Gaming foes active in ‘Christmas City’

Michael Rubinkam

Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2005 | 9:26 a.m.

BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- Since Bethlehem Steel shuttered its massive plant here a decade ago, the city has successfully remade itself into a tourist destination. Visitors come for its quaint downtown shops, its music festivals, and its Moravian architecture and traditions -- especially during Christmastime.

Bethlehem's carefully crafted image as the "Christmas City" is one reason why many here fiercely oppose a plan to build a slot-machine parlor on the Bethlehem Steel site. Others cite the likelihood of increased traffic, crime, drugs and prostitution, as well as gambling's addictive qualities and the Moravian Church's opposition to games of chance.

Now, in what is believed to be a first for Pennsylvania, two city councilmen are pushing an ordinance that would essentially ban slots from Bethlehem.

"Bethlehem is a success story," said Councilman Joseph Leeson Jr., who co-sponsored the bill. "In the last 10 years, we have attracted a billion dollars in private development. And I'm concerned that by bringing slot-machine gambling here, it's going to impair and obscure and maybe even eclipse our reputation as a family-friendly community."

Similar opposition has sprung up in Gettysburg, where a casino proposal has drawn the ire of historians and preservationists who say it is inappropriate to plunk slots near one of the nation's bloodiest Civil War battlefields.

As part of Gov. Ed Rendell's plan to use gambling revenue to reduce property taxes, the state Legislature in 2004 authorized slots casino licenses at seven racetracks, two resorts and five standalone parlors in Pennsylvania. Two of the standalone parlors were given to Philadelphia and one to Pittsburgh. The Lehigh Valley is vying for one of the other two standalone licenses.

In June, the state Supreme Court struck down a portion of the slots law and gave municipalities the right to oversee zoning for slot-machine parlors. That paved the way for the bill by Leeson and Bethlehem Councilman Gordon Mowrer, a former mayor, chamber of commerce president and Moravian minister.

The bill's prospects, however, are unclear. Even if Council passes the legislation -- and that is far from a certainty -- Mayor John Callahan, a strong casino supporter, has veto power. A vote is expected Sept. 20.

Callahan and others say the proposal by Las Vegas Sands and developers BethWorks Now is the best chance for saving the towering blast furnaces and other historic structures on the Bethlehem Steel site, which has been called the largest privately owned brownfield in the nation. Plans call for nearly $900 million worth of redevelopment there, including restaurants, shops, apartments and a National Museum of Industrial History, all anchored by a $300 million slots parlor.

Although there are at least three other proposals for a casino in the Lehigh Valley, none generated as much debate as the one in Bethlehem.

More than 700 people jammed an auditorium at Lehigh University last month to air their views, both pro and con, before the city's planning commission.

"Gaming is coming," said Michael Perrucci, who owns a small stake in Bethworks Now. "If it's coming, why not put it on a national historical site and create the most economic development and urban renewal you can, rather than just put a big box on an interchange?"

But lifelong resident Bob Fuller, 81, predicted the "big money gambling people" would bankroll city politicians to do their bidding.

"Bethlehem was built without casinos and all the things we have here were developed without gambling money," said Fuller, who was born and raised in Bethlehem and lives in the city's historic district. "They will absolutely ruin our city and they will run it to their advantage because they have all the money."

Some opponents also cite Bethlehem's Moravian heritage. Although Moravians today only constitute a small fraction of the city's 72,000 residents, their traditions are celebrated at Christmas and throughout the year. Moravians, a Protestant denomination that originated five centuries ago in what is now the Czech Republic, settled the area in 1741 and Bethlehem got its name on Christmas Eve that year.

Michael Stershic, president of the Lehigh Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau, said he doesn't believe a casino would overwhelm Bethlehem's other attractions -- or its Christmas City image -- because "we're talking about two different marketplaces."

"Some of the folks who are into gaming may be into history, but I would say the overwhelming majority of people who are coming for history are not coming for gaming and vice versa," he said.