Issue date: 10/9/09 - Despite renovations over the last 10 years within college campuses and shopping districts, Philadelphia today is very much the same city of my childhood. Poverty is still prevalent but tucked away-crouching on bridges and dark corners of parking garages. Violence and dealing remain a reality, but only for those who inhabit its arteries, from 52nd and Market to Bridge and Hawthorne. Philadelphia's legislature, like most, tends to consider a fresh coat of paint as a panacea for its city's problems. Today, with the budget crisis and many local establishments on the chopping block, our municipality has converged to one solution: a casino.....
