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I'm feeling a bit of deja vu on the current Casino conversation.
I openly admit I'm older than most on CU, in fact the last prisoners at the Old Ohio Penitentiary were moved out and it closed the year I graduated High School. Some newer/younger Columbus residents don't realize how recent this major Arena District redevelopment is. The whole area development has been a steady, well-thought out, collaborative process which has contributed to it's success. We cannot take this for granted.
Now, I am typically not one to dwell on the City's failures, but it might be good to revisit some of the lemons in our past. 'Those who do not learn from their mistakes are bound to repeat them'.
Of course everyone is familiar with the colossal failure of the City Center Shopping plaza (what was the formal name?), but it's fall is not an exception. Even without the benefit of internet archives, I can think of 3 big flops offhand.
1987-1988(ish) Mayor Buck Rinehart's Columbus 500 Indy Race. At huge expense, downtown streets were turned into a racetrack for a car race. It did not 'catch on' because it cost way more than it generated. The noise and pollution were not well suited to the downtown infrastructure.
[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AmeriFlora_'92]AmeriFlora '92:[/url]
Despite an extensive multi-year publicity and marketing campaign, AmeriFlora did not attract enough visitors to meet the bills, especially as the costs escalated before the gates even opened. When AmeriFlora was not as successful as hoped, the Columbus Dispatch wrote a $2.6 million check to convert the 88-acre (360,000 m2) property into a public park, as had been promised
1989 Son of Heaven Chinese art show:
The monetary failure of the exhibit caused the city and state governments to disburse $1.6 million (in taxpayer money) to help cover the loss.
$PENN should visit the history books before they sink more funds into this project. Yes, it's possible the Hollywood Columbus could be successful like the Arena District...but with the start it's had with this community, It's more likely to be an Ameriflora (City Center, Son of Heaven, Columbus 500, ___fill in loser idea here___).
And if Hollywood fails, I can GUARANTEE the Casino owners that the Columbus Dispatch, the city of Columbus and state of Ohio will not be there this time to bail out the failed venture.
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