Governmental Cynicism: Using Education to Justify Gambling

Recently Helen Gym cross posted a piece on the new Philadelphia Public School Notebook blog and Young Philly Politics. In this post Helen looked at Rendell's recent proposed appointment of Rosemarie Greco to the School Reform Commission. As Helen points out, Rosemarie Greco also serves on the board of the Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, the landlord of the Gallery shopping mall, which is now in negotiations to lease to Foxwoods Casino.

In conjunction with the Greco appointment to the SRC, Rendell has also announced a plan to legalize video poker machines to provide tuition relief for college. These two coordinated moves are clearly not a coincidence but rather are part of a coordinated effort and narrative to link gambling to education. The aim is to tie education and gambling so that communities which oppose casinos have to answer for the lost revenue for public education. This is governmental cynicism at its worst.

Helen's sharp analysis also illustrates how the issue of casinos/urban development are intimately linked to education and labor and consequently we need to build coalitions and strategies across these areas of work to create a more powerful movement to change this city. For more read Helen's analysis: 1 | 2

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