I get knocked down... (or Hooters + Dept. of Homeland Security = Economic Development for Anacostia)

I added a lot of editorial comment at the end of this entry, which justifies reordering.

Image from Golden Palace.
I get knocked down.
But I get up again.
You're never going to keep me down.
We'll be singing.
When we're winning.
We'll be singing.
-- I Get Knocked Down (Tubthumping) - lyric by Chumbawamba.

Capital is pretty persistent as today's Post reports that the Slots people are coming back for another try, in the article "Promoter Rolls Dice Again to Get Slots on D.C. Ballot."

I still don't see how a referendum item like this is even legal as a couple years ago the Courts ruled that "citizen" initiatives (and this is a case of citizens being bought off) that direct the DC Government on how to effectuate fiscal policies are illegal. (This was the holding in the case ruling against an anti-smoking in public places initiative.)

I wish I had graphic design skills as I would manipulate this image to say "What happens in Anacostia never happened...." Image from Columbus Club.

But then I'm not a lawyer. And I recommend that this group hook up with Hooters... (see "Las Vegas's Hooters Hotel, From Sexpots to Jackpots," also from the Post). Maybe that would be appealing to the Anacostia Economic Development Corporation, the 501(c)(3) nonprofit that controls the site eyed by the slots promoters.

It looks like the Washington DC Election 2006 will get even uglier...

LAS VEGAS - JANUARY 30: The world's first Hooters Casino Hotel is seen January 30, 2006 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The property, on the site of what used to be the Hotel San Remo, will open to the public on February 3. The 696-room Hooters will feature several bars and restaurants, including Dan Marino's Fine Food & Spirits, and 250 Hooters Girls working as cocktail servers, bartenders and dealers in the 30,000 square-foot casino and the Hooters Restaurant. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images).

And before people cry "racism," I want to say that I've only been in one Hooters, once, the one located on 7th Street NW in downtown DC--for market research purposes--and there was a very attractive African-American waitress that we had, and I could have easily fallen in love with her... who's to say that there can't be "equal opportunity objectification of women" which of course, is a big part of the gaming industry anyway.

Still and all, a proposal for slots-gaming in Anacostia is another form of locating noxious uses harmful to the environment, such as nasty chemical manufacturing plants, in predominately minority areas.

I imagine that the campaign to get this through will be as ugly as the anti-bottle bill campaign in 1988, where the anti forces organized black churches against the initiative, making it out to be a whitey thing. By proposing such a facility in a virtually 100% African-American neighborhood, the pro-slots forces will develop a marketing and public communications campaign that co-opts local neighborhood organizations, etc., just like how Forest City Ratner is co-opting community groups in Brooklyn, or how the pro-soccer stadium people are already operating in Anacostia (see "It's All About the Pitch for United" from the Post).

Just watching how this stuff works makes me feel dirty.

Equal opportunity objectification. Image from Radio Station 107.7/The Bone.

And there are no proposed links by the slots folks with Hooters, I'm just suggesting one way that "layered" mixed primary use development could be done... Frankly, doing it like this (after all once on the 200 block of Pennsylvania Avenue SE someone asked me if there was a NASCAR Cafe nearby) would generate more value than a gaming gallery like one of those smoky gross Keno parlors...

Index Keywords: gaming