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Pittsburgh casino decisions expected today14 January 2008PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania -- As reported by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Decisions expected today on two of Pittsburgh's largest developments -- the Majestic Star Casino and the Uptown arena -- will reshape the city's landscape and could change the political panorama for Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato. "The city Planning Commission is scheduled to vote whether to accept or reject the shell design of the $450 million North Shore casino and the master plan for the $290 million Uptown arena. Approvals are needed before construction on the arena can begin and so work at the casino site can continue. Officials hope to open the casino in May 2009; the arena is to be ready for the 2010-11 hockey season. "'I think, clearly, there are political repercussions for both of them,' Morton Coleman, director emeritus of the University of Pittsburgh Institute of Politics, said about Ravenstahl and Onorato, who worked with Gov. Ed Rendell to craft financing for the arena. "Coleman said the threat of losing votes is particularly tied to the arena project because One Hill Coalition, a nonprofit made up of dozens of Hill District community and pro-labor groups, is mounting political pressure for neighborhood involvement in development near the site. "The group wants a detailed, legally binding community benefits agreement that would give it control of a publicly subsidized development fund and bring to the Hill a grocery store, arena jobs, job training, an after-school youth program and other services. "...Splinter groups have arisen in the quest for a community benefits agreement..." |