Richmond Casino Opposition Injects Racial Tensions Into Debate
Posted on: March 30, 2021, 11:04h.
Last updated on: July 5, 2021, 08:36h.
Residents in Richmond, Va., will decide next November whether to authorize a casino resort in the capital city. Some say a group opposed to allowing the gaming property to be located in a more affluent area have injected racial undertones into the discussion.
The Cordish Companies is one of the three finalists selected by the City of Richmond for further consideration for the lone potential gaming license. The casino operator has proposed building a $600 million resort on Arthur Ashe Boulevard in the historic Scott’s Addition neighborhood.
Opposition has emerged urging area residents to reject the Cordish development, which would be known as Live! Casino & Hotel Richmond. Flyers have been posted around town warning of the possible negative repercussions of allowing a casino in the neighborhood.
NO! We say no to a casino on Arthur Ashe Boulevard! More traffic. Higher crime. Lower quality of life for us. Tell them to build it over there,” read the flyer, which was also shared on social media.
There was no immediate word on who is behind the campaign, nor where “over there” means. But its messaging quickly generated backlash from some in the community who were offended by what they believed was a racial undertone.
Richmond’s History
Richmond served as the capital of the Confederacy during the Civil War. Some continue to celebrate that part of the city’s past, while others want to strip the town of the monuments and relics commemorating those days.
In the wake of the protests that followed the death of George Floyd last year, numerous monuments on Monument Avenue were removed, including the J.E.B. Stuart Monument, Jefferson Davis Memorial, Stonewall Jackson Monument, and Matthew Fontaine Maury Monument. Only the Robert E. Lee Monument remains.
Richmond was one of five cities that qualified under 2020 legislation to allow city residents to decide if they want to bring in a casino in order to spark economic development. While there are many poor areas of Richmond, there are also wealthy neighborhoods.
The flyer opposing the casino in Scott’s Addition suggests that the casino be built in a poor area, not theirs.
We’re building a narrative of Richmond as a progressive city, moving past the painful history of the Confederacy, taking down monuments and building equity in our policies. Everyone is on this wave of thinking, and then here we go with this,” Amy Wentz, a former City Council member, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
“People don’t value our neighborhoods equally,” she said.
Neighborhood Data
According to the most recently available statistics from Richmond, 68 percent of Richmond’s 2nd District, where Cordish wants to build, are white residents. Just 19 percent are Black.
The two other remaining casino bids are a $650 million proposal from Bally’s Corporation and a $517 million plan from Urban One and Colonial Downs.
Sixty-five percent of Richmond’s 4th District, which Bally’s is targeting for its casino, are white people. Less than 29 percent are Blacks. However, Urban One is pursuing Richmond’s 8th District, which is nearly 70 percent Black.
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Last Comments ( 2 )
The last thing Richmond needs is a casino with all of it's baggage, on the Bally's site. It is within walking distance of a number of diverse neighborhoods and within walking distance of two public schools. No one wants drunk driver's, sex workers and desperate people who have lost all of their money anywhere near ANY residential area. Nor near quiet shopping areas that residents depend upon for groceries They say the investors will pay RVA millions for the right to build, but how many more times that amount are they planning on taking out? Not to mention the nightmare that peoples' evening commutes will become in the already congested 195/150/Forest Hill Avenue/ Jahnke Road area. No good comes from casinos, businesses that get people to give them their money for the opportunity for those same people to just give them their money. If RVA must entertain the idea, then find some industrial wasteland with no residential or shopping areas within a 5-10 mile radius.
Logically, I think it makes the most sense to locate the casino off Arthur Ashe Boulevard; since the areas around Scott’s Addition are already geared toward entertainment and have a bus station right next store; not to mention a plentiful amount of bars, breweries, high rise housing and sports arenas. If the City Council doesn’t have the sense to locate the casino there, then the next best site would be the land at the junction of the Powhite and Chippenham Parkways. The Urban One location off Jefferson Davis isn’t a good location for a number of reasons; not the least of which involves people feeling insecure about going there.