When asked by a reporter why he robbed banks, Willie Sutton, the legendary stickup man, supposedly said, "Because that's where the money is." Similarly, there's a reason why David Cordish, the successful developer, wants to put a $1 billion slots casino and entertainment complex at Arundel Mills: That's where the people are. About 14 million of them visit the mall there in a good year.
That's serious foot traffic, approaching the annual attendance for Harborplace. No one wants gambling at Harborplace, so Mr. Cordish, who is one smart cookie, chose the state's next-biggest people magnet.
He also put up the multimillion-dollar licensing fee required of all bidders for Maryland's slot machines.
He made a bold and surprising offer that, his company claimed, would have put 2,000 construction workers on the job before the end of the year and, in time, generated millions in slots revenue for the state, Anne Arundel County and, of course, Mr. Cordish and the Cordish family.
He did all this months ago, meeting the deadline for bids and blowing the rest of the competition out of the water. (Actually, the rest of the competition didn't even get in the water.)
And still the deal has not been approved. It's in the hands of the Anne Arundel County Council.
Here's the part that gives me giggles: The chairwoman of the council thinks the slots casino would be better in some nameless industrial or business area south of Route 32 near Route 295.
What a dazzling counterproposal!
Imagine, if you can, a casino near warehouses and all those other flat-roofed buildings and parking lots you see from the window as your plane approaches BWI. Doesn't that just blow you away? Nothing says, "destination" like that prospect.
Cathleen Vitale, the council member who came up with this, is trying to zone the Cordish company out of Arundel Mills because she's caught heat from residents who think slots will just draw more traffic and bring more crime to the area. The plan includes a parking garage, but that doesn't seem to have satisfied the Arundel Millers, so Ms. Vitale is trying to zone Mr. Cordish out.
I'm confused. Ms. Vitale is a Republican. I thought Republicans support free enterprise, full-throttle capitalism, and less-is-better when it comes to government regulation. In Maryland, I presume, most Republicans supported Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. when he was governor, and Mr. Ehrlich spent most of his four years in Annapolis pushing the legalization of slot machine gambling.
