially this could have been done as an infill project along Motor Row... but now Motor Row is probably too established, with a growing number of residents and businesses who will object.