Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz’s proposal to bring a casino to Coney Island has the Sephardic Community Federation spearheading an effort to prevent the casino from becoming a reality.
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The Sephardic Community Federation, which boasts a membership of 100,000 Sephardic Jews in the New York metro-area, has been running a series of ads against the casino stating that gambling presents a host of moral issues and a very real risk of leading people down a path to addiction, the Brooklyn Daily reports (http://bit.ly/Uw9T3s).
“When you bring a casino, everything negative goes up, crime, gambling addiction,” said Steve Zeltser, spokesman for the Stop the Coney Casino campaign. Zeltser said the Federation became interested in this issue because so many Jews live in the area, but insisted, “This isn’t a Jewish issue. It’s a south Brooklyn issue.”
Zeltser has been working to gain the support of southern Brooklyn’s elected officials. Assemblymen Bill Colton (D-Bensonhurst), Steven Cymbrowitz (D-Brighton Beach); and Dov Hikind (D-Borough Park), as well as Senator Marty Golden (R-Bay Ridge) have all said they will oppose the measure when it comes to the floor for a vote. “We’re building a coalition from Bay Ridge to Marine Park,” Seltzer said.
Thus far, organizations such as the Russian-American Jewish Experience, Friends of the Boardwalk and Safe Foundation have all joined the Federation in protesting the casino. The Federation is hopeful that the Catholic Diocese, as well as other congregations, will also lend their name to the cause.
But Markowitz has no plans to back down. “We already have the built-in powerhouse branding of Brooklyn and Coney Island,” the Brooklyn Borough President said. “The addition of a casino would serve as a catalyst for further economic development and solidify Coney Island as the city’s premier year-round amusement and seaside entertainment destination. When you really get down to it, where else but Coney Island?”
1. They will never win, because its all about money.
2. Any way you slice it, its not about crime, but about your own community that youre worried about and you cannot cntrol the entire world on your values. A casino is an accepted way of life in the civilised world.
No offense Marty Markowitz, but your reasons for siding to allow casinos in Coney Island pale in comaprision to the problems it would cause, specifically to the residents in the greater vicinity.
Please don’t force your wants and needs upon the multitude of Brooklyn residents who are merely trying to earn an honest living to support themselves and their famalies.
I can’t wait til this opens! It will be so much nicer than the Yonkers casino.
Maybe the Sephardeshe Tzibur should stop trying to dictate their morality to the rest of the community. The battle over casinos is over…nearly every community in the U.S. has approved gambling in some form or another as a legitimate revenue source and the arguments about morality, crime, hurting the poor etc. have been considered and discounted. Also, new casinos in Brooklyn would provide badly needed entry-level job opportunities for boys and girls in the frum community who often have limited job skills.
What odds will you give me that the casino doesn’t come through?
It is already a done deal, don’t kid yourselves.
Casinos destroyed Atlantic City where there was once the second largest Sephardic community in the United States.
I heard the same story 40 years ago about Atlantic City. How it will help solve all their financial problems, crime, etc… AC is the ugliest and most dangerous city in the country. It’s done nothing for the city. Just more crime and prostitution.
I hope Brooklyn doesn’t end up like AC.
By the way Texas doesn’t have any casinos because we are bible state. We might be the only state that doesn’t have it, but we are true to our beliefs.
If we want to gamble, we have to shlepp to a neighboring state. 2hrs away.
Were much better off keeping the casinos in Atlantic City where it’s an effort to get to. The number of Yiddin gambling with increase if a casino is 10 minutes from home and a man can tell the wife he’s going to a shiur and will be home at 11.
Markowitz can’t possibly believe this is a good thing for our community.
These are very, very rich people building this thing. You can be sure they bought Markowitz off long ago before embarking on this endeavor.
Markowitz _was_ a good man at one time. Now he is dreaming of condominiums in Florida
bring the casino! then we can have a new thing to ban
I admire the Sephardic community tremendously. They understand the terrible toll gambling would have on their community and they are banding together with achdus to prevent this cesspool from entering our community. May they have much mazel and brochah and all of Flatbush will benefit!
It’s a done deal, so rather than fighting it, Yidden should stay away from it if they don’t want to gamble.