Casino won’t make Cedar Rapids a destination

I've spent a lot of time in casinos across the Midwest as a lounge singer. There's an atmosphere surrounding these adult playgrounds that can't be replicated elsewhere, but it's an ozone that can easily lead to depression, gambling addiction, alcoholism, and a panoply of petty crime.

Far be it from me to ride the proverbial “moral” high horse; I know better than to know better for other people. However, some destructive human patterns are cyclical enough to wind a pocket watch to. We sit atop a powder keg of political strife, mental health trauma, and ideological separatism. Would those volatile ingredients mix well in a martini paired with hundreds of lost poker chips? I wouldn't tempt fate.

“We'd become a destination city!” or so goes the argument. Unfortunately, a casino doesn't necessarily uplift the businesses around it when it offers full service restaurants and other features. Business models like that intend to keep patrons on-site. Our city wouldn't become a destination. The casino would.

Despite the quick influx of revenue the city may receive, the long-term ramifications would ultimately be detrimental for our downtown and its existing haunts. Hasn't Cedar Rapids previously taken pride in herself on having more small businesses and independently owned restaurants than corporate chains? Wouldn't the land next to the river be better suited to more public outreach or homeless care? Perhaps we could better serve the fine people in front of the library instead of blinding them with a gaudy neon sign.

Abigail Frandzen

Cedar Rapids