From The Morning Call

Bethlehem law would stop slots

2 councilmen pushing amendment to ban gaming on Works site.

By Matt Assad
Of The Morning Call

July 2, 2005

The fight against gambling in Bethlehem will gain muscle next week when two city councilmen propose a law to ban slot machines on the Bethlehem Works site.

Just one week after the state Supreme Court gave zoning control over slots parlors back to local officials, Bethlehem Councilmen Gordon Mowrer and Joseph Leeson Jr. are offering an amendment that would effectively block the $300 million slots project proposed for the former Bethlehem Steel ore yard on the South Side.

If approved, the amendment could throw a giant hurdle in front of a massive redevelopment that Mayor John Callahan says is vital to the city's future.

But Mowrer, a Moravian minister who opposes all forms of gambling, said he was thinking about the future when he decided to propose the ban.

''Gambling may be a quick fix for the next five years, but it's not a long-term answer to anything,'' Mowrer said. ''We would be marrying our city to the gambling industry, and I'm just not comfortable with that.''

The amendment, which will go before City Council on Tuesday, did not surprise Callahan, but it did disappoint him.

''There will be no less than six slot machine facilities within a 90-minute drive of Bethlehem,'' Callahan said Friday. ''We might as well place them where they will do the most good. I would hope that others on council who support that will rise up and defeat this amendment.''

That remains in question. Though Leeson and Mowrer's votes are clear, other council members say they will reserve their judgment until it's time to vote.

Council President Michael Schweder said that at Tuesday's meeting, he will refer the amendment to committee for debate. And Councilwoman Magdalena Szabo said she hopes to schedule public hearings before voting on the measure.

''We need to do something to bring revenues into this city, but there are a lot of people with sincere concerns about gambling,'' Szabo said. ''We need to talk about this a lot more, and I need to hear from a lot more people before I can make a decision.''

State lawmakers passed a law last year that allows placing as many as 61,000 slot machines at 14 locations statewide to generate about $1 billion in state revenue that could be used for property tax relief. Though none of the licenses will be awarded until next year, experts have said the Lehigh Valley, particularly Bethlehem, has an inside track on getting one.

The opinions of council members didn't matter until last week, when the Supreme Court upheld the state's gambling law but struck down a clause that took away local zoning control over the slots parlors and gave it to the newly formed Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.

The justices left the door open for the Legislature to give control back to the Gaming Control Board. But for now, zoning control rests in the hands of local officials, and Bethlehem's council is wasting no time in seizing its opportunity.

In 1996, to spur development on the proposed Bethlehem Works museum, shopping and entertainment district, council granted wide-open zoning approvals for the Bethlehem Steel site.

To entice developers, the groundbreaking law allowed everything from light industrial to medical to shopping to museum uses. It prohibited only a few uses, such as landfills, junkyards and prisons.

Mowrer and Leeson want to add ''slot machines and/or gambling casinos, and/or gambling or any kind or nature'' to the prohibited list.

The Bethlehem Area Council of Churches and the Moravian Church argue that gambling is not right for a city with such a rich history, but Callahan says gaming might be the best chance of preserving that history.

Developer BethWorks Now and its partner, Las Vegas Sands Corp., say a slots license in Bethlehem could help spur as much as $879 million in development.

That work would include a slots parlor, a hotel, a lifestyle mall complex and as many as 1,200 apartments wrapped around a collection of restored former Bethlehem Steel buildings that would serve almost as a museum of the Industrial Revolution.

If gambling is blocked, Las Vegas Sands will leave and take its $300 million slots parlor plan with it.

BethWorks Now principal Barry Gosin on Thursday said he's so passionate about the Steel site that he would stay. But BethWorks Now officials have acknowledged that without gambling, the development could be much smaller, will take much longer and probably won't preserve as many Bethlehem Steel structures.

''There's a lot riding on this,'' Callahan said. ''I would hope council members think very carefully before they turn away a half-billion dollars worth of development.''

Mowrer said he's willing to wait longer for development, if that's what it takes.

''I have too many doubts about this,'' he said. ''My mother always told me: When in doubt, don't do it.''

matthew.assad@mcall.com

610-861-3617