Residents: Casino will make South Philly worse

Barbara Capozzi isn’t happy.

“Common sense, which I don’t know why they call it common because nobody’s got it, but common sense tells you that your life’s not going to get better because a casino’s near you,” she said Wednesday, “it’s going to get worse.”

Capozzi, who has led the opposition to a South Philadelphia casino, spoke a day after

the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board awarded the city’s second license to a partnership of the Cordish Companies and Greenwood Gaming, LLC.

“The traffic’s going to get worse, the people in the neighborhood are going to get worse,” she said.

Their $425 million proposal, Live! Hotel & Casino, is slated for the site of the Holiday Inn at the Sports Complex.

“So you have somebody who maybe doesn’t like it, but by and large we have enjoyed community support,” said Cordish Companies Chairman David Cordish.

In nearby Atlantic City, New Jersey, the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort said last week it will close in December, making it the fifth of the city’s 12 casinos to shut down this year, AP reported.

Capozzi said she isn’t panickingyet.

“I don’t think there is reason to panic, but put it this way, I’m building a home in the neighborhood, and if I had known for sure, I wouldn’t have.”