Monday, November 27, 2023

Casinos of Yes

 

 NY Daily News

The Department of City Planning on Monday introduced a measure that it says would cut red tape for casino applications in the Big Apple — but which would ice out community boards, critics say.

The measure, which was quietly filed by the department on Friday, comes as big-name developers are vying for one of three coveted downstate casino licenses from the state.

The action, formally known as a zoning text amendment, was billed as a way of streamlining city and state processes by City Planning Commissioner Dan Garodnick during a Monday meeting.

“What we are proposing will create an even playing field for these facilities as they make their case for the economic benefits they aim to bring to New York City,” he said. “We are trying to set up a process here which just enables the conversation to happen in an organized way.”

The state decides who gets approved for a license. On the local level, the city’s existing land review procedures are inadequate for new casinos, putting New York at a “competitive disadvantage,” Garodnick and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said in October.

The text amendment would streamline review and allow for state-approved casinos to be developed “without any potential conflicts with zoning” or “unnecessarily duplicating” the state’s lengthy licensing process, Garodnick said.

Two of the downstate licenses are expected to go to existing “racinos” in Yonkers and South Ozone, Queens, but there is stiff competition in New York City for the remaining slot.

Aside from the Queens racino, City Planning confirmed eight contenders across the boroughs: five in Midtown Manhattan, one in the Bronx at Ferry Point, one in Queens from Mets owner Steve Cohen and one in Brooklyn by Coney Island.

 The proposed Coney Island Brooklyn casino resort called The Coney.

The new zoning measure would mean the individual applicants would not have to go through the city’s sluggish land use process, which can be used as leverage by community members and lawmakers to secure certain commitments from developers.

A committee consisting of the governor, mayor and local electeds will be created to view each gaming facility application based on the site’s location. The Community Advisory Committees, as they’re known, will have to hold public meetings but — unlike the city’s land use mechanism, known as ULURP — will not include a representative of the local community board.

Former Buildings Commissioner Charles Moerdler described the move as an “outrage” that would curtail local input.

“The concept of depriving the community and people of an opportunity to be heard … is anathema to a democracy,” Moerdler told the Daily News. “It is a stupid idea dreamed up by people who have no interest in the public or the community.”

A community board leader in Midtown Manhattan, where locals have expressed opposition to a casino, said she has heard concerns from several stakeholders about the text amendment.

“The current version of the text is too thin on specifics and details and does not really address the environmental impacts the casino would have,” said Layla Law-Gisiko, chair of CB 5’s Land Use Committee, criticizing the “blanket, one-size-fits-all” approach as opposed to the site-specific method of ULURP.

“Currently, the text really is too anemic to provide any guidance on what a casino should look like.”

Planning commission members were critical of part of the text that would allow developers to include related establishments such as hotels, restaurants, bars and “other amenities” like theaters in the approval process.

 

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

What does "Former Buildings Commissioner" Eric Ulrich have to say?

Anonymous said...

Build baby build!
Ignore the communists!

Anonymous said...

This is a Sin tax (also known as vice tax) specifically for items deemed harmful to the Sheeple, such as alcohol, tobacco, drugs, candies, soft drinks, fast food, coffee, sugar, gambling, and pornography.

Kitara said...

I wonder who owns the city? Is it the Sheeple? Or is it the moneybags "Corporate Donors"?

Anonymous said...

I wonder will there be a brand new TrumpTurd casino in Jamaica Estates? A TrumpTurd Taj Mahal in Jackson Heights?
Or will he have to contend with one in a Rikers Island cell?

Anonymous said...

Remember, you will own nothing and you will be happy so Gamble.

Kitara said...

I wonder if Juniper Park will be the home of the next NYC Casino? Bob 'The Bike' may want to cash in with all that Developer money floating about.
Better yet, a casino on the Great Lawn or Sheeple Meadow. The 5th Ave. gentry may want to have a crack at the slots.
The possabilities are endless.

georgetheatheist said...

"Lasciate ogni speranza voi que entrate." A modern day version of Dante's Inferno. "Abandon all hope ye who enter here."

Anonymous said...

@"Remember, you will own nothing and you will be happy so Gamble."
Speak for yourself.

Anonymous said...

"I wonder" Yes you wonder , you don't know...

Anonymous said...

@ "I wonder" Here we go again...
More like “I was guessing” and lying again. Fake news is a complex problem that is far greater found in the left Wokie mind . TTYL Trolls...

Anonymous said...

I Wonder if You know you are being lied to because you have reckless disregard for the truth.

Anonymous said...

Democrats get what Democrats vote for !

Anonymous said...

@“ I wonder" Yes you wonder , you don't know...”

You don’t know either. You just think you know everything. Dunning Kruger syndrome.

Anonymous said...

@"I Wonder if You know you are being lied to because you have reckless disregard for the truth."
Coming from a QAnon drone, that statement is totally meaningless.

Anonymous said...

@"Democrats get what Democrats vote for !"

Republicans would bring in the same corruption, with added book burnings for good measure.

Anonymous said...

@"Speak for yourself" I do troll...

Anonymous said...

I hope the profits go to the NYC’s neediest people.

Anonymous said...

The city is going bankrupt and will pull every move to get more revenue.
These illegals have also joined in on retail theft, mail and doorstep (package)robbery. They now believe taking and getting free stuff is the "American way" and do not fear the police or getting caught.
The Catholic church (who has been paying to deliver them here) can no longer carry them, only pays for the busses.

Stupid democrat sheep'le voters have cut their own throats and destroyed the city.
This experiment in "Woke" thinking has failed miserably.

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