How would a casino affect Arena District? | The Columbus Dispatch

Take the kids to the casino every Friday night. Make it a family event.

Buy the kids a couple of rocks of crack and maybe a hooker or two. Teach them to loose the family money and then to expect Uncle Sam to pick up the costs.

But don't plan on staying at a hotel on site, because the profit margin is not high enough for the casino operators.

Oh, the good times the kids will have as long as the Blue Jackets and Clippers riff-raff stay away.

Nationwide will have competition on owning the politicians. They have them all in their pocket now but they will have another to deal with, so I think it will be all good.

But now Nationwide will have to deal with their past dangers like the November transformer fire that blacked out the north end of Columbus and got away with it. Colman and his pay to pay will get nailed. Got to love it.

""The real bottom line is we really don't know enough about the specific plans of the operator to have a complete reaction," said Nationwide Realty's Ellis. "A lot of it is guesswork at this point."

But, he added: "The Arena District is going to be successful with or without a casino.""

Really, so Nationwide is going to give the CBJ a break on their Arena rent so they don't leave town AND the voters don't have to pay a tax to keep them?

Hmmmmm......

Why is it that when I go to casinos in nearby states, I don't see hookers and crack dealers hanging around? But I HAVE seen them here in Columbus and there was no casino in sight.. The crime is already here people, find another excuse to use.

As a 23-year resident of Neil Avenue and a long time business owner here, I think this is POISON. I was very surprised how passive local opponents were on this issue. I couldn't even find a source of "Vote No" yard signs. You'd think that a corporation like Nationwide, with all it has invested in the Arena District, would have been more vocal in opposition.

While admittedly, we don't know exactly what the impact is going to be, I'm not up for gambling our future on hopes it will be positive. We already had great things going here in the Short North and Arena District. All of our progress and gains have been home-grown and organic, including those coming from Nationwide.

I STRONGLY RESENT that Clevelanders and people from Cinci were able to decide our fate, while FRANKLIN COUNTY VOTED NO! I'm going to picket this thing when it opens.

Voted No on Issue 3 wrote:

As a 23-year resident of Neil Avenue and a long time business owner here, I think this is POISON. I was very surprised how passive local opponents were on this issue. I couldn't even find a source of "Vote No" yard signs. You'd think that a corporation like Nationwide, with all it has invested in the Arena District, would have been more vocal in opposition.
While admittedly, we don't know exactly what the impact is going to be, I'm not up for gambling our future on hopes it will be positive. We already had great things going here in the Short North and Arena District. All of our progress and gains have been home-grown and organic, including those coming from Nationwide.
I STRONGLY RESENT that Clevelanders and people from Cinci were able to decide our fate, while FRANKLIN COUNTY VOTED NO! I'm going to picket this thing when it opens.

I think the reason they have no been to vocal about being opposed is because, for a long time the Nationwide and the Blue Jackets have been trying every way possible to get the city of Columbus to buy the team to relieve them of the financial burden. If the casino does well then the Blue Jackets may have a buyer.

There goes the neighborhood. Old men in blue leisure suits with white shoes everywhere, pushing oxygen tanks!

This turn of events is quite disturbing. What if other "unsavory" businesses such as nuclear waste storage facilities, prisons, smelly mega-farms, etc. win a ballot initiative to place a facility in our county? This could turn into a mini civil war within the state! Local voters should have a say on where controversial businesses are able to locate. Franklin County does not want a casino. The interactive map makes it very clear which counties do want a casino, I say let them have it, and keep it out of Columbus!

Voted No on Issue 3 wrote:

As a 23-year resident of Neil Avenue and a long time business owner here, I think this is POISON. I was very surprised how passive local opponents were on this issue. I couldn't even find a source of "Vote No" yard signs. You'd think that a corporation like Nationwide, with all it has invested in the Arena District, would have been more vocal in opposition.
While admittedly, we don't know exactly what the impact is going to be, I'm not up for gambling our future on hopes it will be positive. We already had great things going here in the Short North and Arena District. All of our progress and gains have been home-grown and organic, including those coming from Nationwide.
I STRONGLY RESENT that Clevelanders and people from Cinci were able to decide our fate, while FRANKLIN COUNTY VOTED NO! I'm going to picket this thing when it opens.

Those No on Issue 3 signs were made of non-toxic paper and all of us unemployed people snatched them up to make soup. We thought about selling the frames for scrap but the BigMoney boys are driving up gas prices so we couldn't afford the drive there. So we're letting them rust and we plan on making iron oxide jelly. If you place a glob of it under your tongue it staves off hunger for a while and gives a slight boost for chasing down a feral cat, which is a feast, BTW. Hoping and changing. The Soviet way. Gotta go wait in line for a freebie and my ObamaMoney

Watch!

The Columbus Blue Jackets...goes bankrupt...

Penn Gambling buys the Blue Jackets..

and are rename Penn Blue Chips and their starter league team will be called Red Chips!

..get it? chips? gambling?...don't boo me so much!

I believe the casino can still be stopped with a constitutional ammendment requiring a local referendum prior to the construction of gambling facilities. We should not be forced to change the character of our city based on the votes of non-residents.

Voted No on Issue 3 wrote:

You'd think that a corporation like Nationwide, with all it has invested in the Arena District, would have been more vocal in opposition.

I'd just like to point out, as an low level employee of Nationwide, that they did send a note out to all associates suggesting that they get out and vote, and they explained that they thought the casinos were a bad idea. As a corporation, I would imagine there is a fine line that needs to be walked as some customers may be taken aback by an insurance company adamantly against gambling. It's not good to marginalize customers either way.

Boy, you'd think the Arena District was Kiddie Land with all these business people calling it a family district. Last time I checked you could go into the Arena District and watch an R-rated movie and drink until you couldn't see straight. Or take your family to a hockey game--the most violent major sport in America--and enjoy hot dogs and soda at prices that are 10 times what you would pay from a grocery store. What's "family" about that?

This will be a good test of capitalism--businesses in the district, especially restaurants, will have to do what they need to do to survive--which means they'll have to make the customer happy. How is that bad?

And I've been to casinos in Indiana and Minnesota. The vast majority of gamblers seem to me to be senior citizens who don't bother anybody nearly as much as, say, an obnoxious concert-goer in the Arena District.

TotallyTimm wrote:

Take the kids to the casino every Friday night. Make it a family event.
Buy the kids a couple of rocks of crack and maybe a hooker or two. Teach them to loose the family money and then to expect Uncle Sam to pick up the costs.
But don't plan on staying at a hotel on site, because the profit margin is not high enough for the casino operators.
Oh, the good times the kids will have as long as the Blue Jackets and Clippers riff-raff stay away.

I am not my brothers keeper and how will Casino be any different from bingo halls or the lottery? Its call self control, I have seen people spend countless amount of money on instant tickets in bingo halls (piles of them on the floor around their feet) in carry outs behind someone spending $30,$40,$50 a day on lottery numbers. And please be realistic, illegal gambling has been around forever, does anyone belong to a private Club. Jackpot, ripe-offs, footballs bowls, 50% 50% board and lets not forget the bookies. My uncle was a bookie in the 70's, my Anut ran a strip club in downtown Columbus, and hookers have been around forever. Oh and if something falls on you from the sky it would be drugs because it is raining dope in Columbus Ohio and the ground has not even been broker for the Casinos. So all the issue that anti-casino folks cry about already exist and have been here longer then most of them.

Are people really under the illusion that the Arena District is some classy, family-friendly place? Go there on any given evening, particularly Thursday-Saturday, and you will see nothing to suggest a family-friendly area. Instead, you'll see a bunch of 20 and 30 somethings parading up and down the streets drunkenly, horrendous traffic, and loud sports fans. I really don't think a casino is going to change much, other than bring in an older crowd of people that otherwise go to out-of-state casinos.

The reason I have issue with the Casino is because thy use it as the fix for the economic problems in Ohio. But this does not generate any goods and will not bring material amounts of cash in from other states. We're going to take cash from Ohio folks (who in many cases probably can't afford to lose it), spend a large portion for the overhead for the casino operations, give a portion back to the owners, and spread whatever is left to the state. Probably be cheaper overall to just increase taxes and not have the casino overhead or company profits. And keep working to find respectable businesses to create jobs.

I think the folks that voted for the casino should also be required to watch the Simpsons episode where Mr. Burns builds a casino. Downtown Columbus couldn't even support a mall for more than 15 years, how long will a casino last once the novelty wears off.

If I was an owner of an arena district bar or restaurant I would be pretty worried right now.

The surrounding business are not going to benefit from casino traffic, and people in surrounding communities will end up spending more of their disposable income at the casino rather than the surrounding bars.

Kiss the arena district goodbye. Glad I have held back in buying a condo down there.

So, here is the classic missed opportunity. Anyone with common sense would have thought that gutting City Center Mall and putting the Casino in the mall's former footprint would have killed two birds with one stone. You already had the parking. It was already not a residential area. It was an area that needed an economic boost. It was an area that have a 24/7 operation would have deterred crime. And you have hotels in the area for tourists. And there was enough space to add another hotel, if needed. Not to mention, the city of Columbus/Franklin County could have recouped revenue by higher property taxes because land is more expensive in the downtown area.

So, what does local government do? They tear down the mall before this idea could be even a possibility. They decide to build a Casino in the Arena District without regard to those who live within a mile radius of the area. Then there is total disregard to the traffic patters of the area. Only freeway access, if you can get to it, is I670. At least at the City Center site there was quick access to major highways from High Street and Broad Street.

Columbus missed a grand opportunity to get a viable 24/7 downtown and decided to turn the area into a No Man's Land by building a park that will attract the seediest of Columbus. Of course, having the casino in the Arena District may also attract the crowd people who use and live in the Arena District does not want.

Could it be the State Legislature did not want to look upon a casino a block from ten Statehouse? Could it be developers have future plans to make the Arena District a mini Las Vegas? We will never know, because in a few weeks all that will be left of City Center is an empty dirt lot which may become a park.

Maybe this is a win for your 70-year old Aunt Helen. Aunt Helen will never go to a concert--never go to a Clippers game--never go to a movie--and never go to a hockey game. And anytime there is a tax issue on the ballot to pay for developing that stuff she will vote "no" because she doesn't want it or need it. But it gets built anyway, because other people want it. And Aunt Helen pays the taxes to support it (directly or indirectly) and never complains, even though the whole area may be distasteful to her.

Well, now maybe Aunt Helen has a place to go. And if you don't like it--welcome to the club she's been in for years.

so I'm curious to know?
To those who don't want it in Columbus, and because Franklin county voters voted it down....
I guess you would be ok with Franklin county taking in their portion of the tax money?
You can't have it all!