Jackson Free Press

A card-carrying Republican on a local blog that shall remain unnamed had what I think is a pretty clever idea: Why not campaign to end restrictions on casino locales? They generate great business for other southern cities. And to take the idea a step further: A casino near the proposed Farish Street Entertainment District would bring actual traffic to the businesses there, guaranteeing their viability. (Of course, the businesses themselves may generate traffic--but a casino would guarantee traffic in a way that other entertainment venues seldom can.)

Okay, I know this is pipe dream territory, but maybe it's not as crazy as it sounds. The anti-casino arguments mostly fell apart 15 years ago, and with casinos needing to rebuild in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, this seems a good time to ask why there can't be a casino sitting right here in Jackson, where it can do some good for the economy. Because we KNOW it'll bring in some hefty tax revenue--look at what it did for the state. And if there's one thing Jackson can use, it's hefty tax revenue.

Am I crazy? Is there any real chance that this might actually happen?

Cheers,

TH

Previous Commentsshow

My answer is one word: Shreveport. I wasn't impressed with the downtown -- it seems to me that casinos in urban areas can take over the landscape and sometimes drum out all other types of music venues and clubs, and the people aren't always at casinos for the music or the party atmosphere. Witness Beale Street or downtown Denver (or SF or NYC or Austin) and its casino-free environs. I kinda like having the casinos *not* in the capital city. Perhaps I could be convinced otherwise, but to me, casinos are for day (or night) trips.

Todd Stauffer

Sep 15 2005

Okay, good response. I was thinking purely in terms of tax revenue and additional traffic, but I can see what you're saying about Shreveport. Cheers, TH

Tom Head

Sep 15 2005

My take would be Jane Jacobs-based, once again. :-) Large single uses are a bad idea in an area that needs to be dense center-city fabric. Their size tends to serve as a barrier to the natural flow of pedestrian traffic that a city needs in order to keep residents and visitors safe and to keep its uses vital and attractive. IOW, a casino would likely be so large as to split off parts of the neighborhood from each other, weakening their ability to survive because they would almost certainly need to feed off each other in order to survive -- particularly during the initial growth phase that the Farish Street district is in. Best, Tim

Tim Kynerd

Sep 15 2005

Agreed with Todd and Tim: thumbs-down on the casino in Jackson. Easy money doesn't always translate into a better, or more financially viable city. And it hurts my heart to make me think of making people *live* near a casino -- or to turn our historic black business district into something like that. Some of the chain spots will be bad enough there, but we can survive that. But there is nothing attractive about putting a casino in the middle of a city, or a city neighborhood. I'm sure your card-carrying Republican would be just as hip to putting a casino in the middle of Woodland Hills, or Madison, as well. Didn't think so. We don't need a casino. We need smart development, investment in local businesses, good housing, and people to shut the hell up about the city breeding thugs and scaring people into the suburbs. They also need to get over their fear of black people while they're at it.

DonnaLadd

Sep 15 2005

Oh, and we didn't even mention the stupidity of being a casino of all things near poor neighborhoods where people could piss away their small checks in desperation on a few steps from their homes. I definitely think it's a crazy idea. Sorry.

DonnaLadd

Sep 15 2005

...Maybe not near Farish Street but definitely within the city limits of Jackson..Highway 220 N on the backside(Hanging moss south to Clinton blvd) comes to mind as the most visible and viable spot to put it. That's the same stretch of land where some friends of mine were lobbying to get Nissan to move to. It would be a great piece of land to put a nice row of strong casinos.

Jocelyn

Sep 30 2005

I talked to a friend of mine (a local priest) this afternoon about the whole Jackson casino idea, and he brought up the poor-exploitation aspect of things. I'd been looking at the casino idea mainly from the revenue angle, thinking "Okay, out of town/out of state visitors will flood the local economy with traffic and tax money," but realistically, the poor would probably end up footing the bill instead. Again. I've never lived near a casino. One woman I spoke to a few years ago, who had lived on the coast when the casinos came in, absolutely hated it. I still remember her ranting about the new empty styrofoam cups hanging on the bushes every morning. I can certainly buy into the argument that this might not be good for the residents of west Jackson, both because of the congestion and because of the exploitation factor. But I do think it would be good if the Farish Street Entertainment District had some kind of marquee attraction that would draw in rich tourists. I wish there was something that could bring in casino money and casino tourism without actually being, you know, a casino. Cheers, TH

Tom Head

Oct 2 2005