City Officials in Richmond Suggest Casino May Fund Early Childhood Initiatives
Richmond city officials examined the revamped casino resort from a development team headed by the nationally prominent racing and gambling enterprise Churchill Downs, Inc. and the black-centered media group Urban One this week.
Full of hope that this November's local vote on the casino suggestion will lead to a different outcome, Richmond city authorities have started contemplating where they would direct the city's revenue share that would emerge from the economic powerhouse.
Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney (D), a committed advocate of the Virginia capital transitioning into a casino hub, held a press conference at the T.B. Smith Community Center to disclose the city's spending plans in case a casino settles in.
Stoney, accompanied by Richmond City Commissioners Mike Jones and Reva Trammell, expressed their backing for creating a new account to compile the city's casino revenue share and spend the money on early childhood programmes and initiatives.
Stoney hinted at creating the Richmond Childcare and Education Trust Fund. This city-controlled account would fund the creation of two new daycare centers, each catering to around 100 children daily.
Stoney shared, "I am thrilled to declare that we intend to create the first-ever Childcare and Education Trust Fund, using gaming tax revenues from the destination resort and casino if approved this November. This is an innovative approach that will tackle both affordability and capacity."
Richmond is projected to receive approximately $30 million yearly in local gaming taxes if the Churchill-Urban One casino becomes a reality.
Casino undergoes a brand makeover
Richmond was one of five cities that met the qualifications in a 2020 legislation for thinking about a commercial casino. The bill characterized a few cities as economically strained locations in need of significant economic development, including Norfolk, Portsmouth, Bristol, and Danville.
The 2020 law required these cities to only proceed with the casino project after obtaining local support from voters. All except Richmond have since held successful gaming referendums ratifying the casino developments.
In 2021, Richmond voters marginally rejected the city's former casino project labeled One Casino + Resort. The result was a 51%-49% opposition to the Urban One initiative, at the time in partnership with Peninsula Pacific Entertainment (P2E), a Los Angeles-based gaming operator.
Churchill took control of most of P2E's assets last year, incorporating potential development rights in Richmond. Churchill and Urban One have since revamped and redesigned the doomed One Casino into the Richmond Grand Resort and Casino.
The Richmond Grand is a $562 million venture near the Philip Morris tobacco factories along I-95 southeast of downtown.
Money spendathon
Stoney revealed that the Childcare and Education Trust Fund would reveal somewhere around $18.5 million of the casino's up-front $26.5 million payment that Churchill and Urban One have committed to hand over to Richmond after a positive referendum result.
Each childcare center is estimated to cost $7 million. The remaining $4.5 million would launch the Childcare and Education Trust Fund to instantaneously increase access to affordable early childhood care and education.
Richmond's park and recreational department would receive the remaining $8 million of the up-front payment for enhancements to the city's over 170 parks, open spaces, athletic fields, playgrounds, and tot lots.
Richmond would then be anticipated to gather about $30 million annually from the casino operation.
"This is a consistent and substantial revenue stream that can be steady for many years," Stoney explained. "On the contrary, the substitute is us attempting to uncover ways through boosting taxes, employing the existing funds."
Foes argue that Stoney and the city council are attempting to manipulate children in their drive for the casino. Others are dissatisfied about the "Groundhog Day"-style revisiting of the casino proposal.
"The previous referendum was regarding a casino. This referendum is, in fact, about whether our democracy is for sale or not," said Allan-Charles Chapman, the chief executive of the Richmond-based group Initiatives for Change. "We can't afford to roll the dice when it comes to our democracy because developers and politicians who didn't get their way want to double or nothing."
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