Quote:
Originally Posted by Randomguy34
I'm just as confused as you. Sad to hear the pedestrian bridge over the river was cut
There were good questions in the beginning from South Side and Cabrini-Green organizations around ensuring Black workers are included in the construction of the site, since trade unions in the city have had a history of excluding them. Other folks asked about how Bally's will address problem gambling. Some members of the Tribune and Nexstar Media were present and spoke in favor of the casino.
Most of the questions in the second half were though were from condo owners going wild over traffic, property values, and crime. There was one weird restaurant NIMBY who complained that better paying restaurant jobs are stealing workers from his business....
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Agree. The beginning points and questions were pretty good. Mainly about keeping Bally's accountable to actually hiring minorities for everything from the construction to the jobs once it's up and running. And making sure they know the history of various labor in the city. But then it was mostly people from across the river essentially claiming this area as their own and only a few residents who live right nearby.
It seemed as if a handful of people commented and showed that they had just learned of the casino process like a month ago and then charged at the city that they weren't at all transparent. The CFO for the city (I think) laid out everything that's happened on the process back I believe 3 years.
Another guy "did his research" about Ballys and claimed that because the company as we know them today is only a few years old then they must be bluffing. He didn't do full research on what it was before Bally's as far as the gaming portion.
The restaurant guy owns The Whale, The Vig, etc. He basically said he likes Ballys and casinos but not in his back yard! Then he told them he's having trouble finding people to fill some of his jobs. He asked how does Bally's coming in make it any easier for smaller local business like him to operate. And I quote he said "we don't need more jobs in this city!" (Lol...wtf?). I almost wanted to shout at him thru my computer and ask if he's seen the unemployment rates of part of the south and west sides and whether he's tried to hire some of the thousands of unemployed people there currently looking for jobs.
The bridge being taken away was a comment from the chairman Soo Kim. He seems mostly like a reasonable person and a few times he made some funny remarks to some people like "I'm not really sure you know what a casino truly is. It is what you make it out to be." He made a short comment about the bridge like "pretty sure we got rid of it.." but nobody from his team actually jumped in to verify it. He does say he's a man of his word though so it might actually be dead only because he said it's dead.