It didn’t take more than a signature for Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero to push forward with an ambitious casino project downtown — a project still on unsound ground.
On Thursday morning, Bernero, along with Sault Tribe Chairperson Aaron Payment, held a conference at the north end of the main corridor of the Lansing Center, 333 E. Michigan Ave, to consummate the transfer of lands needed to further along the downtown casino project.
For Bernero, the deal serves as the “lynch pin” for a project he hopes could drastically impact the economic prosperity of the downtown region.
“This casino project (is something) that we believe is the right project, at the right time, in the right place, with the right partners,” he said during the conference. “(This project is) a beacon of hope in jobs and opportunity for this community that will pay dividends for years to come.”
The casino project is slated to cost about $240 million, and be located on city-owned land near the Lansing Center. Over 2,000 new jobs are expected to be created through the project, with hundreds of millions of dollars expected to be generated annually, said Bernero.
But despite its economic possibilities, the casino project has also been faced with a great deal of opposition from the state. Earlier this year, Attorney General Bill Schuette filed a lawsuit to stop the project after declaring it in direct violation of state and federal law – a sentiment also expressed by Gov. Rick Snyder.
While Payment, the lead partner for the project, also acknowledged the level of resistance the Sault has faced for Indian tribes in the Lansing region, he noted that his members make up the largest portion of the native population, and is doing what he feels is right.
“What we do as a tribe is seek out economic opportunity to provide services for our members where they reside, so it’s very logical for us to be in this area,” he said. “I’m very proud of that, I’m not ashamed of that.”
Lansing City Council member Carol Wood said she and other community members still question some aspects of the project, including the potential of establishing a den for habitual gamblers.
Bernero ended the conference with a message to those who oppose the casino’s development.
“To those who have doubted whether we would get here … I simply say; Don’t bet against Lansing,” he said. Like cities everywhere we have our challenges, but where is no question we will survive and, with projects like (the casino), we will thrive.”
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