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VOLUME I, NUMBER 11
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PUBLISHED BI-WEEKLY
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19-APRIL 2, 1981
IS CASINO GAMBLING A GOOD BET FOR DETROIT?
casino
by Lloyd Gite
from
25,000
means, asserts the Mayor, is the
issue dead. In fact, State Representative Casmer Ogonowski (D-Detroit), says casino gambling is still very much alive. He says his casino gambling bill, which has been introduced
Governor William Miliken, who recently described casino gambling as “the plague” and further announced his intention to veto
any attempt by the Legislature to legalize casinos in Detroit. Mayor Young, however, says
the
House,
is
because, as he says, “I don’t think
jobs and _ reduce permanent Detroit’s. growing 14 percent unemployment rate. It was going to pump millions of dollars into the city’s barren tax coffers. In short, it was to be the city’s dream come true. Its salvation. Mayor Coleman Young has said very little about casino gambling since his meeting with
in
gathering a great deal of support. Ogonowski says he is not even Governor’s the by alarmed threats to veto his legislation
to 50,000
Almost a panacea.
is still being
looked at by his special budget committee as a means of helping this financially ailing city. By no
Just a few days ago everybody was talking about casino gambling coming to Detroit. Both Dailies had several front page stories, and a swift turn of the television channel and radio dials made you think there was nothing more important. Casino gambling was going to save this debt-ridden city which has a $135 million budget deficit. It was going to provide any- . where
gambling
Governor Milliken will even be here in 1982 at the time this
gambling bill is ready to surface.”
“If you think Poletown was bad, casino gambling would probably mean ten times more economic displacement than Poletown.” —Attorney General Frank Kelley
.Orlando, Florida. .»has no casinos. It has a Disneyworld down there. But it attracts millions of tourists every year, and their crime rate statistically equals Atlantic City.” —State Rep. Casmer Ogonowsla
Is casino gambling still alive? You bet! Its opponents and supporters are busy greasing their boxing gloves. They are finding new recruits for their respective camps. They are advancing new arguments and reiterating old © ones. The battle lines are being drawn, and they’re getting ready for Round Two. Over the last few weeks Detroit Metro Times has asked the right people the hard questions and this is what they said. Continued on page 9
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