Despite dissent, House OKs casino-ballot issue

An attempt to get a casino site in Youngstown added to the bill was defeated.

COLUMBUS — The Ohio House has signed off on a ballot issue that would change the location of a Columbus casino, over the objections of Youngstown lawmakers pushing for a casino in their community.

“I don’t really care [where the Columbus casino ends up locating],” Rep. Ronald Gerberry, a Democrat from Austintown, said during the floor debate on the issue. “Neither does anyone in the Mahoning Valley. But I can tell you one thing: The people of the Mahoning Valley deserve the opportunity to have a casino just as much as anyone else.”

He added, “We need help now, and we have been told long enough we’ll get you the next time. Next time is now.”

The final vote on the resolution was 71-26, and the issue will appear on the May primary ballot.

In November, voters approved a constitutional amendment allowing casinos at specific sites in Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Toledo.

Since then, Columbus officials have been in discussions with casino representatives with hopes of relocating the site in that city.

To do that, the issue has to be put to voters statewide again — a move that required legislative action.

The Ohio Senate OK’d the casino-ballot issue Tuesday, on a vote of 31-2. An attempt by Sen. Joe Schiavoni, a Democrat from Canfield, to add language to allow a casino location in Youngstown failed.

Rep. Bob Hagan, a Democrat from Youngstown, offered a comparable amendment in the House on Wednesday. He said his community — once one of the top steel-producing cities in the world — has lost upward of 50,000 jobs in the past three decades.

“Not a neighborhood in Franklin County, not just part of Columbus, but an entire valley [where] almost three cities have suffered,” Hagan said. He added, “For 23 years that I’ve been here, I’ve been waiting for people to pay attention to the struggles that we’ve been going through.... Anywhere that you go in my community, you will see the desperation. ... For 23 years I’ve been waiting for the help.”

Gerberry agreed.

“People in Columbus don’t get it, they just don’t get it,” he said.

Lawmakers were sympathetic toward the economic plight of Youngstown. But they did not support Hagan’s amendment.

Rep. Cheryl Grossman, a Republican from the Columbus area, said there are 385,000 people who live within a five-mile radius of the proposed casino site. She said there was widespread support in the area for the casino relocation from downtown Columbus to the west side.

“We have had not only the closed Delphi plant, [but also] Westinghouse, Meijer’s, the Sears distribution center,” she said. “More than half of our students are on free and reduced lunches. It has been a desperate situation.”

Rep. Jay Hottinger, a Republican from Newark, said the casino would not bring economic growth to Youngstown.

“If we were talking about real economic development ... your speech probably would have persuaded me,” he said. “I would have said we should look out for the best interests of all the citizens of this state. ... I don’t believe that this is justifiable economic development.”

He added, “Casinos do not produce anything of value. They just transfer wealth from one set of hands to another set of hands.

Hagan’s amendment was quashed on a 72-25 vote.

Valley lawmakers who joined Hagan and Gerberry in opposing the final resolution included Democratic Reps. Sandra Stabile Harwood from Niles, Linda Bolon from Columbiana and Mark Okey from Carrollton.