Nov
11
Toledo Strip Clubs: Joe Hallett commentary: Central Ohio lawmakers must fight imposition of casino
November 11, 2009 | | Leave a Comment
Construe this, if you wish, as the ranting of a sore loser. But I reject NIMBY arguments when it comes to necessary facilities. We can’t get along without landfills, power plants and prisons. They have to be sited somewhere. Certainly, nobody wants one in his or her backyard, and that’s why we charge elected officials to make the well-studied and hard decisions on where to locate them.
But we don’t need casinos anywhere. Like strip clubs fought across the state by local neighborhoods, casinos represent dubious public benefit. They profit on a promise of instant gratification and by pandering to avarice, producing no commodity of any value but a well-documented rash of societal ills.
Like strip clubs, casinos should be put to a test of acceptance from the communities where they are to be located. By that standard, central Ohioans said no — they shouted no — to a casino in their backyard.
See the full article from “Columbus Dispatch”