My first reaction to that article about putting the casino at Reese was "what a stupid idea, that location is nowhere near anything". Then I reconsidered and thought that it's actually not a bad idea because it is fairly close to McCormick Place and could revitalize the area simply by drawing convention traffic further South.
However, my concern with that site is that we all know exactly what kind of design quality to expect. They will probably just copy the Rivers Casino design from Des Plaines and plop in down at Reese forever sealing the fate of Bronzeville as a bombed out unwalkable neighborhood. My other problem with it is that location is way too far from the train. I like the technology park idea the best. Perhaps we could start by convincing all of these tech hubs and start up incubators U of I, IIT, UIC, U of C, etc are talking about to all locate at Reese. That would be ideal because, once that core is there, the private sector will follow.
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Originally Posted by BVictor1
Why would what side of town it's on be an issue?
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There problem is political and two fold. The first is that black, south side, aldermen frequently pander to their voter base by questioning the motives of rest of the city. In other words I have a feeling we might see political heat saying "why are you targeting black people with gambling?" or "Why are you putting the undesirable casino in our backyard?" from the local politicians.
The second half of the problem is that Reese is more or less directly adjacent to The Gap and I KNOW the residents of that area will throw a fit if they try to build a casino at Reese. The Gap is probably the only majority African American NIMBY haven in the city and the only one outside of Hyde Park/Kenwood on the entire South Side.
However, I think those NIMBYs are right. A use like this does not belong in the neighborhoods. A casino should be located as close to the city core as possible so it can act as an amenity to not just McCormick Place, but all the downtown hotels we are building, all of the smaller meeting spaces, all of the offices, have the best accessibility to transit, etc.