The community meeting held on Monday became quite intense as the debate surrounding the Richmond casino escalated. In all honesty, the discussion took an unexpected turn with some phallic undertones.
Indeed, the virtual meeting on Monday featured an abundance of digital phallic imagery.
Certainly, the antics were childish. Undoubtedly inappropriate. Occasionally offensive, to be frank.
However, they also offered a momentary diversion from an otherwise intense gathering and argument. This gathering marked the most recent opportunity for the community to express their views on a suggested Richmond casino and its possible placement.
An anonymous flyer sparks anger
There were three community engagement events scheduled for this week, and Monday’s event continued the focus on a potential Richmond casino location, similar to a meeting held last week.
Norfolk voters are set to make a decision on a casino referendum in November. Should it gain approval, the city of Norfolk will join four other cities in Virginia that have already given the green light to casino-resorts in 2020.
Out of the six formal proposals aiming to build and develop a potential casino in Richmond, city officials have recently eliminated three, leaving three contenders still in the competition.
- The Bally’s Corporation has invested a staggering $650 million in the development of the Bally Richmond Casino Resort.
- Live! Casino & Hotel Richmond, developed by The Cordish Co., is a remarkable $600 million project.
- Urban One and Colonial Downs Group are collaborating on a casino-resort project worth $517 million, which is currently unnamed.
Nevertheless, the meeting held on Monday addressed the matter of the “NIMBY” (not in my backyard) flyer. The origin and reasons behind its inclusion of the incorrect meeting day remain uncertain. However, several participants vehemently criticized the flyer for its racist implications.
The flyer pertains to the proposed casino by The Cordish Co., which is planned to be situated in the Scott’s Addition neighborhood.
During the meeting, community activist Amy Wentz addressed the poster and a text message that she claimed her friends had received.
Three casino proposals, three Richmond districts
Chris Suarez, a reporter for Richmond.com, provided coverage of the meeting on Monday and wrote about the flyer.
Several local leaders expressed their belief that the message seemed to suggest the casino should be situated in the vicinity of a marginalized community, where Urban One, a Black-owned media conglomerate, plans to build. This raised concerns similar to those previously voiced about the other two sites.
The proposed casino-resort by the Urban One and Colonial Downs Group will be situated on the former Altria Operations Center site on South Commerce Road. This location falls within the 8th District, which, as Suarez mentioned, has a predominantly non-White population. Based on the latest available data from 2012, the district comprises 17% White residents, while the majority are Black (69%) or Hispanic (15%).
Nevertheless, both Bally Richmond Casino Resort and Live! Casino & Hotel Richmond would be situated in districts with a predominantly White population. Specifically, Bally Richmond Casino Resort would be in the 4th District, where 65% of the residents are White, while Live! Casino & Hotel Richmond would be in the 2nd District, with a White population of 68%. It is worth noting that council members representing these districts have openly expressed their opposition to constructing the casinos within their respective areas.
During Election Day 2020, citizens of Bristol, Danville, Norfolk, and Portsmouth overwhelmingly voted in favor of casinos with a 2-1 majority. Nonetheless, casino advocates in Richmond are expected to encounter stronger resistance from organized opposition this November.
A meeting rife with penises and profanity
During Monday’s meeting, several weighty and intense subjects were discussed. Nevertheless, certain individuals were preoccupied with less significant matters, behaving like trolls.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and implementation of social distancing measures, the meeting was specifically designed for a virtual audience, which unfortunately created an opportunity for mischievous online trolls to cause trouble.
The story of the “Zoom bomb” was narrated through a string of tweets.
The City of Richmond has not yet uploaded a recorded version of the meeting on its website as of early Tuesday afternoon.
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