Hotel Online News for the Hospitality Executive OPINION: Put Your Money on a Downtown Milwaukee Casino By Eugene Kane, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Jun. 15, 2003 – If I were a betting man, I’d say odds are pretty good we’re going to get that downtown casino after all.
Just imagine, a brand-new sparkling gambling emporium just a stone’s throw from City Hall, the Grand Avenue mall, the RiverWalk and my office here at 4th and State.
(Gee . . . I’ve never lost my paycheck over lunch before.)
I’m not a big gambler, but seeing how I’ve visited both Las Vegas and Atlantic City so far this year, I’m somewhat qualified to check in with an opinion.
And, in my opinion, a downtown casino is the way to go. Actually, there are some of us who have always felt it was the way to go.
Because if you’re going to legalize gambling, might as well do it in a way to get the most bang for your buck.
As popular as it might be for locals, as long as the Potawatomi Bingo Casino is tucked away in the Menomonee Valley, it will never be the kind of magnetic tourist attraction it could be downtown.
I mean, you can see the casinos in Las Vegas from the landing strip at the airport. That’s how close they are to the action.
If you’re one of those people who can remember when gambling in Milwaukee was just a glimmer in some greedy legislator’s eye, it’s hard to imagine how far we’ve evolved.
We’ve come from a skittish community worried about the creeping effects of legalized bingo down in an industrialized valley to a town salivating over the prospect of blackjack tables and roulette wheels just off 4th St.
No, nothing’s official yet.
For a downtown casino to happen, lots of hoops remain, including getting federal approval for a relocation, and figuring out the logistics of moving a $120 million casino that was just renovated three years ago.
And don’t forget parking.
But if you understand how things get done in this town, plenty of signs suggest the back-room meeting not only has already taken place, but they probably broke out the brandy and cigars, too.
It’s actually a simple process. First, someone floats a trial balloon, as in:
“Hey, now that we’ve torn down the Park East Freeway, what do you think about moving the casino downtown?”
Next, an important local leader or politician signs on to the idea.
In this case, once anti-casino Mayor John O. Norquist is suddenly willing to entertain the idea, almost as if he’s decided now that he’s a lame-duck, there’s no need to be consistent about any previous policy or opinion.
More bigwigs are recruited to cast their votes in favor of the plan, including the reform-minded county executive, influential business leaders and several aldermen who also were once opposed to any legalized gambling downtown.
Just to be polite, it would be run by the Potawatomi themselves. And what do you know? They like the idea, too.
Almost like they’re all reading off the same memo or something.
Next, somebody does a study to show how relatively simple it would be to make this happen.
Which in this case would be the city’s Department of City Development, reportedly so inspired by the trial balloon they went to work identifying not just one, but four possible sites.
The only steps left are a reasonable period of public comment in order to identify the community zealots and grass-roots types guaranteed to pop up to oppose any gambling project.
Of course, in the face of a project this massive, they are like gnats on an elephant’s hide.
Before you know it, bulldozers will start breaking ground. Hello, downtown casino!
Things were set in motion earlier this year when the Forest County Potawatomi won approval of a new state-tribal gambling deal and announced plans to expand their Canal St. casino.
Currently, there’s a lawsuit challenging the legality of the agreement, but that’s just politicians playing their usual games.
We’re talking about a casino, otherwise known in political circles as “a license to print money.”
They will work things out.
According to city officials, the preferred spot for a downtown casino is, coincidentally, exactly where the Park East Freeway once stood.
Before conspiracy theorists start buzzing, City Planning Director Peter Park would like to remind you that the Park East Freeway wasn’t torn down specifically to build a downtown casino.
The removal of the freeway was designed to open up more opportunity in the area and be a catalyst for change, according to Park.
“When the freeway was there, there was no opportunity,” said Park. “The highest use that ever came out of it was a lot of surface parking lots.”
Park described the old Park East Freeway as an “unnecessary, over-designed, oversized road” that didn’t serve much purpose.
As for a casino rising in its place, Park was pessimistic, given all the conditions that still need to be met for that to become a reality.
(Maybe he didn’t get the memo yet.)
As for me, the prediction here is that within three years — five years tops — there will be a casino in downtown Milwaukee.
Along with Miller Park, Calatrava and whatever they plan to do with the Harley-Davidson Museum, it will be the next big thing in an ever-continuing quest to add a shine to our humble little city.
You can bet on it.
Call Eugene Kane at (414) 223-5521 or e-mail him at [email protected].
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(c) 2003, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.