701 replies to this topic

[lanforod]

Why would a tourist go to some chump change casino in Victoria when he can gamble onboard?

Folks go to Vegas to gamble, they come to Victoria to see the scenery and flowers etc. I just can't see it working.

 

Cruise ship casinos aren't that great. They are also turning into less of a money maker, so the ships have been downsizing the casinos.

[bluefox]

Those mediocre/crappy comments are hilarious. Oops.

 

Even more awkward when you consider Stew's legacy of "transforming Langford" is bathed in mediocre river rock and crappy welcome signs.

[Mike K.]

Don't forget the music playing fountain.

[spanky123]

All kinds of tourists gamble it all kinds of settings. Victoria would not be a destination gaming resort, but tourists would like a couple hours there to pass the time on.

 

Where is John Asfar when you need him? He would have this all figured out!

[Mike K.]

He's racing back from the African orphanage he volunteers at as we speak.

[Mike K.]

This is back in the news again.

“It needs to fit into the urban fabric of the city. It needs to feel like an urban casino, not like a suburban casino.”

To meet the requirements of Victoria’s Casino Rezoning Guidelines, a casino would have to be incorporated into a mixed-use development containing non-gaming amenities.

 

 

Coun. Pam Madoff said she’s not overly enthused about hosting a casino.

 

“It’s never been anything that excites me terribly much. I think with a casino, to me the only benefit it provides can be seen as financial and I always like to have more than one principle brought to bear when I make a decision,” Madoff said.

Casinos generally require lots of free parking, Madoff said. “And that’s sort of contrary to good urban-planning principles as well.”

 

 

http://www.timescolo...asino-1.2117927

[VicHockeyFan]

Casinos generally require lots of free parking, Madoff said. “And that’s sort of contrary to good urban-planning principles as well.”

 

 

Where does that come from?

 

Do movie theatres generally require lots of free parking?  They all do, except the one downtown.

 

Do department stores generally require lots of free parking?  They all do, except the one downtown.

 

Do restaurants generally require lots of free parking?  They all do, except the ones downtown.

 

Do office buildings generally require lots of free parking?  They all do, except the ones downtown.

[Rob Randall]

I've never been to Vegas but from what I've seen, you can have an "urban" casino without acres of parking beside it. The more important criticism, and I've heard this brought up before, is casinos are generally big windowless boxes and that is not good urban form. An urban casino should be hidden from the sidewalk.

[Nparker]

I beseech the Victoria electorate to send Ms. Madoff out to pasture in 2018. Her best before date was at least a decade ago.

[lanforod]

I've never been to Vegas but from what I've seen, you can have an "urban" casino without acres of parking beside it. The more important criticism, and I've heard this brought up before, is casinos are generally big windowless boxes and that is not good urban form. An urban casino should be hidden from the sidewalk.

 

What casinos are big windowless boxes? All the ones I can picture are showy, with lots of windows!

[bluefox]

I guarantee you if the new casino included an observation deck with sweeping views of the Sooke Hills, Madoff would be on board.

[VicHockeyFan]

To meet the requirements of Victoria’s Casino Rezoning Guidelines, a casino would have to be incorporated into a mixed-use development containing non-gaming amenities.

 

 

The top floor of the Bay Centre would be great.

[johnk]

I guarantee you if the new casino included an observation deck with sweeping views of the Sooke Hills, Madoff would be on board.

The observation deck would be too high.

[johnk]

Inside a casino do the patrons know or care if it is "urban" or "suburban"? It's an alternate reality in there.

[Mr Cook Street]

Just put a restaurant facing outwards and the casino in behind. Easy.

[aastra]

 

Mayor Lisa Helps, who has publicly mused about co-locating a casino with a sewage-treatment plant in Rock Bay, said she’s open to the idea of a casino, but not if it involves a large surface parking lot. “One of the core considerations is parking. So if we could have something closer to downtown with all of the parking underground, then sure. But what I don’t envision is a giant parking lot,” Helps said.

 

I have to say, it makes me very uncomfortable that Helps and Madoff and the city report are all talking about parking. Are we being groomed for a giant new surface parking lot somewhere in town? (I realize that Helps says otherwise. That's what worries me.)

 

We shouldn't be thinking about a casino at all if we're not thinking about it mainly as an instrument for activating a particular area or for linking areas together, etc. Use it to make something happen. DON'T STICK IT IN THE ESTABLISHED HEART OF DOWNTOWN.* Also, architecturally it should not be lame and it should not be gimmicky. An attractive modern building, like a new (urban) hotel or office complex, with lots of windows and commercial storefronts on the ground (and underground parking only, or maybe an attractive and/or well-concealed elevated parkade that could double as a city parkade). Not a giant doll house, not a giant log cabin, not a giant windowless bunker...

 

*Remember when Victorians used to worry about these sorts of things? The Eaton's Centre was going to dominate downtown? Every new thing will dominate every other established thing? Except a casino. A casino could never do that. Because $$$$.

Edited by aastra, 24 November 2015 - 01:18 PM.

[aastra]

 

Just put a restaurant facing outwards and the casino in behind. Easy.

 

Commercial units that can take advantage of the traffic but that are not under the umbrella of the casino itself would be best, I think. So you get some variety instead of it just being the casino's restaurant and the casino's bar and the casino's coffee shop.

[North Shore]

I'm not a big fan of casinos at all - they're the worst form of 'economic development' possible, IMO - and the mark of a community that is bereft of any other good ideas. Sure, there's a bit of a building boom, and there's a few ongoing service jobs, but beyond that, what? All they do is take pre-existing money and redistribute it; its not like they are cutting down trees to make furniture, or some other form of wealth generation...

[Sparky]

I've never been to Vegas

 

ROAD TRIP !

[todd]

ROAD TRIP !

 

International VV conference.