Foes plan to attend Arlington Hts. meeting
Arlington Heights foes of gambling expansion have not given up and hope Gov. Pat Quinn will veto legislation allowing electronic gambling at Arlington Park.
Local ministers plan to ask congregants at Sunday services to contact the governor and ask for a veto of the bill, which also approves fives new casinos — in Chicago, Lake County, the South suburbs and downstate. Organizers also say they plan to attend a village board meeting on Monday, June 6.
“I would hope that Governor Quinn with the education that he’s had would see through this unreliable, unpredictable source of income with a lot of costs that no one’s taken time to examine,” said Judith Royal, who has spoken consistently against expanding gambling at the track.
Village President Arlene Mulder said she could not predict whether any trustees will respond to the citizens. She said each visitor will get three minutes to speak, but will be asked not to be redundant. The issue is not on the agenda.
Mulder and a majority of the trustees have informally supported slots at Arlington Park, out of fear the track will otherwise go out of business.
Mulder said village staff will investigate whether any zoning change would be needed at the racetrack for electronic slots, which will probably involve constructing another building.
Two groups working against gambling expansion ran a full-page ad in the May 22 Daily Herald with a survey that readers could answer in hard copy or online. The online responses were automatically emailed to Mulder and the village trustees.
Another option would be to bring responses to Monday’s board meeting, the ad said.
Mulder said she has heard complaints that the questions were slanted to produce responses against slot machines, but the groups supporting them say the questions will educate voters about what will happen at the track.
The survey included six yes-or-no questions such as “Would you support a multimillion-dollar enterprise in Arlington Heights knowing that no studies have been conducted regarding the impact it would have on traffic, the environment and taxpayer services like police and fire?” and “Would you welcome thousands of more cars each year clogging Arlington Heights’ roadways and polluting the air?”
The groups sponsoring the survey are a local one called Residents in Favor of Home Rule and the national Stop Predatory Gambling.
Mulder said she was out of the office at meetings much of the week and is behind on counting and categorizing surveys sent to her, but at the beginning the responses seemed equally divided. She also said it is not clear whether people who emailed their responses are from Arlington Heights.
Nancy Duel, a leader of Residents in Favor of Home Rule, said there was no reason for people to find the survey online unless they saw the ad in the paper.
Neither she nor other organizers could say how many and what types of responses have been received because Alan Boryk of Stop Predatory Gambling prepared it and is visiting abroad.
Residents of Arlington Heights need to know whether village officials have studied the issues in the questions, said Rev. Tom Grey, senior adviser to to Stop Predatory Gambling, who has Arlington Heights ties.
Opponents of gambling expansion maintain that video gambling will lead to more crime and emergency room visits and will take business from downtown Arlington Heights.
“Has anyone looked at that? I’ve got studies,” said Grey.
Mulder said Arlington Park has not been a problem for the village, and if staff members have not yet called other towns to see what could arise, they will. However, she said the village will not do an expensive study in this economic climate at least before the bill is law.
“Our expectation is that it will be run quite well. It’s a new venture and hard to predict how it is going to work,” she said.
Grey said he is encouraged with media coverage and commentary, feeling that might influence the governor to veto the bill.
“It’s our people versus their money and muscle,” said Grey. “Never underestimate the power of people.”