XPost: bc.politics, van.general, vic.general   
   From: Gene§i§@yahoo.ca   
      
   What happens in Vegas should bloody well stay there.  We don't need to invite   
   crime and   
   addiction while we're struggling with the crime and addictions we already have.   
   ____________________________________________________   
   VANCOUVER— From Wednesday's Globe and Mail   
   Published Tuesday, Apr. 19, 2011   
   Vancouver rejects proposed big casino in downtown core   
      
   Vancouver council has delivered a sharp rebuke to the province’s lottery   
   corporation by killing   
   a proposed big new casino in the downtown core – and instituting a moratorium   
   on any new   
   gambling until the B.C. Lottery Corporation does a better job dealing with   
   problem gambling and   
   money laundering.   
   The unanimous vote to deny the casino expansion prompted exhilaration from the   
   group of fierce   
   opponents who coalesced two months ago. But it stunned and disappointed people   
   from the casino   
   company, the lottery corporation and the B.C. Pavilion Corp., for whom the   
   casino’s lease   
   payments for the land next to BC Place was supposed to help pay for   
   $563-million in   
   renovations.   
      
   Representatives from all three said they were “disappointed” but had nothing   
   else to say for   
   the moment.   
      
   However, Tourism Minister Pat Bell issued a conciliatory statement, saying the   
   province’s   
   “renewed government” was going to take a “fresh look at options to develop   
   this property.” He   
   said he has directed PavCo to work with the city to make sure any future   
   decision aligns with   
   what the city wants.   
      
   Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson led the way on the casino rejection.   
      
   “Enabling the largest casino in Western Canada in our downtown doesn't fit   
   with Vancouver's   
   global brand as the world's most livable city, the green capital, and hotbed   
   for innovation   
   from clean and digital technology to resource management,” he said.   
      
   His motion came after seven days of public hearings and hundreds of public   
   speeches and e-mails   
   opposing the $500-million proposal.   
      
   Non-Partisan Association Councillor Suzanne Anton said she would have been   
   prepared to approve   
   a smaller expansion, and she worried aloud about what the city might be losing   
   by rejecting the   
   complex.   
      
   But none of the other councillors had similar qualms. They said they were   
   convinced by several   
   factors: opposition from the arts community; experiences of places like Macau,   
   which lost its   
   sense of identity as gambling overtook the city; and their own sense that   
   people in Vancouver   
   didn’t like the idea of the city’s future being decided in Victoria.   
      
   “It was a complete contradiction for what people want in the heart of   
   Vancouver,” said   
   Councillor Geoff Meggs, who delivered the strongest criticism of the   
   province’s decision making   
   about the city “behind closed doors.”   
      
   The decision will have a significant financial impact for the province. Casino   
   company Paragon   
   had promised to pay $6-million a year for 70 years to lease the land, if the   
   expansion was   
   approved.   
      
   As well, the province gets 52 per cent of gross revenues at all casinos. If   
   the new casino’s   
   revenues had jumped from the current $120-million to $390-million, as the most   
   optimistic   
   projections forecast, the province would have benefited to the tune of an   
   extra $140-million a   
   year.   
      
   The casino saga was confusing to many in the public, and even councillors,   
   because of the way   
   it appeared to generate no interest for nearly a year before the hearings.   
      
   The story began in 2004, when the council of the day (dominated by the   
   Coalition of Progressive   
   Electors) agreed – amid much controversy – to allow the Edgewater casino to   
   set up at the Plaza   
   of Nations, as part of a move to close down other city casinos and consolidate   
   Vancouver’s   
   gambling in one place.   
      
   The company operating Edgewater went bankrupt and the licence and operation   
   were taken over by   
   Paragon, with ongoing warnings from council that it would need to find a new   
   site by 2013.   
      
   Land around BC Place was rezoned in 2008, with a reference to a “major casino”   
   being an   
   approved land use. But no one paid much attention to those words because it   
   was assumed they   
   meant allowing the existing casino to move across the street.   
      
   Around the same time, premier Gordon Campbell announced the province would   
   renovate BC Place   
   and put on a new roof. It wasn’t until March, 2010, though, that he announced   
   a major casino   
   proposal for the land around the stadium, billed as a development that would   
   pay the stadium’s   
   renovation bills.   
      
   Almost no one registered protests in the June open houses on the proposal.   
      
   But the arts community, which had seen their share of gambling proceeds cut   
   drastically in the   
   past two years, started mobilizing opposition in the fall of 2010. Within   
   weeks, the arts   
   groups, joined by resident groups, had generated massive support for an   
   anti-casino petition.   
      
   More than 200 people signed up to speak at public hearings. Although casino   
   employees were a   
   big part of that number, the opponents covered every political base in the   
   city, as well as   
   medical health officers, police, an ex-judge, and bar and restaurant operators.   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)