State senator says Petersburg casino referendum bill unaffected by Richmond plan to revote
PETERSBURG — Richmond City Council has voted overwhelmingly to revisit the issue of bringing casino gambling to Virginia's capital, but the state senator who represents both Richmond and Petersburg says that vote will have no bearing on his legislation setting up a similar referendum here.
The legislation now before the General Assembly not only would allow Petersburg voters to act on bringing legalized gambling here, but it also would prohibit any city that had previously voted to kill similar referendums to revote on it for five years. Richmond was the only one of the five cities designated by the state to host a casino to reject the proposal.
"I can assure you that the Virginia General Assembly is not waiting with baited breath to see what Richmond City Council is going to do," state Sen. Joe Morrissey, D-Richmond, said in a text to The Progress-Index while the Richmond vote was being taken.
Related: Morrissey drafts bill to bring casino to Petersburg; city's other legislator is unsure
Both Morrissey and Del. Kim Taylor, R-Dinwiddie — Taylor is the House patron of the legislation — maintain that Richmond voters had their chance to get the casino and it failed, and now it was Petersburg's turn.
A spokesperson for Taylor had no comment Monday night on the Richmond council vote.
Richmond City Councilor Reva Trammell, in whose southside district the $571 million One Casino and Resort was slated to be built, pushed her colleagues to revisit the issue, noting the slim 51%-49% margin by which it failed last November. She attributed the failure to an outpouring of opposition from districts outside of south Richmond, adding that the failure was due to "misinformation" that the casino would not be a boom for all of the city, not just southside.
"This is not just for the Eighth District. This is for all of Richmond," Trammell said.
Most of her colleagues agreed. Council president Cynthia Newbille called it "a catalytic investment, with zero city dollars but 100% city benefit." Urban One, who was chosen as the developer for the $560 million project, had promised an annual $50 million donation to Richmond coffers to help spur affiliated infrastructure development, on top of creating more than 1,500 new jobs for Richmond area residents.
Urban One CEO Alfred Liggans, who was being wooed by Petersburg after the Richmond referendum failed, was among speakers at a virtual public hearing who supported the revote.
Liggans agreed with Trammel that misinformation doomed the project, but he said "benefits" to Richmond hav changed. Among them is a two-cent decrease in the Richmond real estate tax rate proposed by Mayor Levar Stoney.
"Many referendums are reheard, especially if the benefits surrounding them have changed," Liggans said.
Related: Taylor puts up Petersburg casino bill in House, dismisses Richmond push for second chance
Liggans' support in Richmond might have clouded his chances of bringing a casino to Petersburg. Morrissey, one of those who pitched Petersburg to Liggans after the Richmond vote, called the support proof that "Alfred cannot have his cake and eat it, too.
"His behavior is not ingratiating himself to Petersburg leaders and constituents," Morrissey texted.
The Progress-Index has reached out to Liggans and Urban One several times for comment about the possibility of Petersburg, and all that had been said so far was "no comment." We left a message for them Monday night to see if Liggans' support for Richmond means he has soured on Petersburg, and so far, that message has not yet been answered.
Meanwhile, the Petersburg referendum legislation could be heard by legislative committees as early as this week.
Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is daily news coach for USA TODAY's Southeast Region-Unified Central, which includes Virginia, West Virginia and central North Carolina. He is based in Petersburg, Virginia. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com.
This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: State senator says Richmond casino vote has no bearing on Petersburg
