As long-time small enterprise operators within the coronary heart of Chelsea, we’ve seen our neighborhood evolve. We’ve weathered storms, celebrated successes, and at all times felt a robust connection to the neighborhood that helps us. That’s why we’re deeply involved in regards to the proposed on line casino improvement within the Western Rail Yards, and we’re compelled to talk out in regards to the potential harm it poses to the livelihoods of native entrepreneurs, their workers, and the character of our neighborhood.
The present plan, spearheaded by Associated and Wynn Resorts, locations an enormous on line casino and resort complicated on a three-block stretch from West thirtieth to West thirty third Avenue that may dramatically alter the material of our neighborhood. We share the need for improvement and financial development. However this challenge, in its present type, is a direct menace to the small companies that make Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen distinctive.
The unique 2009 zoning plan for the Western Rail Yards envisioned a balanced strategy, with a mixture of residential and industrial improvement. This plan promised an inflow of as much as 5700 new households – potential prospects who would go to our eating places, retailers, and providers. The revised plan, nonetheless, drastically reduces residential housing (all the way down to 1,500 flats) and replaces it with a on line casino and resort designed to maintain guests contained inside its partitions. It’s Vegas on the Hudson.
The “stay-on-campus” on line casino mannequin is deeply troubling for operations like ours. The proposed on line casino/resort will home 10-15 eating places and bars. It’s explicitly designed to maintain guests inside and playing. That may imply fewer folks exploring our streets, discovering our native gems, and contributing to our neighborhood economic system. As an alternative of shopping our retailers and eating in our eating places on ninth, tenth Avenues and eleventh Avenues, guests can be funneled into the on line casino’s choices, siphoning away essential enterprise. That’s how this sort of on line casino/resort makes cash.
Competitors is the cornerstone of capitalism, however this sport could be rigged by the home.
We nonetheless really feel the lingering impacts of the pandemic, and we’re working laborious to get well. This on line casino improvement might undo a lot of that progress. The lack of potential prospects from the decreased residential improvement, mixed with the on line casino’s self-contained ecosystem, could be devastating for many people.
It’s vital to notice: We’re not essentially against casinos in New York Metropolis. However the way in which this challenge is structured is deeply flawed. Another on line casino proposals truly incentivize friends to discover meals eating places and distributors of their surrounding areas. That’s serving to small enterprise, not hurting it.
The proposal is now earlier than the Metropolis Planning Fee (the place Fathy’s son testified), and the Metropolis Council and Mayor have the ultimate say. We urge our fellow small enterprise house owners – and everybody who cares in regards to the vitality of Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen – to talk out towards this dangerous proposal.
We have to make the voices of small companies heard via letters, social media, and by testifying at public hearings. We should reveal to our metropolis leaders that this plan will harm, not assist, our neighborhood. Let’s work collectively to make sure that improvement advantages everybody, not simply the builders.
Rady operates a Halal cart in Chelsea and Sanfiz is the chief director of La Nacional on 14th Avenue.
