A few years ago the council took the idiotic step of allowing two separate casinos in the same building with a door separating them. State law says you can only have a maximum of 10 machines per casino space/address. So they pull this little trick of separating the casinos by suite number and they can max out machines.

I knew if they approved this with all their fancy conditional uses like separate bathrooms, entrances, chain link fences, separate coolers, etc, that the sh!t would run down hill. I think there have been several applications put in for other locations.

Tonight, councilor Starr had had enough and 5 out of the 7 councilors present decided to defer the use until they can hear from the applicant who was not present tonight. (Jensen and Soehl voted it down)

As you can see below, the applicant wants to put 4 casinos next to each other in the same strip mall with different suite addresses so they can max out at 40 machines.

I have long known the council to be nuttless when it comes to challenging the state when it comes to telephone booth casinos, but isn’t it time they put a middle finger up and finally say we have had enough of these sh!tholes. Let the state sue us! I welcome the lawsuit! Maybe we can finally allow the city council to legally tell VL casino applicants to go away and stop any new casinos from opening in this city ever again.

The council can deny the applicant based on suitable location, we will see how this dog and pony show goes.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDm_ZHyYTrg[/youtube]

The new casino will have tons of new entertainment, that I knew would compete with SF, especially the Pavilion;

“Frank Caliendo on June 17th and June 18th, and in July we have Charlie Daniels Band. In August, Bret Michaels, so it’ll be kind of a fun place,” Haselhoff said as she listed off the shows the event center will host in the first few months.

It amazes me how Iwegians have figured out how to pull this stuff together in less then a year, while the Pavilion has been fumbling around for over 10 years, and they still cannot decide whether R & R is appropriate. Take a chill pill already.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01-2pNCZiNk[/youtube]

Great letter to the editor about the Iowa Casino;

In his My Voice column in the Sept. 21 Argus Leader about the casino being built in Larchwood, Iowa, James Abourezk claimed:

• Seventy-two percent of visitors to the casino will come from South Dakota. What percent of Iowans come to Sioux Falls to shop and for how many years?

• South Dakotans will spend more than $55 million each year. With the current unemployment rate and no new jobs in Sioux Falls or South Dakota, how can millions of dollars be spent in Iowa?

• South Dakota will lose $18 million in video lottery revenue a year. Not every video lottery player in South Dakota will go to Larchwood instead. The estimate is unfounded.

• The casino will hire 679 employees from South Dakota, driving up wages for South Dakota businesses. If the mayor of Sioux Falls and the governor of South Dakota got on the stick and secured more employers in South Dakota, there wouldn’t be a problem. The creation of more than 600 jobs in Iowa only will help our residents get off unemployment and be productive citizens again.

• Iowa has a Buy Iowa First Policy. Why shouldn’t Iowa contractors have preference? The casino is in their state.

• Under the federal Indian gaming law, Native American tribes can open casinos off their reservations. Tribal casinos do not pay South Dakota sales tax. Does this exemption apply when the casino is off the reservation? Why should a Sioux Falls casino have to be tribally owned?

• The puritan ethics of Sioux Falls restricts the number of video lottery establishments in the city. What would move the City Council to approve a full-fledged casino.

• We should not get a bee in our bonnet over this casino. Its developers had to get permits and voter approval, and they have private investors in this venture.

• Don’t make an enemy of our neighboring state. See how the total picture unfolds. Do not create a war with Iowa.

As I have said a million times; there are no REAL progressives living in our city, and these proposals prove it;

They’d like to see the city ease the 2,000 feet restriction rule. It prohibits a bar or restaurant that offers video lottery from being built within 2,000 feet of a church, school, park or another video lottery establishment.

First off, if anything, we need to restrict video lottery even more. Having three casinos within one block of my home is ridiculous. Secondly the best way to ‘compete’ with the casino in Lyon County is to give in. Allowing VL casino owners and the state to make more money while Sioux Falls is sitting on a possible sales tax goldmine is a regressive approach. Real progressives see opportunities, not detriments. City leaders (business and city hall) need to get off their asses and extend a hand to Lyon County, and not next week or next month – TODAY! We can piss and moan and fight this all we want, but at the end of the day we can’t stop what Iowa or what Lyon County wants to do. As councilor Rex Rolfing said about the casino, “When you are handed lemons, you make lemonade.” And I see a whole lot of it flowing from Lyon County.