If the referendum on casino gambling passes in Danville, Virginia, Caesars Entertainment, which would develop a casino there, has pledged to provide $17 million for a new police station. Some citizens, however, have called the offer “emotional blackmail,” including Dr. Danny Campbell, whose group, Defend Danville, opposes the casino.
Campbell said, “Our chief and his team are community policing, they are getting to know the community, doing a great job and I’d love for them to get new resources in that. But to get that we have to do something that is wrong and could create more trouble and work for our police officers. I think I would reject that as emotional blackmail and I would be disappointed in anybody that promotes the one to get the other.”
Vice Mayor Gary Miller said every city council member supports a new police station. In fact, even if the referendum would fail, he stated, “We’ll have to find a way to fund it, with other methods which may or may not involve tax increases and we council people do not want to go there.”
Miller said he’s in favor of the Caesars casino, not just because of the police station grant, but also because of the new revenue streams it would offer.
“A good portion of the new station will be paid by the Caesar’s initial grant, so that is very important to us,” Miller said.
The city of Danville will hold three virtual town halls with residents. The first, scheduled for October 15, will discuss ways casino revenue could be invested in the city. Defending Danville is planning an anti-casino rally October 25.
Meanwhile, the Danville Register & Bee spoke to business owners in the Virginia city and found strong support for Caesars Virginia’s plan to build a new casino in Schoolfield.
The business owners said the new casino would bring new jobs and tax revenue and also attract more shoppers to the city in general.
“It is the most positive thing that Danville has seen in some time,” Roslyn M. Preston, owner of The Vintage Boutique on North Union Street downtown told the paper. “It will boost the economy. It will keep small businesses
afloat.”
A measure to allow the plan is before city voters. Caesars Entertainment plans to build a $400 million casino resort project in Schoolfield off West Main Street.
Shelley Blackwell, owner at Chestnut Lane Antiques and Interiors on Main Street, told the paper “We can only go up from here and we need something big.”
Caesars estimates the development would $22 million in state-collected gaming tax revenue remitted to the city, $12 million in annual supplemental payments to Danville, and $4.2 million in meals, sales, lodging, and property taxes by its third year of operation, according to the paper.
The $400 million casino project includes restaurants and bars, a hotel with 300 guest rooms, a 35,000-square-foot conference center, a 2,500-seat live-entertainment venue, a pool and a spa. The casino would bring 1,300 jobs as well as 900 construction jobs while being built. It is expected to open in 2023.
George Perdue, owner of Revitalization Station on Craghead Street, said that casino’s added entertainment will increase its appeal.
“I look forward to it being a destination not only for gambling, but entertainment,” Perdue told the paper.
If approved, Caesars would pay $5 million to buy the Schoolfield site and $15 million to the city within 30 days of the referendum, the paper reported.
In another matter involving a proposed Virginia casino, supporters of the proposed Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol released two new videos to sway voters to approve that project.
A referendum there would allow a casino to operate at the former Bristol Mall on Gate City Highway in Bristol, Virginia.
In the first video, Jim McGlothlin, chairman and CEO of The United Co., and Jim Allen, chairman of Hard Rock International, describe the benefits of the resort. McGlothlin and Clyde Stacy, of Par Ventures, proposed to casino project and selected Hard Rock as the developer.
“Employment; revenue for the city; rebuilds our schools; our teachers, our police and our local people are going to be working,” McGlothlin says in the video. “I think it’s going to be a real success story for Bristol. I can tell you I’m going to do everything I can to make it be as close to perfect as it can be.”
The $400 million Hard Rock hotel and casino complex would generate an estimated 2,000 jobs.
“The jobs are so impactful. I started in this industry in 1979,” Allen said in the video. “I started as a cook, so I think I’m living proof of an example that in this industry there are so many different avenues where you can frankly grow and create a career for yourself and for your family.”
The second video focuses on last month’s unveiling of a detailed model of the planned casino and hotel complex.
“With nearly a $400 million expansion that we’re planning for this, it’s going to take the existing facility and do our best to utilize the main components of the mall, but then build on that with some significant features,” Hard Rock Senior Vice President of Casinos and Business Development Sean Caffery said in the second video.
The plan includes a proposed 350-room hotel tower and a 3,200-seat entertainment venue. Both facilities could be expanded, officials said.
Norfolk Debates
With the fate of a $500 million casino project proposed for Norfolk Va. Currently before voters, the Pamunkey Indian tribe has pledged that it will hire 50 percent minority applicants and a 90 percent local workforce for the facility.
The tribe has launched an “All in for Norfolk” campaign to promote the project. Officials said they will reach out to local universities and job workforce programs to meet the hiring goals.
Project representative Jay Smith says he doesn’t expect a ready-made pool of job candidates.
“We’re going to have to train people,” project spokesman Jay Smith told local radio station WAVY. “We’re not going to be able to find, in Norfolk, people who have been a casino dealer. That just doesn’t exist right now.”
Officials say the project would create 2,000 construction jobs and 2,500 permanent jobs.
The ballot measure does have opposition who say the deal between the Pamunkey tribe and the city is not transparent.
The tribe, however, has been working the create and has made a $150,000 donation to help attract a full-service grocery store in the city’s St. Paul’s neighborhood near the project. The donation is not contingent on whether the ballot measure is approved.
There has been some controversy, however, after flyers where handed out at several local food pantries bearing the logo of the “Yes Norfolk Referendum Committee,” which is funded totally by the tribe.
The flyer reads: “This food is provided by the Pamunkey Indian Tribe. As members of the community, we are proud to be a partner serving others during this difficult time,” according to the radio station.
The tribe has been working with local food banks and nonprofits, but opponents of the casino say the flyers are politicizing the tribe’s donations.
Tribal officials say the flyers do not refer directly to the referendum and would not qualify as political. The tribe also said it is not requiring food banks to distribute the fliers, but merely asked that they be included in bags of distributed food.
