Mayor breaks a tie to end casino plan CITING a divided council and a divided community, mayor Jack Talstra voted down a casino here that he said could leave the city itself addicted to gambling _ revenues. The mayor — who broke a tie vote: Mach. 25 to de- feat the proposal 4-3 — said he opted to exercise cau- tion, sensing local people and not just council are split on the issue. While the estimated $750,000 a year the casino might pour into city coffers may seem altractive, Tal- stta warned it might irre- vocably hook Terrace on casino cash. “Tt’s not just the indi- vidual: that becomes ad- dicted,” Talstra said, “It’s the community itself that becomes addicted and de- pendent on this money coming in.” Once established, he said, council would find it difficult to reject future demands of the casino operator, such as approval to install highly addictive Video Lottery Terminals (VLTs). “The argument would be if we can’t get VLTs, we’ll close down the casi- no,” Talstra said. “We would be held to ransom. We would be hooked,” The mayor also said the casino’s social costs would be high, while its econo- mic benefits are dubious. The casino would have taken in $5 to $10 million per year, Talstra said, much of that from local people, diverting money out of other local busines- SES. As a result, he said, if 80 or 100 casino jobs were created, they would likely come at the expense of jobs in other businesses around the community. “There’s no net gain of jobs in our community,” he said. “I think the jobs shift within the community as*the wealth shifts.” “Councillors David Hull, Ron Vanderlee and Mary- lin Davies voted in faveur of a casino, citing the jobs it would create and the Jack Talstra flow of up to $750,000 a year in casino profits to the city. — Councillors Val George, Lynne Christiansen and Rich McDaniel were op- posed, stressing the social costs. The vole ends weeks of debate on the issue since Best Wesiern Terrace Inn owner John Georgilas first proposed a destination ca- sino. He later shelved it when Victoria said no more would be approved, then proposed a commun- ity casino, which results in less money flowing to the city. Hull said while four per cent of the population are likely to become problem gamblers, the other 96 per cent of the city need the casino to provide jobs and economic diversification. He said the $750,000 in annual revenue is equiva- lent to what Skeena Cellu- lose pays the city in prop- erty taxes in a year, and could be harnessed to pro- vide seven extra RCMP officers for drug enforce- ment, or could over four years pay for a second sheet of ice. Davies said other forms of gambling, including the Internet, are readily avail- able. Vanderlee said it was an opportunity to reduce taxes for residents and bu- sinesses, Councillor George said the city won’t get nearly David Hull as much money from a ca- sino here as a provincial government would and much of that would be from the pockets of Ter- tace residents. “T don't think Terrace — should be subsidizing Vic- loria,” he said. “It should be the other way around.” He also pointed to a 1,000 signature petition against the casino as evi- dence of the commnnity’s wishes. “This is a zero sum game,” said George. “It would take millions of dal- lars out of our commun- ity.” He said many more people would be adversely affected than just the four per cent stats show can become addicted ta gam- bling. Christiansen said it would be wrong for the city to profit from gam- bling. “T think the costs far outweigh the benefits,” she said. The bylaw, which would have allowed a ca- sino in downtown zones, was defeated a third read- ing. 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