St. Louis County Abandoned Its Plan for Columbia Bottom
Negative Impacts on the Community and the Environment of the Casino Project
- The Casino Costs Outweigh the “Benefits”
- Business Suffers
- Profits Leave
- Gambling Addictions Increase
- Economic Problems Increase
- Jobs Are Lost
- Thefts Increase
- Missouri Loses
- The Birds Come and Go; the Profits Stay Here
- Nature Improves Human Health
- Nature Improves Economics
- Natural Floodplains Save Lives, Property, and Money
Columbia Bottom, located at the confluence of the Missouri and the Mississippi Rivers, is named for a small town known as Columbia that was in the area in the 1800’s but by 1870 had disappeared. It now includes the Columbia Bottom Conservation Area, a 4,318- acre conservation area with over 6.5 miles of river frontage, about 800 acres of bottomland forest, and a 110-acre island. To reach the proposed casino site go north approximately 1.3 miles on Riverview Drive from the I-270 Riverview Drive exit. (The site is NOT at I-270 & Riverview in the City of St. Louis but farther north in the County).
St. Louis County Abandoned Its Plan for Natural Assets
St. Louis County’s October 2009 zoning change goes against THEIR OWN comprehensive plan for how the Columbia Bottom area should be developed. Their original plan which calls for low density usage was in accordance with the recommendations of the Spanish Lake Community Area Plan, as approved by the St. Louis County Council in 1999 at which time the County’s Comprehensive General Plan also was amended to include the area study.
Negative impacts on the community and the environment of the casino project include:
- Undermining $25 million of taxpayer, corporate and private investment of the Missouri Conservation Department and Army Corps of Engineers development of the adjacent Columbia Bottom Conservation Area just recently completed.
- Effectively spoiling the natural beauty and bringing to a halt efforts of dozens of government and private organizations working to bring sustainable eco-tourism and the national spotlight to one of the most significant natural treasures in the nation – the confluence of the two greatest rivers in North America, the Missouri and the Mississippi.
- With the announcement of the design competition of the Arch grounds there will be renewed interest in St. Louis and the Mississippi river – which would be blighted by the noise, light and water pollution coming from this development.
- Eliminating farmland and wetlands in the floodway that absorb floodwaters and provide habitat for millions of migratory waterfowl, eagles, and other wildlife.
- Costing all taxpayers millions because the area currently has no sewer service, no stormwater service, no public transportation, insufficient roads and public services for development.
- Costing all taxpayers more as they pay for increased MSD stormwater charges, police, emergency, and fire service, road maintenance and social services.
- Conflicting with the adjacent land uses including the Great River Road bicycle route.
- Increasing water pollution directly upstream from St. Louis’ primary drinking water intake – along its route more than 18 million people rely on the Mississippi River for their drinking water. Protecting water quality includes both reducing source pollution and storm water runoff but an equally critical component is the preservation and restoration of wetlands.
The Casino Costs Outweigh the “Benefits”:
- No new net quality jobs. Promised new jobs would simply be a transfer of jobs from existing casinos or would be taken by employees of failed casinos; minimum wage jobs do little to support families and communities.
- No significant new net revenue because of the increased costs of public services supporting the development. Any increased revenue would be offset by moving current sources of revenue as the casino cannibalizes other operations.
- No income from tourism. Casinos such as this do not bring in tourists to the area and become a destination gambling location the likes of Las Vegas. Rather, this creates a situation of convenience where local people will be mainly coming from the surrounding area. Professor John Kindt of the University of Illinois reported in the Michigan State DCL Law Review in 2003 that, “in a convenience gambling economy, discretionary spending is diverted from other forms of entertainment and consumer expenditures to casinos and other gambling establishments. Restaurants, hotels, and other competing local businesses lose revenues and fail.”
- Local businesses suffer when casinos come to an area – particularly small businesses. The National Gambling Impact Study Commission (NGISC) reported this cannibalizing effect in Atlantic City where 78% or 245 of the local business and restaurants near the boardwalk went out of business after the casinos opened.
- A quick drive through the once charming community of Alton bears witness to the boarded up businesses, and family restaurants driven out of business by the nearby casinos and now replaced primarily by bars and horse racing “sports” bars.
- As Dr. Earl Grinols, currently professor of Economics at Baylor University explains in his book Gambling in America: Cost and Benefits in 2004, “‘these (casino) companies do not take their profits and throw them back into the local economy.’” Statistics range from 35% to 87% of the profits are sent out of state in the form of vendor contracts, capital investment dividends and parent company profit sharing. This money does not get reinvested into the community, which is the foundation of economic development.
- Grinols’ studies also show that between 37 and 50 percent of casino revenues come from pathological or problem gamblers.
- Roughly one-fourth to one- third of gamblers in treatment in Gamblers Anonymous report the loss of their jobs due to gambling.
- The National Opinion Research Center found that the presence of a gambling facility within 50 miles roughly doubles the prevalence of problem and pathological gamblers.
- “Pathological gambling is one of the fastest growing mental health problems in the western world.” New England Journal of Medicine.
- Bankruptcies, lost productivity and thefts from gambling addiction were estimated at $5 billion in 1999. – The National Council on Problem Gambling
- In 1996, the bankruptcy rate was 35% higher than the average in counties with five or more gambling establishments. Shelby County, TN, where residents have easy access to 30 gaming halls and riverboat casinos in nearby Mississippi locations, has the highest personal bankruptcy rate in the nation — four times the national average. – SMR Research Corporation 1996
- In 2007 professor Frederic H. Murphy of Temple University, proved in his economic impact analysis of expanded gambling in Philadelphia, that because money from the casino was leaving the area and not staying in the local economy, there would be a net loss of over 4,000 jobs.
- The NGISC reported, “in a survey of nearly 400 Gamblers Anonymous members, 57% admitted stealing to finance their gambling. Collectively they stole $30 million through white-collar crimes, fraud, credit card and employee theft for an average of $135,000 per individual.
- Each pathological gambler on average costs the insurance industry $64,468 for fraudulent claims. The annual loss due to fraud by pathological gamblers is estimated to be $1.32 billion. The WAGER, Harvard Medical School, Division on Addictions April 9, 1996
- Because of gambling’s negative economic and social impacts Dr. Grinols concluded “casino gambling fails a cost- benefit test by a wide margin.”
- The NGISC reported that for every $1 collected in tax revenue from the casino, the state spends $3 to deal with the problems it creates. Dr. Earl Grinols of Baylor University and David Mustard of the University of Georgia in their study “Business Profitability vs. Social Profitability,” outlined gambling’s impact on local economies. Updating for 2006 numbers, $1.5 billion was gambled away in Missouri casinos. The state collected $314 million for taxes, however, with $814 million in social cost, there was a potential net loss of $500 million dollars.
- Tourism is the highest grossing economic activity in the United States, and nature tourism is a significant and growing interest of both international and national travelers. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports that 87.5 million U.S. residents fished, hunted, or watched wildlife in 2006.
- Of this population, 71 million people engaged in at least one type of wildlife-watching activity such as observing, feeding, or photographing birds, fish, and other wildlife.
- Over 20 million people traveled away from home in 2006 to observe wildlife–spending money on lodging, food, transportation, equipment, interpretive experiences, materials, and souvenirs.
- More than $122 billion was spent on wildlife recreation in 2006, contributing to millions of jobs in industry and business and millions of dollars to local, state, and federal tax revenues.
- Birding expenditures alone resulted in over $11 billion in tax revenues to federal, state, and local governments, and created 671,000 jobs and $28 billion in employment income.
The Birds Come and Go; the Profits Stay Here
- Of those who observe birds, 78% reported that they observed waterfowl, making water destinations the most popular among the birding community. The Mississippi River is one of the Earth’s most significant migratory flyways, with over 325 species of birds using the River as their travel route during spring and fall migration. Birds require habitat for resting and feeding during migration, and millions of birders are drawn to these River habitats to observe birds during fall and spring migration periods, as well as periods outside of migration, such as the winter eagle season in the St. Louis metropolitan area.
- Parks and other open spaces offer the potential for benefiting community health in multiple ways, including mental health, stress reduction, and physical activity. In their review of studies on public open space and resident activity levels, Kaczynski and Henderson (2007) found that most evidence reported positive associations between park availability, access, use, or proximity and respondents’ physical activity levels.
- The availability of parks, green space, and recreational opportunities in a community are also critical to attracting a highly qualified, professional workforce. Indeed, according to John Crompton, a parks expert, “firms in less attractive places have to struggle with ‘disamenity compensation’—premium pay to draw talent.” (Peirce, 2006) Excellent workers expect high quality community amenities, including parks, trails, access to regional natural resources, and outdoor family activities.
Natural Floodplains Save Lives, Property, and Money
A comprehensive environmental impact statement is a MINIMUM NECESSARY REQUIREMENT for good stewardship of this important confluence area and will show that the adverse impacts of the proposed development far outweigh any benefits of the development.