In a late-breaking move, Riverside Casino CEO Dan Kehl announced today that he was willing to build a $30 million water park, bowling center and event space on the site that investors are looking to build a casino on in Cedar Rapids. That's right, Linn County- shit just got real.
Personally, if I was in Linn County, I'd be overjoyed. Decide you want a casino and all kinds of rich people fall out of the woodwork offering to build you nice things. Kehl's been portrayed as a duplicitous monster out to deny Linn County folks tax money, jobs and investments all while attempting to fool the meat lady- well, he just upped the ante to offer $30 million for some very nice intriguing things-- and if it's an indoor waterpark, well then shit, you just hit the jackpot Linn County.
My gut instinct is that this is going to be too little, too late for voters and the casino will be approved anyway- but if Kehl gets more specific and offers some more solid committments to his project then, then, I think things could get interesting. I think there's a lot of families up in Cedar Rapids that'd be thrilled at the idea of a family friendly waterpark destination- they might be more thrilled about it than the casino but with five days to go...
I don't know. Depends on how voters take this- if they think it's a serious offer, then this might have moved into 'toss-up' category. If they think it's a cynical stunt to protect his own Casino, I think it'll backfire bad and we'll see an overwhelming 'yes' vote...
No comments:
Post a Comment