THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 27, 1995 TAG: 9510260177
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Guest Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
Colonial Downs, the outfit from Ohio that got the nod from the Virginia Racing Commission to build and operate a racetrack in New Kent County, is having its problems. The track itself is controversial enough, and becoming more so. The financing of Colonial Downs' deal depends on a partnership not yet finalized with a Maryland track and on opening off-track betting, or OTB, parlors around the state. Those parlors present problems of their own, one of which the Richmond Times-Dispatch addressed in this editorial Oct. 15:
As in real estate, so in civic welfare: Location is everything.
It is widely accepted that enterprises can be perfectly legal - even essential to a community - yet be inappropriate for certain locations. So strip joints rarely are found next to elementary schools; mental hospitals aren't built downtown; liquor stores don't invade quiet cul-de-sacs.
An off-track betting parlor would be just as out of place in the Comfort Inn (formerly the Holiday Inn) at 3200 West Broad Street, and the Virginia Racing Commission should refuse Colonial Downs' request for a license to operate there.
Here's why. The upper Fan/Near West End area already is besieged by thieves. Because the neighborhood is relatively rich and transversed by alleys and narrow breezeways, robbers know they are likely to heist handsome sums - and unlikely to get caught. The last thing that neighborhood needs is for Colonial Downs to transform the first floor of the Comfort Inn into a betting parlor generating $30 million a year in cash transactions. The hotel was robbed as recently as Monday night. Who doesn't believe such incidents would be even more frequent with so much cash on the premises? The same characteristics that make the Comfort Inn attractive to Colonial Downs - the hotel's large size and its easy access to highways - also would make it a thieves' paradise.
And if an OTB parlor creates merely the perception of inviting crime into that neighborhood, then the city will be at risk. Richmond must preserve the near West End if it is to preserve its tax base. Prestigious enclaves along the river are largely immune to the city's crime problem; residents there are safely ensconced. Predators more often prowl The Fan and near West End - driving away productive residents the city can't afford to lose.
Richmond already is perilously close to dropping below 200,000 in population. If that happens, the city would fall into a lower demographic category and be eligible for fewer federal funds. Although Colonial Downs says its betting parlor could generate $300,000 annually in tax revenues for the city, that is a pittance compared to what would be lost in matching funds if enough residents became fearful and left.
And there's this: If the OTB parlor goes into the Comfort Inn, its neighbors on Broad Street would be the Methodist Children's Home and the Guardian Place retirement community. Class, who can define ``family values''? Youngsters and senior citizens are the most vulnerable to declining neighborhoods because they are least able to move away. Their interests deserve consideration.
Richmond has no shortage of areas desperate for rejuvenation and jobs. Dozens of other sites in the city offer the same space and ease of access as 3200 West Broad without the apparent problems. If the rule of thumb in gambling is never to bet more than one can afford to lose, then risking the fragile health of the near West End obviously is imprudent. . . . by CNB