Ask your friends in Happy Valley about the status of the casino planned for the Nittany Mall. Most folks here think it is now a fully approved done deal. After all, back in May a local reporter published a misleading article with the title, “Why State College’s Anti-Gambling Movement Failed to Stop the Nittany Mall casino.” Everyone instantly and wrongly assumed there was a green light of approval leading to the casino’s bright lights flashing nonstop every night for decades into the future. Not true.
The casino has no green light of approval, and it never was a done deal. There are several court cases in Harrisburg that will be heard by the Commonwealth Court and Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The next arguments, to be presented before ALL the Commonwealth Court judges, will be on Wednesday, Sept. 13.
The College Township website includes a Casino Information section with a “Timeline of Significant Events” page that was last updated in April. The last page of that document has the links to the pending court cases. That is where you will find the real status of the ongoing legal battles in Harrisburg.
Our local outpouring of casino opposition is all summarized and included on the saynocasino.org website maintained meticulously by Andrew Shaffer for the past two years. The judges in Harrisburg will not be ignoring any of that.
The links in Andrew’s unprecedented website will keep you informed of all significant updates before mid-September. Look now and then save it to your favorites.
Daniel Materna,
Howard
Brewery Issue Shows Borough Council Out of Touch with State College Hospitality Industry
The Brewery isn’t just an old favorite – it’s the public house for State College’s bartenders, bar managers, chefs, bouncers, waitstaff and everyone else who actually keeps this town running. It’s one of the last bars in State College whose owners actually spend time there (working, no less). It’s where the people who have been making your food and drinks gather to share ideas, plan for oncoming waves of tourists and vent about lousy clientele (which includes, yes, you, the reader). The fact that our borough council didn’t even give The Brewery a heads-up about the plan to acquire its building by eminent domain illustrates just how much they care about the people who actually work here.
State College bars get shuttered all the time. This time, it’s not just about a bar – it’s about a community center for State College’s non-transient workforce. Without that, the borough council is weakening State College’s retention of people who actually want to live and work here. Without contacting the owners in advance, the council is saying what it really thinks of people in the hospitality industry here. Without a downtown location for locals (not students, not professors, but locals) to discuss the town’s goings-on, State College can expect to see more and more experienced hospitality workers replaced by a student workforce that’s only here for six months out of the year.
People – sorry, I mean voters – need to think of this issue not in terms of another bar but as the council’s seizure of yet another gathering space (and also a pizza shop and music store). Here’s hoping all of that factors into the town’s “typical” condemnation process. The next time borough council wants to grab a historic, privately owned property with a great location for a parking garage, they should consider something on Frat Row.
Rawb Leon-Carlyle,
State College
