Noland votes for O’Hare, Chicago casinos
The proposal would put new casinos in Waukegan, Chicago, the South suburbs and near O’Hare International Airport in addition to myriad other gambling expansions. (Source: Daily Herald 6/1/07)
The gambling revenue will be used to subsidize Arlington Park race track–an apparent loser in the gambling business but one with powerful lobbyists–and school construction.
I’d always thought schools were a local issue, but it seems to be moving away from local control as politicians are repeatedly promising things which are none of their business to promise. By the end of the Blagojevich administration, Elgin schools will be run from Springfield. Of course, that is, if President Hillary or whoever it’s going to be, isn’t running it from the Department of Education in Washington, DC. Politicians will promise anything to get elected, and if you’re not careful they may do exactly what they promise.
But there’s virtue in a system that pushes down to the local level whatever can be run from the local level. It’s more efficient, more responsive and more adaptable. Remember that when you go the ballot box.
As for gambling, is it just me or does Illinois’s gambling policy make no sense? I mean, I understand the idea of spreading out gambling to benefit more communities, but the drawback of this ’spread it out’ approach is that it makes it impossible to market gambling in Illinois. People go to places like Las Vegas, Atlantic City or Biloxi because they are gambling destinations. They have a bunch of casinos in one place. That makes them marketable on a national level. But how do you market a casino in Elgin, Chicago, Waukegan, etc? You can’t.
I think it could have been better if they legalized gambling in one area in Illinois, and promoted that nationally as a destination. The revenues could still be shared with other communities. But if cities like Waukegan think that the casino–besides generating cash–brings in other business, they’ll be disappointed. We haven’t really seen any of that happening in Elgin, have we?
The way these casinos are constructed, they’re designed to be fully-contained environments, with restaurants, etc. The casino doesn’t want people to leave, and they don’t. That’s not to say that it’s not possible to convert casino traffic into downtown traffic, but Elgin has failed in this regard, and other communities should not think that it’ll happen without careful planning and concerted effort.
Anyway, I don’t see this gambling expansion bill being a positive for Elgin, and I’m disappointed that our good friend and state senator Michael Noland voted for it.
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