Gettysburg Borough Council newcomer Graham Weaver announced publicly this week that he opposes a plan that would transform a Cumberland Township hotel into an exclusive slots resort.
During a Tuesday morning interview with radio host Fred Snyder on 1320 WGET, Weaver became the second council member since the New Year to publicly voice concern over Gettysburg businessman David LeVan’s casino project.
“I’m personally against the casino,” said Weaver, now in his second month on the nine-member Borough Council. “I was last time, and I am this time.”
He vocally opposed LeVan’s previous gaming proposal: Crossroads Gaming Resort & Spa in Straban Township. Now, LeVan is eyeing a Category Three slots license to convert the Eisenhower Inn along Business 15 south of Gettysburg into a casino.
“If I wanted to retire to a gambling community, I would have gone to Atlantic City or Las Vegas,” said Weaver, who moved to Gettysburg’s Colt Park five years ago, after a long career in government.
“Basically, I like the environment of the community the way it is,” said Weaver, noting a recent newspaper poll about the project. “There is a lot of division on the part of residents in the community about whether to have it.”
Weaver fears that the proposed Mason Dixon Resort & Casino “could lead to problems that aren’t discussed much…like additional strains on infrastructure, a lot more cars on the road, the Emmitsburg Pike coming up from the Eisenhower Center toward town.”
He also forecast potential “social problems.” “Habitual gamblers have ruined their lives, broken marriages, lost houses – - – these are extreme cases, they have been reported,” said Weaver.
Last month, Council President John Butterfield also raised apprehension about the project’s impact on the borough, explaining that LeVan and business partner Joseph Lashinger had made “no overtures” to council.
It is unlikely that any “overtures” will be made to Borough Council. After being promised $2 million in annual gaming revenues from the Crossroads slots project in 2006, the cash-strapped borough government is unlikely to receive a cut from the Mason Dixon proposal.
However, LeVan and Lashinger have pitched the proposal to the Adams County Commissioners and Cumberland Township. Officials in each municipality have been informed that, under a state gaming formula that determines local government share, it would take $50 million in casino revenues to generate $1 million in tax revenue for the county and Cumberland Township.
While those revenues would represent about one-third of Cumberland’s annual budget, Weaver argued that there are “other ways” to stimulate economic growth in Adams County, at a time when the unemployment rate has topped eight percent.
“I’d like to see more done in terms of increasing tourism type businesses… I would sooner spend my efforts encouraging that kind of new business in Gettysburg rather than a gambling casino,” said Weaver.
Weaver’s entire interview can be found at: www.gettysburgtimes.com/articles/2010/02/10/blogs/doc4b724131a8ebd930093361.txt
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