www.broadwayworld.com: The bid for a casino to open in Times Square has been denied after a final vote this morning. A community advisory committee denied the plan after a 4-2 vote. A two-thirds majority vote was required for the proposal to advance to consideration by New York State for one of three downstate casino licenses.
7 comments:
Let's be clear. You don't go to New York for the casinos, that's what Las Vegas is for. When I had first heard about this idea of a casino in Times Square, I thought it was a joke. The only real reason that this would be in Times Square is the money. But even then, how much are you really going to bring in? The idea of creating more performance opportunities for the actor in New York is nice, but the actors there aren't there to act in a casino; most are there for the theatre industry New York is known for. I am very relieved that the approval has been denied for this, simply because it would stand out and would cause discourse within the neighborhood it was getting placed in. If they wanted to place a casino in New York, they should have thought of that before building Las Vegas into a casino area and New York into an entertainment and historical area.
Honestly, I just don’t see how people thought having the Caesars Palace Casino in New York City’s Times Square was a good idea. When I was reading the article I found it super interesting what organizations were involved in the opposition to this movement. Some of them I expected, like the Hell’s Kitchen Neighborhood Association and Westside Neighborhood Alliance, however others such as the United Federation of Teachers less so. On a more personal note, I don’t like the idea of casinos because they feel like their whole business model is to play on vulnerable individuals. That being said, with the amount of tourist traps in New York City’s Times Square maybe they were on to something. I mean seriously, I know it’s a touristy area but 18$ for a hot dog is insane. I mean what the actual hell? And I say this as someone who comes from an insanely expensive city as well, but that's just too much. If you can’t tell I am still bitter I didn’t check the price of that hotdog, but hey 12 year old me learned a super important lesson so I guess alls well that ends well.
The fact that this was even a possibility is astonishing. Las Vegas has been reporting a downward trend for well over six months about how the tourists just aren’t there. To put a casino in an established, vibrant, thriving scene seems like a good idea, but to try to mask it as beneficial to the theatre and artist communities is reprehensible. Casinos do employ a large amount of people, but they aren’t always producing new which leads to the potential that there will be an initial influx of work for backstage workers and artists with a large drop-off for install crews that then become inconsistent or rare future opportunities. Most of the “performance” is in the deception of the gamblers and patrons, not in creating art that speaks to people or tells a story. Casinos employ a large amount of people, but I wonder how much of the money that the house keeps ends up back in the community and is it enough to make a significant difference in New York City.
This is awesome to hear! NYC does not need to be like Las Vegas. You do not go to NYC for casinos, you go to see different cultures clashing together to form one big island. You go to NYC to see art in some of the best museums on earth, like the met. You go to see the intricate workings of a well oiled machine that is the city transportation. You go to see theatre, which Caesars tried to destroy for a cash grab. When you think of NYC, you will never ever think casino, which clearly Caesars didn’t understand. Yes, they had a concept, and yes their plan was destroyed by a citizens board vote, but still thats wonderful news and I am very glad the citizen board didn’t get bought out by Caesars. Broadway owns NYC, not some casino people from different countries can dump their money on rigged machine, cheap entertainment, and a cigar smelling filled room.
So glad this didn't pass. It may well have been disastrous for Times Square had this gotten through. There was absolutely no reason that there needed to be a casino of all things to be in the heart of midtown Manhattan. Even without visiting New York regularly, I am able to tell that it would just be a bad decision for the city. Some cities, like Las Vegas, are built on their gambling culture, but New York just is not. The other argument against this is that whatever space the casino was going to occupy should probably be used for something else besides a casino. Could be more housing even. Regardless, this is an unequivocally a good decision for New York City. While reinvestment in New York is generally positive, the gambling should stay up state in Saratoga, the city board reached an excellent verdict in voting down Caesar’s bid.
The idea to open a casino in Times Square was motivated by money and money alone. Gambling targets those who lack financial stability by promising an instant solution to their money problems if they’re lucky. Having a casino in the middle of a cultural center like Times Square would go against the nature of the area. I’m not saying that people who would go to the casino wouldn’t go to Broadway shows or vice-versa, there would be some cross-over between the customer base of the two industries but the cross over would not be greatly significant. A plan like this would likely result in people coming for one or the other primarily and pitting the arts against the casinos. As the article says, a casino can go anywhere, Broadway belongs in NYC. I have nothing against Vegas but not everywhere needs to be Vegas. Even if the construction of the casino would potentially lead to a momentary influx of jobs for technicians unless it was operated vastly differently from how casinos in Vegas are operated it would quickly become a white elephant.
I remember writing a comment about this on an article from a few weeks ago when the idea was introduced. I am very happy to see that the casino got vetoed. I do wonder what will happen to all the money that was donated to try to gain votes for it. There have been a lot of things recently trying to “take over” the Broadway world. With the rezoning of the garment district which would destroy the economy of a lot of the historical shops in the district and the casino, it seems like people are caring less and less about the arts, especially theater. Times Square and Broadway are historically and currently incredibly important to the theater community. I fear that nowadays most people only care about revenue and not about the art of things. Arts spaces may not be as “profitable”, but they are still extremely beneficial to communities.
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