The development of a new downtown mini-casino has its prospective neighbors in an uproar. Called the Monte Carlo Casino, the club would feature up-scale dining, dancing and gambling. The club is to be located at 938 Broadway, in-between LeRoy Jewelers and the Tacoma Children’s Museum. The same company proposes to open a second mini-casino called the Habana Café and Lounge in the former Oldies Tavern, at 6108 6th Avenue.
According
to the developer, Emiel Kandi, the downtown location will cater to up-scale
patrons. “This will be more of a social club atmosphere, not primarily a
gambling club,” said Kandi.
The
first floor will be a non-smoking, family-style restaurant offering top-quality
steaks and continental fare; the gambling parlor will be on the second floor;
and on the third floor will be the lounge, with entertainment and dancing.
Kandi said the club will also have valet parking, using the old Topping Volvo
garage.
But
neighbors of the proposed downtown casino believe the area will suffer.
“Ninth
and Broadway is unique in that the area has a lot of kids around,” said Steph
Barber, President of LeRoy Jewelers. “It wasn’t always that way.
For
a long time this was considered a dangerous place. But now – now there’s lots
of family stuff in the neighborhood, like the First Night celebration, you have
the Pantages, the Rialto, and you have the Children’s Museum. This block is a
safe place for kids. I fear what can happen to that image.”
He
said his main concern was the possibility of incidents involving drugs, alcohol
or violence – which would tend to drive away his customers, or the customers of
the Children’s Museum. Also, he felt the customer base of a casino would not
generally be compatible with the neighborhood. “People that are drawn to
casinos are not drawn to the Children’s Museum.”
“The
city says there’s nothing we can do to stop it,” he said. “Some of the city
people even consider it to be a good economic development. If that’s the case,
well the most profitable business on the block up the street is the Mecca
Theater. Why not promote more Mecca’s? Using their reasoning, wouldn’t more
Mecca’s be good for downtown? I don’t believe so. Not all economic development
is good for every area.”
Children’s
Museum spokesperson, Sarah Blankinship, agrees with Barber. She fears the
museum would lose customers if there were any incidents involving alcohol or
violence at the casino. “Any incident would keep people home,” she said. “Emiel
Kandi’s mission and ours are just not the same.”
The
Children’s Museum staff are trying to assess the impact of the proposed casino.
“We really don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Blankinship. “We had
originally planned to purchase this building. Now we’ll just have to wait and
see.”
According
to Blankenship, Kandi had offered to become a donor to the museum, to help
mitigate their concerns. She said, “It’s very generous of him, but I’m not sure
we could accept gambling revenue.”
Kandi
believes their fears are unfounded. “We will have a zero-tolerance policy for
drunkenness and drunk driving,” said Kandi. He also said the clientele he is
aiming on are more the professional gamblers, as well as doctors, lawyers,
bankers and other affluent people. All of whom, he says, are unlikely to create
the sort of incidents envisioned by Barber or Blankinship.
Barber
and Blankinship remain unconvinced. “Our only way to fight this is to testify
at the Liquor Board hearings,” said Blankinship.
A
spokesperson at the Liquor Control Board stated that Kandi had withdrawn his
initial application for a liquor license on February 22, 1999. According to the
spokesperson, Trisha Courier, Kandi had failed to adequately document the
proposed costs of the renovation for the downtown building, and at the time the
initial application
was
filed, he didn’t even have the necessary building permits. She said the agency
told Kandi to provide firm cost-estimates for the project and copies of the
permits and then re-apply. As of May 3, 1999, no new application had been
received by the agency. Courier stated that when the new application is
received, the public will have an opportunity to comment.