Proponents and opponents of Louisiana’s St. Tammany casino project are gathering as much support as they can ahead of the vote on November 13th.
A couple of days ago, the mayors of Slidell and Mandeville revealed they were against the abovementioned casino project and they would vote with a “no” on the referendum that is set to take place on November 13th and ask local residents whether to allow Peninsula Pacific Entertainment (P2E) to establish a casino venue in St. Tammany Parish.
Although the casino project has been estimated at $325 million, the Slidell City Council has revealed a statement saying that it does not consider the project beneficial for the future of the local community. Slidell is the city situated in the closest proximity to the proposed casino site near the Interstate 10 twin spans.
Grog Cromer, the mayor of Slidell, had not shared his opinion on the proposed casino until the end of July. Last Friday, in a letter to the community’s citizens that was published on social media, he revealed that he had constantly got questions about his opinion of the project. Now, he has revealed that he would be voting with a “no” on the upcoming casino referendum. Mr. Cromer’s statement on the matter comes relatively shortly after Slidell City Council decided to allocate $25,000 for a study on the potential economic impact that the casino proposal would have on the region.
Clay Madden, the mayor of Mandeville, also used social media to share his opinion on the project, revealing that he is against the casino establishment. Mr. Madden said that he would vote with a “no” on this matter in November.
Peninsula Pacific Entertainment Awaits Local Voters’ Decision on Proposed Casino
The proposed casino venue also faced opposition from the boss of the Slidell Police Randy Fandal and Randy Smith, the Sheriff of the St. Tammany Parish. In July, they also announced they were against the project.
Brent Stevens, the CEO of Peninsula Pacific Entertainment addressed Slidell’s mayor in a letter, stating that the gambling operator wants to declare its commitment to the local community and eliminate any uncertainty on the casino project’s funding longevity. This, however, was not enough to change Mr. Cromer’s mind on the issue.
Another statement was issued by Jason Harbison, a spokesperson of the company, who said that the operator now awaits the citizens to have a vote, as they are the ones who would have the final word on the project and not the few local politicians. Harmison also shared that Cromer has made a U-turn on the issue because, at first, he gladly welcomed the company, not to mention that the advancement of the project would not be able without the support of Slidell’s mayor.
Mr. Cromer agreed to provide local voters with the chance to say what they think on the matter after they chose to suspend casino and video poker services in another vote that took part more than 20 years ago.
