Megamall casino idea finds opponents

Patricia Lopez and Bill McAuliffe, Star Tribune

The Mall wants it; the governor is looking into it, but leaders in Bloomington remain largely hostile to the latest efforts to build a "Las Vegas-style" casino at an expanded Mall of America.
The renewed efforts may have gathered steam during Gov. Tim Pawlenty's recent trip to Edmonton, Alberta.

In addition to visiting schools there, he also met privately with the Ghermezian brothers -- developers and 50 percent owners of the Mall of America -- and toured their West Edmonton Mall and its casino.

Pawlenty spokesman Brian McClung said he did not know whether the governor specifically discussed the Mall of America as the site for a possible casino at that meeting, but the Ghermezians have long been interested in a casino at the mall, which Las Vegas casino officials have called the "premier location in the nation" for a new casino.

McClung insisted that no decision on a metro-area casino has been made, but he acknowledged that since Pawlenty's Dec. 9 meeting with the Ghermezians, the governor has met with Bloomington Mayor Gene Winstead about it, that it has come up in Pawlenty's talks with northern Indian tribes eager for a metro-area casino, and that lobbyists for the mall made a casino pitch in late December to Pawlenty's chief of staff, Dan McElroy.

But resistance to a mall casino remains heavy among most Bloomington officials.
"I would absolutely stand against it," said Jan Schneider, chairwoman of the city's Planning Commission.

"Expansion of gambling [in Minnesota] is something I would prefer not to have at all, but I'd really prefer it not to happen in Bloomington," she said.

In 2002 the Bloomington council declared its opposition to a casino "unless it is inevitable," in which case it would strive for the most beneficial deal for the city.

Schneider said Wednesday that a casino -- authorized by the Legislature -- would probably have to come through the Planning Commission for approval -- something she believes isn't likely to happen.

Indeed, the city's representatives at the Legislature also blasted the proposal, especially because they felt excluded and so far the proposal has avoided customary public airing.
Rep. Ann Lenczewski, DFL-Bloomington, had set a town meeting for next month with representatives from Caesar's, who aren't part of the current proposal. She said she was blindsided by the possibility that Pawlenty may be considering a mall at the casino.
"I'm not a big fan of expanding gambling, but even for those who are, the people who reside here and will bear the social and financial costs -- the police costs, the prostitution costs [and] the narcotics costs -- deserve to be involved in this process," Lenczewski said.

Las Vegas interests proposed a casino at the mall last year and spent more than $600,000 lobbying for it, only to get a cold shoulder from legislators. This time, the Pawlenty administration hasn't made Vegas part of the discussions. Instead, Pawlenty has hinted he would like to reach an pact with northern Minnesota Indian tribes who want a metro-area casino.

Pawlenty has been searching for a way to get the state in on burgeoning Indian casino profits, first proposing that the major gaming tribes pay $350 million a year to retain exclusive casino gambling rights. When that went nowhere, he began talks with the Leech Lake, White Earth and Red Lake tribes, whose remote casinos have been only marginally successful and who want a metro-area site.

Sen. Jane Ranum, DFL-Minneapolis, whose district includes part of Bloomington, said she opposes gambling. Moreover, she believes it would be a bad fit for the mall. "The mall has thrived because of its vision as a family-friendly place. If you put a casino out there, you are changing very much the complexion of what the Mall of America is about. It goes from Snoopys and Legos to strip joints."

McClung said the idea of a casino at the mall "has been out there for some time, but the governor wants to be very clear that no site has been selected for a possible gaming operation."
However, McClung did say that the site did come up in Pawlenty's Jan. 6 meeting with the three northern tribes and that the governor's staff has researched the idea.

"Research has been done on all the various options for alternative gaming operations," McClung said, including a state-run casino and a casino run by the tribes.

Sen. Geoff Michel, R-Edina, who also represents part of Bloomington, said he opposes a casino as part of the mall's proposed Phase II development, which includes the Ikea store. He and Ranum said they would insist on a local referendum, should the idea continue to gain steam.

Former Mayor Kurt Laughinghouse said he was receiving casino proposals as far back as the late 1980s, when the Mall of America was still just a twinkle in developers' eyes.

"People wanted to meet with me. I wasn't interested," said Laughinghouse, who said he also opposes expanding gambling.

He called it "a tax on lower-income people" and said it often destroys families and generates crime.

But Laughinghouse, who works for the state attorney general's office, said the business pros and cons ought to be weighed. A casino may draw more out-of-town visitors to the mall, and that wouldn't hurt Bloomington, he said.

On the other hand, he said, the city should determine whether a different development on the same site could also attract significant traffic. And he said the prospect of more visitors should be weighed against the fact that a casino, whether operated by a tribe or the state, would take prime commercial property off the tax rolls.

The Ghermezian family, which recently won a court judgment that could give it control of the mall, said last summer that it would promote the development of nearby attractions to build customer traffic. Among the possibilities cited for property adjacent to the mall were a hotel, an ice rink and water features such as those at the West Edmonton Mall.

Lia Fitzpatrick, spokeswoman for the Ghermezian family's Triple Five Corp., said Wednesday that the company would not comment on the possibility of a casino near the mall until all mall ownership issues are resolved.