New casino?

[markbarbera]

I would suggest to anyone fearful of a casino's impact on downtown to read through the Downtown Casino Benefits Analysis which was included as Appendix F in the city repoprt. It does a good job of doing a detailed analysis of six cities that have a downtown casino and how it has affected local businesses.

[oldcoote]

Originally Posted by bigguy1231

The only people who seem to be upset are the handful of anti casino people who seem to be screaming the loudest. Most people I have talked to either don't care or if they do care they want it downtown. Other than on the various forums and blogs I have yet to meet anyone who is opposed to a casino.

My experience is the exact opposite. Go figure.

[SteelTown]

http://read.thespec.com/#!/article/5...1eaced2e095c30

And it's done. Let the RFP process begin. Meanwhile lets focus on LRT.

[SteelTown]

Seems like it was a poly from Farr

@YHBMarkC: LiveNation, Global Spectrum caught off guard by Farr statement http://t.co/HDWwVmnH @MarkCripps @YourHBiz

[Jon Dalton]

Good delay tactic, if nothing else. What is to stop interested bidders from simply waiting for the Flamborough RPF to fall on deaf ears, knowing full well Council will reconsider downtown. If there are proposals for Flamborough, what is to stop OLG from denying them, knowing full well that more lucrative downtown proposals lie in waiting?

[SteelTown]

Casino must follow Greenbelt: Wynne

Premier Kathleen Wynne says the City of Hamilton will have to meet laws governing the Greenbelt if it backs locating a casino at Flamboro Downs.

Supporters of a casino for the downtown have raised the argument that the Greenbelt will restrict development of a casino at the Highway 5 facility. The Greenbelt protects 7,000 square kilometres from Niagara Falls to Peterborough. It is only open for the development of roads, aggregate extraction, golfing, skiing and farming.

“Whatever decision the city makes, it is going to have to be consistent with the Greenbelt legislation and with the provincial policy statement,” the premier said Thursday in a teleconference call with Hamilton and Niagara reporters.
“They will have to make sure they conform to all of those provincial policies ... We’ll be very clear that all of those rules have to be followed.”

She said “all that will be looked at” when city council sends the province a resolution on where it wants to site the casino, under the modernization project of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp.

http://m.thespec.com/news/local/arti...reenbelt-wynne

[bornagainbiking]

Historically Hamilton city council has missed the mark on important issues only to see the benefits years latter.
If at a meeting they were to decide (if they got that far) to order pizza they would starve to death. It would take forever to try and figure out the choice of toppings.
It took 50 years to go from idea to completion of the Red Hill Valley Parkway.
My point of concern is if they are sooooo concerned about preserving the land and saving valuable farmland why are they even entertaining the idea of Flamborough.
Environmentally downtown is only logical. Closer to the people and less driving, on the bus route, cheap taxi ride. Easy for infrastructure and expansion.
Use the brownfields.
Nooooo, put it out in the country and make people drive. No wonder people who like to frequent these locations take a designated bus to Niagara or Rama.
And if you want to expand out there destroy more farm land.
Where are all the granola bars who should be enraged on this proposal.
You know, do what ever you like as I seriously doubt council listens to the people.
If you want employment in the city why put it out there so people have to have a car to work there. Put it downtown and entry level employees can take public transit.
We need some stuff downtown to provide options for entertainment for conferences and conventions. Or extra stuff for people in town for a concert and stay an extra day or two. Now they can catch a movie in a second rate theatre in Jackson Square.
Wake up!

[CaptainKirk]

Still readin and learning all I can to tey make the best informed opinion that I can.

So far I'm leaning towards NO. Not a firm, adamant NO, mind you.

I remain unconvinced that a downtown casino is good for the city.

Still willing to be convinced.

[mattgrande]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but from Toronto on south, there's currently five casinos (Flamboro, Brantford, Windsor, and the two in Niagara).

The OLG wants to add two more (Toronto & Waterloo areas), while expanding two of them (Flamoro/New Hamilton Casion, and Brantford). Is that correct?

[thistleclub]

Had a feeling the OLG might play one of their wild cards: Gerrymandry.

Via Joey Coleman, rumours that SW9 might be a candidate for the SW1 treatment.

[markbarbera]

A complaint has been filed with the Integrity Commissioner against Councillor Farr for his deliberate misrepesentation of the Rock Hammer proposal to Global Spectrum. The misrepresentation led to the email reply that Farr used in his "bombshell" conference the day of the casino debate.

[flar]

Originally Posted by mattgrande

Correct me if I'm wrong, but from Toronto on south, there's currently five casinos (Flamboro, Brantford, Windsor, and the two in Niagara).

The OLG wants to add two more (Toronto & Waterloo areas), while expanding two of them (Flamoro/New Hamilton Casion, and Brantford). Is that correct?

Also Sarnia/Point Edward Casino

And slots in Dresden

[thistleclub]

Originally Posted by mattgrande

Correct me if I'm wrong, but from Toronto on south, there's currently five casinos (Flamboro, Brantford, Windsor, and the two in Niagara).

The OLG wants to add two more (Toronto & Waterloo areas), while expanding two of them (Flamoro/New Hamilton Casion, and Brantford). Is that correct?

Dropping a net from Toronto westward to Michigan and south to New York:

OLG Resort Casinos
Windsor (Caesars Windsor) and Niagara (Casino Niagara, Fallsview Casino)

OLG Casinos
Brantford and Point Edward (Sarnia)

OLG Slots
Woobine Racetrack (Toronto), Flamboro Downs (Flamborough), Mohawk Racetrack (Campbellville), Fort Erie Race Track (Fort Erie), Grand River Raceway Centre (Elora), Woodstock Raceway (Woodstock), Western Fair Raceway (London), Hiawatha Horse Park (Sarnia), Clinton Raceway (Central Huron), Dresden Raceway (Chatham-Kent) and Windsor Raceway (Windsor).

I don’t have numbers handy for the three resort casinos, but in fiscal 2011-2012, the 13 remaining OLG sites listed above tallied up just under 14 million patrons between them.

The OLG plans to expand the number of slots at each facility as well as adding table games at certain sites and adding table games. Southwestern Ontario has 12 Gaming Zones identified in the OLG's Modernization Plan. Toronto is classified as Central (Zones C1 & C2).

[thistleclub]

Woolwich Township gets an earful on casino debate (Waterloo Record, Greg Mercer, Feb 20 2013)

"Woolwich Township’s casino decision should be based on facts and not emotion, Mayor Todd Cowan says. On Tuesday night, he and other councillors got an earful of both. With two weeks left before they’re expected to decide on a proposal to build a casino with up to 1,200 slots and hundreds of gaming tables, councillors are weighing dramatically different opinions on what good — and bad — a casino would do."

Brantford politicians weigh in on impact of a casino (Waterloo Record, Paige Desmond, Feb 20 2013)

"Brantford politicians have advice Woolwich councillors may want to hear before bringing a casino to town — take half what advocates say, half from the anti-gambling side and that’s pretty much what to expect. Brantford Coun. Richard Carpenter has seen Casino Brantford earn the city close to $50 million in cash for special projects since 1999. He has also seen the human cost of gambling and watched promises of great things for tourism go unfulfilled."

[mattgrande]

Who filed the complaint? How misrepresented were the claims?

[realcity]

First big mistake by Farr so far into his political career. Loren Lieberman covered it pretty well on Cable 14. Why isn't this in the Spec or RTH? Is the liberal media going to protect him? Imagine if Bratina was being investigated?

Essentially Farr told GS/LN or asked them how they feel if a casino set up a competing venue? Whereby Rockhammer only proposed an intimate under 200 seat live venue mostly for local bands to play somewhere nice and not those holes like Casbah. GS/LN responded that their contract stipulated with the city that there wouldn't be a similar sized venue like Hamilton Place or even the Studio Theatre to compete with them or they would be off the hook for some of the money they promised to save the City. Farr spoke (read an email) for GS/LN saying they were against a casino basically. Afterwards GS/LN wouldn't comment because they probably felt embarrassed and didn't want to get dragged into the debate. There is no competing venue proposed. Apparantly too the Mercanti's had already talked to GS/LN about their proposal. Farr was trying to further his agenda of no downtown casino and was using GS/LN almost as if being a spokesperson for them. But all this will come out after the investigation, this is just my take on Lieberman's account of what happened. Scott Thompson has covered it well also on the CHML archives. But for the most part it's being kept quiet by CasiNO side.

Farr tried and failed and he even managed to get the No side excited for while thinking they had their Ace in the hole if they could get GS/LN against too.

[CaptainKirk]

Originally Posted by realcity

Essentially Farr told GS/LN or asked them how they feel if a casino set up a competing venue? Whereby Rockhammer only proposed an intimate under 200 seat live venue

Not sure if it's just me, but I was under the impression, by the way PJ Mercanti was talking, that he was planning a large entertainment venue, rather than a small 200 seat venue.

Was this public knowledge before the Farr/ GS communication, or did PJ Mercanti reveal that only after Farr's media conference?

[thistleclub]

Chamber businesses split over casino location
(Hamilton Spectator, Feb 20 2013)

A new survey suggests city businesses are almost evenly split in the debate over a proposed downtown casino complex. The survey, completed by 453 members of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce, shows 50 per cent support a new casino at the existing Flamborough location. Another 46 per cent are in favour of a downtown location as long as it is packaged with a hotel and entertainment complex, but 42 per cent opposed a site in the core regardless. A majority of responding members, 67 per cent, opposed a stand-alone downtown casino, with only 14 per cent supporting that idea.

Other findings of the statistically significant survey, which was sent to 1,601 members, include:

72 per cent of respondents believed they had enough information to make an informed decision;

23 per cent oppose a Flamborough location while another 23 per cent are indifferent;

45 per cent opposed another location in Hamilton for a casino;

Casino supporters listed economic benefits, city revenue, potential tourism attraction and entertainment for residents as top reasons for support; Members listed social and moral concerns, competition for local businesses and a bad fit with the city’s strategic vision as reasons to oppose the proposal.

[markbarbera]

Originally Posted by CaptainKirk

Not sure if it's just me, but I was under the impression, by the way PJ Mercanti was talking, that he was planning a large entertainment venue, rather than a small 200 seat venue.

Was this public knowledge before the Farr/ GS communication, or did PJ Mercanti reveal that only after Farr's media conference?

From the Spec article covering the Rock Hammer announcement:

Highlights of RockHammer’s proposal include:

• A Hard Rock casino that takes up 15 to 20 per cent of the total square footage of the complex

• 1,200 slot machines and several table games

• A 280-room hotel, several restaurants, a comedy club, several luxury retail outlets and a “rooftop nightlife experience”

• A Canadian Rock Museum and live performances by Hamilton bands five nights a week

• 1,200 full-time, living-wage jobs, plus additional job opportunities in retail

• A gambling addiction program offered in partnership with Mission Services

http://www.thespec.com/news/local/ar...-and-hard-rock

Also, at the council meeting where Rock Hammer presented their proposal, PJ Mercanti specifically mentioned the music venue would be 200 seats and feature local talent five nights a week. This was all discussed long before Farr's email debacle.

[oldcoote]

Originally Posted by markbarbera

Also, at the council meeting where Rock Hammer presented their proposal, PJ Mercanti specifically mentioned the music venue would be 200 seats and feature local talent five nights a week. This was all discussed long before Farr's email debacle.

A 200 seat venue? LOL.

That's a primo casino alright. Who's gonna play there? High school bands? What a joke.

Hell, even PJ's bud Brian Melo would draw more than 200.